If you ever get the chance to spend time around a hockey commentator, you’ll probably notice something quickly: They’re great storytellers.
Utah-born author Kirk McKnight capitalized on that, writing a book after interviewing 65 NHL broadcasters, past and present. The Voices of Hockey: Broadcasters Reflect on the Fastest Game on Earth includes stories from some of hockey’s most legendary broadcasters, including:
- Utah Mammoth play-by-play commentator Matt McConnell
- Doc Emrick
- Gary Thorne
- John Shorthouse
- Sam Rosen
- Ken Daniels
- Mike Lange
- Pat Foley
McKnight’s goal was to focus on the “crazy, zany and bloody parts of hockey, to make it a lot more interesting,” he told the Deseret News in an interview, and it’s all told from the perspective of people who talk for a living: the broadcasters.
One example, which can be heard for free via audio sample on Apple Books and Google Play, is a story told by Bob Costas, who primarily broadcasted other sports over his lifetime but started his career in minor league hockey in 1973.
Costas shared the story of a series of fights breaking out on the ice, then in the stands, then mixing and turning into all-out mayhem. The players eventually fled to their respective locker rooms, then to the bus, trying their best to barricade themselves from the angry mobs.
Throughout the process, Costas was perched in the broadcaster’s booth, trying to navigate what to say as a 21-year-old making $30 a game. As the bus took off, someone realized nobody notified Costas they were leaving. A team employee trekked back inside, notified Costas and got him safely back to the bus, where the team escaped.
With centuries’ worth of combined experience among the broadcasters McKnight interviewed, he said the hardest part was trimming everything down to fit in a book. He likened it to a line from the Bill Joel song The Entertainer:
“Took me years to write it, they were the best years of my life. It was a beautiful song, but it ran too long. If you’re gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05.”
Republishing in audio format
The book was originally produced in 2016, but has recently been republished in an audiobook format. It’s substantially different from its predecessor in the sense that it includes an additional 30-or-so interviews, as well as context relevant to today’s game.
“I always had an itch to scratch as far as the hockey book, because I knew that it really didn’t reach its full potential the first time around,” McKnight said. “And I also realized I wasn’t quite reaching the right audience.”
It dawned on McKnight when he was at a bookstore one day and noticed a stack of signed copies of Wayne Gretzky’s autobiography marked at a 50% price reduction. If the greatest player of all time has a hard time selling his book, it’s going to be difficult for anyone.
“Hockey may not be the (most popular) kind of literary entertainment for a book, but I always held hope that it could be for audio,” he said.
Updating the book also allowed McKnight to talk about the last decade of hockey. Three new teams have been added to the NHL in that time and one has been labeled as “inactive” — and McKnight has lived in all four states affected by those changes.
McKnight wanted his brother-in-law, Chuck Bowler, to be the book’s voice, rather than someone already employed by the publishing company. When a sample reading was sent to the publisher, they were so impressed that they had him narrate a number of other books first.
About the author: Kirk McKnight
McKnight was born in Cedar City but grew up in Las Vegas. He returned to his native state for school: first at UVU, then BYU, where he graduated with a marketing degree in 2002. After graduating, he started working for an energy management company in downtown Salt Lake while living in Draper.
He always enjoyed going to Jazz games, but he never thought an NHL team would someday join them as co-tenants at the Delta Center. Although he isn’t able to go to as many games as he was when they were in Arizona, he still follows the Utah Mammoth.
He hopes this ownership group can put together a Stanley Cup-winning team — something he never got to witness in Arizona.
This is McKnight’s second sports commentator book. The first, titled The Voices of Baseball: The Game’s Greatest Broadcasters Reflect on America’s Pastime, focuses on the greatest moments, teams and ballparks in baseball. He’s also the author of Batting Clean: Why Dale Murphy Belongs in Baseball’s Hall of Fame.