Entering the broadcast booth before a game, Eddie Olczyk can be doing any number of things. Whether it is watching warmups, interacting with his colleagues or simply taking in the environment, he recognizes how fortunate he is to still call his workplace. Another recurring setting, albeit outdoors, are horse racing tracks, the venues from which Olczyk has not only broadcast, but also competed as an owner in marquee events.
“Pucks and ponies are a big part of my life, and I’m very passionate about it and handicapping and I have always been a horse player and horse owner,” said Olczyk, who just returned from working for NBC as part of the network’s Kentucky Derby coverage. “I think it’s really helped my ability to communicate a little bit more for hockey because a lot of that is more the one-on-one and the verbalization and has to do with storytelling.”
Olczyk played hockey for 16 seasons with the Stanley Cup at the forefront of his mind. He eventually achieved his goal during the 1993-94 season, helping the New York Rangers capture their first championship in 54 years. A few months after the ticker tape parade, the world of hockey came to a standstill.
The league was in a lockout, meaning Olczyk, at least for the short term, was out of a job. One of the locations he had brought the Stanley Cup was the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, NJ. He became friendly with some of its regular spectators and owners.
“The people at the Meadowlands said, ‘Hey, you love horse racing [and] you love to handicap,’” Olczyk recalled. “‘You’re not working. Would you like to come and handicap the races at the racetrack and do our wrap up show? Kind of just dabble in the media?’
Stunned to receive an offer to be paid to show up to the racetrack, Olczyk did not hesitate. He quickly began working with commentator Barbara Foster and absorbed a profusion of information about being a professional in sports media. Olczyk served as her sidekick during the proceedings over the ensuing three months and returned to professional hockey once the dispute between the league and its players was resolved. He was dealt to the Winnipeg Jets later that season, and then played with the Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and hometown Chicago Blackhawks before hanging up the skates.
Growing up in Chicago, the voices of sports media were firmly ingrained into Eddie Olczyk’s subconscious. He eventually had the privilege to meet some of them and call them his colleagues. They served as inspiration for him to refine his craft and work to become a viable broadcast partner for play-by-play announcers, producers, directors and other personnel.
“I don’t think anyone could ever shoreside me for not aligning myself or getting a chance to work with some of the greatest voices in NHL history,” Olczyk said. “I’m very lucky and I’m sure their shoulders are probably a little sore from carrying me for all those years, but it was very educational. They were obviously very instrumental.”
Once he exited the game though, Olczyk signed on with Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh to become the color commentator for Penguins games. He was paired with play-by-play announcer Mike Lange, his first bonafide partner when it came to working in sports media.
That job did not last very long, because he became the head coach of the Penguins for the next two seasons. After a slow start to the 2005-06 season, Olczyk was relieved of his head coaching duties, but still wanted to remain around the game of hockey.
The very next season, he joined the local television broadcasting team for the Chicago Blackhawks, the team he grew up watching and played for during two separate stints. He worked with an announcer he listened to in his youth: Pat Foley.
Foley wasn’t his only partner for very long. Eddie Olczyk quickly jumped into the national spotlight. His previous experience on NHL Radio taught him the subtle, yet essential differences in those broadcasts, and he ultimately earned a chance to work with Mike “Doc” Emrick on Versus/NBC Sports.
At the end of the 2006-07 season, Olczyk called his first Stanley Cup Finals with Emrick. He would do that for the next 13 seasons, watching the greatest players of a generation such as Penguins forward Sidney Crosby and Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin get their names etched on the trophy. As he balanced the national job with his role calling Blackhawks games locally, Olczyk felt like he had made it to the highest level sports media had to offer – but only after earnest recognition from his esteemed colleague.
“Doc was doing an article of some sort and they asked him about our relationship,” Olczyk remembered. “I’m paraphrasing, but Doc said, ‘I hope that when Edzo is 65, he has somebody that takes care of him as he has taken care of me.’ I just thought that was obviously very humbling, but when you can get the stamp of approval from Doc Emrick, you’ve done something right, and that I will take with me the rest of my life.”
Whether it was calling the Cup Finals, featured regular season matchups or the Olympic Games, Olczyk’s time working with Emrick was special both while at the game and on the road. He misses going out to dinner, attending meetings before each broadcast and the camaraderie between him and the rest of the NBC Sports crew.
Emrick called it a career in 2021, after broadcasting hockey for more than four decades. Kenny Albert slotted in as the new lead voice of hockey for NBC Sports. While Albert is a skilled and versatile commentator having called baseball, basketball, football and hockey both locally and nationally, Emrick and his direct association with this magnificent game on ice is indisputable.
“When you heard his voice, you knew it was an important game, and he just had that incredible ability in the fastest game in the world to be able to stickhandle and weave a story while play is going on and never break stride,” Olczyk said of Emrick. “That, to me, was something that was just really incredible.”
The National Hockey League inked a seven-year media rights agreement with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery to begin the 2021-22 season. When Olczyk signed with the latter outlet, he knew he would not be on the broadcast for the Stanley Cup Final. Instead, he would have that duty every other year.
“Obviously it was an incredible relationship there with TNT and ESPN on the NBA side, so this isn’t two major entities just all of a sudden coming together,” Olczyk stated. “The more eyes that we can have on our sport, the better it is short term and long term.”
On the local front, Eddie Olczyk departed Chicago Blackhawks broadcasts after 15 seasons. He quickly found a new home with familiar faces and a young NHL team with a bright future – the Seattle Kraken. The move was very much a family affair since Olczyk’s brother, Ricky, is the team’s assistant general manager. In addition to that, Olczyk’s oldest son of the same name is an amateur scout, and his other son, Nick, is a studio host on the television broadcasts.
“New is always scary. Without a doubt, there’s always trepidation,” Olczyk said. “It was an incredible opportunity to be there and work with so many talented people and see the improvement for the team…It was an incredible first year.”
The Stanley Cup Finals will be on TNT for the first time in the network’s history this season. It is a seminal occasion for Warner Bros. Discovery, highlighted by the presence of the Stanley Cup at its Upfront event at Madison Square Garden: the arena in which Olczyk hoisted the trophy in jubilation on a summer night 29 years ago.
“I’m excited for everybody because coming together two hockey seasons ago, [there were] a lot of unknowns but a lot of us obviously knew each other,” Olczyk said. “The leadership at the top has just been incredible and reminds me a lot of my journey at NBC. Everything is first class; every day is first class. It’s awesome.”
Albert last called the Finals with Olczyk on NBC Sports, but they were not paired together for the entire series. This time around, they will be the primary booth for the NHL on TNT, and Liam McHugh will anchor studio coverage with a cast of analysts including Paul Bissonnette and Wayne Gretzky.
“We’re here to entertain [and] we’re here to talk about the greatest game in the world and showcase the greatest athletes and sell the game,” Olczyk said. “I don’t think any of that will stop, but I think knowing the room and having a feel and letting everything else take care of itself [is important].”
It will be Albert who will announce to the world that a team has just claimed the sport’s ultimate prize and Olczyk is excited to listen to how he will punctuate the call. Yet he knows the craft is very much a team effort. Now, he is ready to demonstrate his shrewd ability to break down the game on its biggest stage.
“It’s not hard to be jacked up for a Stanley Cup Final, but I think it’s, again, knowing the room, having a feel and knowing when to go ahead and be elongated – and at other times, know when you’ve just got to get in and get out and let Kenny do his thing. At some point in the Cup Finals, it’s going to be Kenny’s time, and he’s going to have to take it. When the time presents itself, we’ll jump in.”
During the hockey season, Olczyk is constantly traveling, following teams and fully immersed in the sport. When he made the move from Chicago to Seattle, there was a time when he thought it may just be better to do one game per week, but he determined that he was not ready to step back just yet. He remains motivated by the competitive aspect of the work and trying to be the very best analyst in the business, and does everything in his power to put himself in the best position to succeed.
