Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick retiring as hockey play-by-play broadcaster

Longtime NHL announcer Mike “Doc” Emrick is retiring as a broadcaster Monday.

“I hope I can handle retirement OK, especially since I’ve never done it before,” Emrick told the New York Post. “But I’ve just been extremely lucky for 50 years. And NBC has been so good to me, especially since the pandemic, when I was allowed to work from home in a studio NBC created.

“Now, into my golden years, this just seemed to be the time that was right.”

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Emrick, 74, has been the preeminent voice for NHL games on NBC and NBC Sports since moving to the network in a full-time role in 2011. Prior to that, he served as the play-by-play announcer for the New Jersey Devils for 21 seasons.

Emrick’s résumé includes calling 22 Stanley Cup Finals and winning eight Sports Emmy Awards for play-by-play, including seven straight from 2014 to 2020. He had stints at ESPN and ABC as well as Fox and CBS and at six Olympic Winter Games.

In 2008, Emrick was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which awarded him the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to hockey broadcasting.

Emrick will continue to write and narrate video essays as part of NBC Sports’ NHL coverage.

“Things change over 50 years, but much of what I love is unchanged from then to now and into the years ahead,” Emrick said in a statement. “I still get chills seeing the Stanley Cup. I especially love when the horn sounds, and one team has won and another team hasn’t, all hostility can dissolve into the timeless great display of sportsmanship — the handshake line. I leave you with sincere thanks.”