Sports are full of iconic moments. Game sealing plays, incredible individual efforts, career defining moments, infamous blunders… These plays reach the status of legend for a variety of factors, not just because they are visually or contextually incredible, but through the role that announcers play in shaping our perception of these events or adding to the legend. It’s amazing how a simple choice of words or the passion in someone’s voice can become just as iconic as the moment itself and evoke such strong emotion and reaction.
I’ve put together a list of some soundbites and calls from famous moments throughout hockey history and thought it would be fun to see how well people would do identifying the player based on the call. Some are easy, some are harder. In each case I’ve chosen parts of the call that don’t involve the relevant player’s name which of course led to the omission of some iconic ones. Sometimes it’s just impossible to separate the player from the quote. I’m looking at you Stéphane Matteau.
TLDR: In case you didn’t read any of that, the game is just to name the player based on the famous announcer call.
*Some of these involve game or series clinching goals. I’m referring to the player who scored the goal, prompted the call or would complete the quote.
- “Off the floor, on the board!”
- “After twenty-two years…”
- “…had it, lost it.”
- “…made a wild stab for it and fell! Here’s another shot! Right in front, they score!”
- “… tries to split the defense and walk in! Nice move! Another nice move! He scores! What a goal! It doesn’t get any better than this!”
- “… steals and he’ll ice it. Oh at least I thought he was gonna until he blew it! That’s unbelievable! Here come the Oilers the other way and Hemsky’s loose! Hemsky! He scores! Can you believe what we just saw!”
- “The net is empty! He throws it down! And in! He’s got a goal!”
- “Good morning, good afternoon and goodnight Boston! The King is dead! There will be a new Stanley Cup champion!”
- “I can’t believe it! This has gotta be one of the gutsiest clubs in the National Hockey League! Pure guts! They got nothing but guts! Every guy with three big ol’ cow hearts, two pancreases and five stomachs! Guts all over the place, I can’t believe it!
- “The golden goal!”
- “When it looked like it was no longer possible, he still got it done.”
- “Rebound score! They score! They score with 28.8 seconds left! The Leafs have tied the game. Don’t tell me about heart and dedication and resilience. This is unbelievable.”
- “Oh now do you believe? Now do you believe? These guys are good, scary good!”
- “An incredible move! 6’9″ and he’s a ballerina!”
- “With the point of the dagger at their throats, they rip it out of Toronto’s hands and kill the beast!”
- “And that makes it 5-2 Canada! Surely that’s gotta be it.”
- “Are you ready Legion of Doom? Here come the Buffalo Sabres!”
- “One against the world and he dekes the whole world.”
- “A miraculous save on Klatt! Do you believe! Oh brother we are not worthy!”
- “Watch the lawsuit. Kevin Collins, he’s broken up fights before but not in the penalty box.”
- “Do you believe it? Do you believe it? He said we will win game six, he has just picked up the hat trick.”
How did you do out of 21?
