Following in Hall of Fame broadcaster Pat Foley’s footsteps as the television voice of the Chicago Blackhawks was never going to be easy for anyone. But that was especially the case for Chris Vosters, an innovative hire with plenty of energy and personality but limited hockey experience.
The Blackhawks hoped Vosters would become the job and that fans would come to love him. But after two seasons of nothing happening at the Blackhawks’ preferred pace, the organization decided to reevaluate.
That evaluation led the Blackhawks to Thursday’s decision to cut Vosters and replace him with veteran NHL announcer Rick Ball as their new television play-by-play announcer.
“One thing we know is that our fans value deep hockey knowledge and experience, and it was important to us that our broadcast reflect those values,” said Blackhawks president of business Jaime Faulkner. “Each year after the season concludes, we evaluate our broadcast talent in the radio and television booth, as well as in the studio, to determine if it is at the level our fans expect and deserve. Based on our own assessments, as well as feedback from key stakeholders and partners, we felt we needed to make a change in this role.
“We knew it would be difficult to replace someone as beloved and talented as Pat Foley when we started the process three years ago. Of everyone we looked at who was available at the time, Chris was the clear favorite and we were convinced we had found our voice. Chris did a tremendous job broadcasting Blackhawks games and while it’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out for him in the end, we’re confident that Rick will help our broadcast reach new heights and we’re excited for him to do so. Join the team.”
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Hockey knowledge and experience factored heavily into the Blackhawks’ decision to leave Vosters and bring in Ball.
“Chris is an excellent broadcaster with a very bright future ahead of him,” Faulkner said. “He has a very big voice that lends itself very well to being a sports announcer. We want to offer our fans a broadcast with deep experience and knowledge of hockey. We evaluate things like depth of hockey vocabulary, the ability to anticipate the play to use voice to engage the viewer, the ability to name plays that happen with players who don’t have the puck, and knowing that sometimes nothing is said at all .”
Ball, 57, checks all those boxes and brings a wealth of experience in hockey and NHL broadcasting. He spent the last 10 years as a television announcer for the Calgary Flames on Sportsnet. He also previously worked for “Hockey Night in Canada” and called games for the Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets and the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL.
Ball described leaving Calgary and Flames fans as the hardest part of his decision, but the positives outweighed the negatives in joining the Blackhawks. Among those positives was Blackhawks TV color analyst Darren Pang, whom Ball has known for many years.
“When he was first introduced to me, there were probably four main factors: the Original Six franchise, a world-class city, young center superstar Connor Bedard and, last but not least, Darren Pang, who I consider one of the best of all time. time at his job,” Ball said. “So when you put those four things in, it was a no-brainer.”
The Blackhawks had been monitoring which broadcasters might be available in the NHL. They weren’t going to replace Vosters with just anyone, and he probably would have stayed on for one more season if the Blackhawks weren’t so enamored of Ball. Ball said his talks with the Blackhawks began recently and were concluded quickly.
“Rick is an exceptional broadcaster with a resume that includes more than 20 years of experience as a hockey broadcaster,” Faulkner said. “He has called some of the most important games in sport, on its most important stages and in one of its most historic broadcasts. “He knows this game and the history of it, and we believe he will take our broadcast to the next level.”
Ball’s hiring comes just days after the Blackhawks announced, along with the Chicago Bulls and White Sox, that they will leave KeynoteUSA Sports Chicago when their broadcast contract expires and launch their own network, Chicago Sports Network, in October. Faulkner could not provide any additional details about the network, but said the Blackhawks’ priority now is hiring studio talent.
“Now that we have the booth set up, our attention will turn to the studio,” Faulkner said. “(In making those hires), hockey knowledge, some connection to the Blackhawks is important to us, energy is important. We are working on the criteria that are important to us because we will have the ability to decide who is in the study. Fortunately, we had a lot of studio talent both in the hosting position and in other aspects, that was very strong for us.”
(Photo: Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via /Keynote USA/Getty Images)
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