I have done stats for a lot of play-by-play and color guy. There was one duo who I had never worked with, Rick Jeanneret and Harry Neale. Last night I was able to add them to my list.
Through some stroke of luck I was asked to sit and do stats for MSG for the Sabres final game against the Flyers last night. For someone who grew up listening to Jeanneret call games and watching Neale on Hockey Night in Canada, it was going to be a cool experience. Now, I had gotten to know these guys when I worked for the team previously, so I wasn’t all geeked up over getting to be in the booth with them. This was more of a professional accomplishment for me.
I wasn’t on top of my game last night which disappointed me. There were a lot of long-developing goals that become tough to keep track of for primary and secondary assists. What was a nice bonus was that they are both incredibly easy to do stats for. They have both been in the game so long that they can rely on their own skills and knowledge to call what they’re seeing. Now and then Neale would use a note I gave him, but most of the time their pre-game research and general knowledge was what they utilized, that was cool to see.
It was certainly an honor to be able to work for two hockey broadcast legends. Just as it was cool to work with Doc Emrick in Vancouver this was on par, if not that much better.
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