List of American Stanley Cup Final television announcers

This is a list of American Stanley Cup Final television announcers.

Play-by-play AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Al AlbertUSA NetworkKenny Albert (Game 1); , , 2027NBC/NBCSNTNTMarv Albert-NHL NetworkTed DarlingNHL NetworkWin ElliotNBCMike Emrick–; –; –ESPNFoxOLN/VersusNBC/NBCSNJim Gordon–, CBSNHL Network/WOR-TVDan Kelly–; –; –CBSNHL NetworkUSA NetworkJiggs McDonald–SportsChannel AmericaSean McDonough, , , 2028ABCSam RosenESPNTim Ryan–; NBCCBSGary Thorne–ESPN/ABCKen WilsonESPNBob WolffRKO General

NBC aired Games 1 and 4 of the 1966 Stanley Cup Final between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. Win Elliot served as the play-by-play man while Bill Mazer served as the color commentator for the games.

For the 1967 and 1968 playoffs, Jim Gordon worked play-by-play and Stu Nahan worked color commentary and intermission interviews for CBS. During the regular season, the duo alternated roles each week. For instance, Gordon provided the play-by-play on December 30 while Nahan did the same the next week. In , Dan Kelly did play-by-play while Bill Mazer did color and intermission interviews. While Dan Kelly once again handled all of the play-by-play work in 1971, Jim Gordon replaced Bill Mazer in . For the CBS' Stanley Cup Final coverage during this period, a third voice was added to the booth (Phil Esposito in 1971 and Harry Howell in 1972).

From –, NBC not only televised the Stanley Cup Final (including a couple of games in prime time), but also weekly regular season games on Sunday afternoons. NBC also aired one regular season and a couple of playoff games in prime time during the first couple of seasons. Tim Ryan and Ted Lindsay (with Brian McFarlane as the intermission host) served as the commentators for NBC's NHL coverage during this period.

For the Stanley Cup Final, Jiggs McDonald served as the play-by-play man while Bill Clement was the color commentator for SportsChannel America. Also during the Stanley Cup Final, Mike Emrick served as the host while John Davidson served as the rinkside and intermission analyst (Herb Brooks filled that role in 1989).

2003 was the only year that ABC broadcast both the NBA and the Stanley Cup Final that involved teams from one city in the same year, as both the New Jersey Nets and the New Jersey Devils were in their respective league's finals. During ABC's broadcast of game three between the San Antonio Spurs and the Nets in New Jersey on June 8, Brad Nessler said that ABC was in a unique situation getting ready for both that game and game seven of the Stanley Cup Final between the Devils and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim the following night, also at Continental Airlines Arena. Gary Thorne mentioned this the following night, and thanked Nessler for promoting ABC's broadcast of game seven of the Stanley Cup Final.

CBC feeds (1978–1981) AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Bob Cole–HughesUSA NetworkDanny GallivanNHL NetworkDan Kelly–NHL NetworkHughesJim RobsonHughes

Color commentators AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Don AwreyNHL NetworkCurt BennettBrian Boucher (Game 2)NBC/NBCSNBill ChadwickNHL Network/WOR-TVBill Clement –ESPN/ABCSportsChannel AmericaJohn Davidson–; –; FoxABCOLN/NBCPhil Esposito CBSRay Ferraro, , , 2028ABCEmile FrancisRKO GeneralJim Gordon–CBSGary Green–USA NetworkHarry HowellCBSTed Lindsay–NBCMike Liut USA NetworkBill Mazer–CBSStan MikitaNHL NetworkStu Nahan–CBSLou NanneCBSEddie Olczyk–; , , 2027VersusNBC/NBCSNTNTMickey Redmond , ESPNChico Resch, NHL NetworkGarry Unger

CBC feeds (1978–1981) AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Gary Dornhoefer–NHL NetworkHughesUSA NetworkDick Irvin Jr.–NHL NetworkHughesBobby OrrNHL NetworkMickey RedmondUSA Network

Ice-level analysts AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s) Brian Boucher –; , 2027NBC/NBCSNTNTRay Ferraro , , , 2028ABCKeith JonesTNTPierre McGuire–, (Games 2 and 3)NBC/NBCSNOLN/VersusDarren Pang (Games 6 and 7)NBC

Rinkside reporters AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Erin AndrewsESPN/ABCHerb Brooks1989SportsChannel AmericaJohn Davidson–SportsChannel AmericaBrian Engblom–ESPN/ABCBob Harwood–OLN/VersusEmily Kaplan, , , 2028ABCJim KellyESPNSteve Levy–; –ESPN/ABCJoe Micheletti -FoxTom Mees–; ESPNAl Morganti–ESPNSandra Neil FoxMickey Redmond ESPNDarren Pang-; , , 2027ESPN/ABCNBCTNTJackie Redmond, , 2027TNTSam Ryan–ESPN/ABCChristine Simpson; –OLN/VersusCraig SimpsonFoxCharissa ThompsonVersus

Rules analysts AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Dave Jackson, , , 2028ABCDon KoharskiTNT

Studio hosts AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Al Albert (in Long Island)USA NetworkChris BermanESPN/ABCJames Brown–FoxBill Clement–OLN/VersusNBCBill CullenNBCMike Emrick–SportsChannel AmericaJim Gordon–CBSSuzy KolberFoxSteve Levy, , , 2028ABCBill Mazer–CBSBrian McFarlane–NBCLiam McHugh–; , , 2027NBC/NBCSNTNTTom Mees–ESPNAl Michaels–ABCBob NeumeierNBCDarren PangNBCBill Patrick–VersusDan Patrick–NBCTim RyanCBSJohn Saunders–ESPN/ABCJim SimpsonNBCKathryn Tappen–NBC/NBCSNMike Tirico–NBCAl Trautwig–USA NetworkJim Van Horne (in Vancouver)

NBC's coverage of the 1966 Stanley Cup Final marked the first time that hockey games were broadcast on network television in color. The CBC would follow suit the following year. NBC's Stanley Cup coverage preempted a sports anthology series called NBC Sports in Action, hosted by Jim Simpson and Bill Cullen, who were between-periods co-hosts for the Stanley Cup broadcasts.

In the season, Al Trautwig took over as studio host for the USA Network. Dan Kelly did play-by-play with either Gary Green or Rod Gilbert on color commentary. For the playoffs, Dick Carlson and Al Albert were added as play-by-play voices of some games. Meanwhile, Jim Van Horne hosted Stanley Cup Final games played in Vancouver.

Things pretty much remained the same for USA during the season. Dan Kelly and Gary Green called most games, while Al Albert did play-by-play on several playoff games and hosted one game of the Stanley Cup Final.

CBC feeds (1978–1981) AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Dave Hodge– (all locations except Montréal)NHL NetworkHughesUSA NetworkDan Kelly and Dick Irvin Jr.– (in Montréal only)NHL NetworkHughes

Studio analysts AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Paul Bissonnette, , 2027TNTBrian Boucher–; NBC/NBCSNABCHerb BrooksSportsChannel AmericaAnson Carter–, , 2027NBC/NBCSNTNTChris CheliosABCTerry Crisp –FoxJohn Davidson–; –SportsChannel AmericaESPN/ABCBrian Engblom–OLN/VersusRay Ferraro–NBCWayne Gretzky, , 2027TNTBrett HullNBCErik Johnson ABCKeith Jones–OLN/VersusNBC/NBCSNMike Liut–USA NetworkESPNHenrik Lundqvist, , 2027TNTBarry Melrose–ESPN/ABCMark Messier–; , , , 2028OLN/VersusABCMike MilburyESPN–VersusNBC/NBCSNDave Maloney–FoxPierre McGuireNBCRyan MillerNBCEddie OlczykDarren Pang, , , -ESPN/ABCNBCJeremy Roenick; –NBC/NBCSNJim SchoenfeldESPNPatrick Sharp–NBC/NBCSN P. K. Subban ; , , 2028NBCABC

CBC feeds (1978–1981) AnnouncerYearsNetwork(s)Don CherryUSA NetworkHowie Meeker

Broadcast networks ABC (-; , , , ) CBS (-; ) Fox (-) NBC (; -; -)

CBS managed to televise the 1971 Stanley Cup Final clincher on a Tuesday night and the 1972 Stanley Cup Final clincher on a Thursday night. In 1971, CBS was not scheduled to broadcast game seven of the Stanley Cup Final, but showed the prime time contest (the first ever occurrence of an NHL game being nationally televised in prime time in the United States) between the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Black Hawks after fans reportedly swamped switchboards at network headquarters in New York City asking that the seventh game be televised. Ironically, the game was not telecast by CBS' Chicago owned-and-operated station WBBM-TV, nor on CBS affiliates in most of Illinois (except areas near St. Louis), and parts of Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa, due to Blackhawks' owner Arthur M. Wirtz policy of not telecasting home games. While Dan Kelly once again handled all of the play-by-play work, Jim Gordon replaced Bill Mazer in . For the CBS' Stanley Cup Final coverage during this period, a third voice was added to the booth (Phil Esposito in 1971 and Harry Howell in 1972).

During the 1972 Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers, CBS took a rather calculated risk in not televising the game five match on May 9 (CBS aired regular programming, including the original Hawaii Five-O in that time period on that Tuesday night). This was despite the fact that game five was a potential clincher with the Bruins up three games to one on the Rangers. CBS ultimately lucked out (since the Rangers won game five 3–2), and televised the clincher (Game 6) on Thursday night, May 11.

In , ABC was contracted to televise game seven of the Stanley Cup Final. Since the Finals ended in five games, the contract was void. Had there been a Game 7, then Al Michaels would have called play-by-play alongside Jim McKay (between-periods host), Bobby Clarke (color commentator), and Frank Gifford (reporter, who would have been in the winning team's dressing room to interview players and coaches as well as hand the phone to the winning team's coach that would have allowed him to talk to both President Jimmy Carter and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau). This would give Michaels the honor of being the first announcer to call the play-by-play in all four major sports, having called the Super Bowl, the World Series, and NBA Finals. The game would have started at 5:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on a Saturday, replacing Wide World of Sports and local news shows that typically followed it on ABC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones.

Mainly influenced by the United States men's Olympic hockey team's surprise gold medal victory (dubbed "The Miracle on Ice") in Lake Placid several months prior, CBS agreed to pay $37 million to broadcast the sixth game of the 1980 Stanley Cup Final. In return, the NHL happily moved the starting time from prime time to the afternoon. The Saturday afternoon game was the first full American network telecast of an NHL game since game five of the 1975 Stanley Cup Final aired on NBC. By this time, Dan Kelly was joined by former NHL on NBC commentator, Tim Ryan. Kelly did play-by-play for the first and third periods as well as overtime. Meanwhile, Tim Ryan did play-by-play only for the second period. Minnesota North Stars general manager Lou Nanne was the color commentator throughout the game. This turned out to be the last NHL game on American network television until NBC televised the 1990 All-Star Game.

FOX split coverage of the Stanley Cup Final with ESPN. Game one of the 1995 Stanley Cup Final was the first Finals game shown on network television since and the first in prime time since 1973. FOX was scheduled to televise Games one, five, and sevem; and ESPN airs games two, three, four, and six. However, from 1995 to 1998, the Finals matches were all four game sweeps; the Finals ended in six games. The consequence was that – except for 1995, when Fox did televise game four – the decisive game was never shown on network television. Perhaps in recognition of this, games three through seven were always televised by ABC in the succeeding broadcast agreement between the NHL and ABC Sports/ESPN.