Before every Minnesota Wild home game, fans at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., fans join in a call of “Let’s Play Hockey!,” a phrase synonymous with former Minnesota North Stars play-by-play announcer Bob Utecht. The team usually has a special guest or a celebrity lead the introduction just prior to the opening faceoff, a tradition that several members of KFAN have had the honor to participate in over the years. Yet at Wednesday’s home game, there seemed to be a last-second cancellation where nobody was on hand to lead the call.
“I think they quickly scanned the press box and said, ‘I guess we’re going with no one,’” Cory Cove said on Thursday morning’s edition of The Power Trip on KFAN. “Tough choice – I don’t think it’s sitting well with Zach [Halverson] that he [did not get] picked.”
Halverson was on hand at the game Wednesday night to witness a 6-3 win and covered the action for the KFAN broadcast. Cory Cove wondered why the team did not have a backup plan ready to go, prompting show contributor Ben Leber to express that he has faith Halverson will get his chance to galvanize the fanbase before play begins. Cove proceeded to express that if Halverson does get his chance, the team and station can promulgate the festivities to create more grandeur and excitement surrounding the tradition.
“Well Zach, what option would have been better?,” Cove asked. “A last-second cancellation and you just get thrown in the mix, or what if the dream scenario is the Wild say something, ‘March 27 – Zach Halverson’s doing, ‘Let’s Play Hockey!,’ and then we have a two-month buildup and The Power Trip blows it up.”
KFAN has been the flagship home of the Wild since the 2011-12 season and currently features play-by-play announcer Joe O’Donnell and color commentator Tom Reid on the broadcast. As the flagship station, Cove assumes that it has the right to promote Halverson being granted the chance to anchor the “Let’s Play Hockey!” call if it were to happen. Conversely, Halverson was not so sure that the team would use their media platforms to advertise such a circumstance.
“No, we are their official channel,” Cove explained. “We can promote it for two months if they give us a heads up. If they just had said, ‘Hey, so and so canceled at the last second. You’re here in the press box; [do] you want to do it?,’ then we don’t get to promote it; nobody cares that you do it. That’s buying low.”
At the same time though, Cove recognizes that Wednesday night’s game could have been Halverson’s only opportunity to receive the privilege to lead the call. Although it is something Halverson has some fear about, he avouched that some things simply happen for a reason. Show producer Maxx Fuller said that he knows some people who may be able to help catalyze the process of getting Halverson the honor and conveyed that he would make a couple of phone calls.
“Man, it’s so good knowing Maxx,” Halverson said, appreciative of the gesture.
