Three years ago, Sean McDonough attended Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues from TD Garden with a few of his friends. From his seat, he looked up towards the ninth floor of the arena. There he saw the widely-regarded voice of Mike “Doc” Emrick calling the action. It had been nearly 15 years since McDonough had donned the headset for ESPN calling hockey after the network lost the broadcast rights following the 2004-05 National Hockey League lockout. He always aspired to one day be calling hockey games once again. Now he is and will call the biggest series of the season on ABC.
Three years later, McDonough will be the voice on the microphone bringing hockey fans the action during the Stanley Cup Final. A lot has changed since McDonough last broadcast hockey on a regular basis seventeen years ago.
“The game is a tremendous amount faster; the players’ talents are on display – speed and skill,” McDonough said. “From a broadcasting standpoint, there was [a] kind of adjusting to [the fact] that you don’t have time to look at your notes… the play goes too fast.”
In the first season of the new media rights agreement, he has worked alongside two new broadcasting partners: reporter Emily Kaplan and analyst Ray Ferraro. During the first few games of the season, McDonough and Ferraro would call games together in the broadcast booth, while Kaplan would be stationed between the benches reporting on the action throughout the game. ESPN executive Mike McQuaid heard Ferraro do a game from ice level once and was impressed. After that, team decided to permanently adopt the format. It’s something that has paid dividends and helped differentiate the broadcast during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I think I can see the game better on the ice; I think I’m more connected to it. I think I can catch things that are available that you can’t see how ever many feet above the ice Sean [McDonough] is in each game,” Ferraro said. “The negative is that you don’t have the access of just putting your hand up a little bit and going, ‘I think I can add here.’ I prefer, personally, to be on the ice, but if the decision was to go upstairs, I’d go upstairs.”
The media rights agreement between the NHL and ESPN is multi-platform in scope. It aims to bring the league and network to the forefront of innovation through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies and unparalleled access. The issue that hockey presents for live broadcasts, perhaps more so than any other sport, is it’s pace. As a result, it has been incumbent on the production team to be judicious in the implementation and execution of new wrinkles of the broadcast, including live score bug graphics, ambitious camera angles and the synthesis of analytics-based information.
“You can have all these fancy toys, [but] the game goes so fast [that] you can’t use half of them,” Ferraro said. “If you’re trying to show something and the puck goes 200 feet up the ice and there’s a goal while you’re showing some animation, then it’s gone [and] you missed the goal. There’s a tough balance… to try to make [the broadcast] new and entertaining, and use analytics and do a coherent show.”
Another part of the broadcast that has the potential to interfere with game play is Kaplan’s commercial break interviews with coaches. The interviews take place either on the bench or via headset depending on building logistics. Each interview runs the risk of being played back while a goal is scored in real time, meaning that Kaplan’s reporting needs to be concise and efficient.
“I do think it’s a tough assignment because it’s such a tiny window,” said Kaplan. “At the same time, I think it’s such unique access… I try to get real-time reactions; real-time moments that can support Ray and Sean on the broadcast.”
Nearing the end of their first season together, the lead trio for NHL games on ESPN figures to continue to grow and maximize their potential, helping to augment the network’s coverage of the sport and it’s overall growth.
“ESPN has been out of the game for so long, and we want to come back in a big way, but these things do take growing pains,” said Kaplan. “We’re in year one of seven right now – and I know we’re in a really good place – but it will only get better.”
“I don’t think we’ve experienced the high yet,” added McDonough. “I think the chance to do the Stanley Cup Final is a dream come true for me.”
Derek Futterman is an associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, email Derek@BarrettMedia.com or find him on X @derekfutterman.
