Calling the Stanley Cup Finals is a dream come true for Sean McDonough. He told Alex Reimer that as recently as three years ago, he was attending the event as a fan and feeling jealous of Doc Emerick.
“Three years ago when the Bruins were in the Stanley Cup Final in 2019 against St. Louis, I went to a bunch of the home games — I went to Game 7 at the TD Garden with some buddies of mine — and I remember looking up at Mike Emrick across the way and I even said to my friends, ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome to call this stuff, in this atmosphere?,’” he said on WEEI’s Sports Media Mayhem podcast.
McDonough has had plenty of high-profile assignments at ESPN, including a two-year stint on Monday Night Football. He said that this one tops them all.
“Monday Night Football is great. It’s an event in and of itself. There are 16 regular season games. They’re usually good games. But this is a seven-game series that’s going to decide the champion of the sport.”
Since returning to ESPN, the NHL has enjoyed a surge in popularity with ratings up across both Disney and Turner platforms. Game 3 of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals was the most-watched show on television on Monday night. A win by Colorado on Friday night would bring the series and Tampa Bay’s streak of consecutive championships to an end.
Whenever the Cup is handed out, it will make Sean McDonough a witness to champions being crowned in two of America’s big four professional sports. It isn’t a distinction he takes lightly.
“Thirty years ago, I did the World Series for CBS when I was 30 years old, and to think 30 years later you get a chance to do another one of the Big Four, if you will, the Stanley Cup Final at age 60, with a lot of great events in between, I’ve been blessed beyond measure.”
