Ranking the Announcers

For those of you who have entered this pool for the past few years you may remember my regular feature where I rank the CBC announcers. The play-by-play and colour guys moved up and down the list based upon their ability, or in the case of Bob Cole the degree of his senility.

This year we had four sets of series involving Canadian teams in the first round, which meant for sets of announcers.

Play-by-play
1) Jim Hughson: He's the voice of EA sports for a reason. He's got the voice that's a pleasure to listen to and he knows the game. He does talk way too much about the no change on the icing rule, but other then that I have no pet peeves. I will repeat my annual call to have Hughson (or just about anyone) replace Bob Cole for the final.

2) Mark Lee: This spot is earned more so because Lee didn't irritate me as much as the two guys below him. I didn't watch the Montreal/Carolina series as much as the other two, but Lee seemed to be fairly competent.

3) Don Wittman: I came into the Calgary/Anaheim series with high hopes for both Calgary and the broadcast team. For the most part they both disappointed me (Andy Murray excepted, see below). Wittman might just be passed his best before date. He was repetitive all series long and rarely provided much insight. I did, however, appreciate all the Manitoba references both he and Murray dropped.

4) Bob Cole: I'll start with a positive, Bob Cole still has the best voice in hockey broadcasting, bar none. But when you're talking gibberish the best voice in hockey won't save you. Take the fourth game of Ottawa and Buffalo as an example. I swear Cole spent 20 seconds telling us the score was 2-1. He kept finding new ways to repeat himself, all the while ignoring the play on the ice. Please CBC, put this guy out to pasture.

Colour guys
1) Andy Murray: It's a shame this guy is likely going to rejoin the coaching ranks because he was a wonderful announcer. He knows the game inside out and was able to impart his knowledge clearly. Murray was also self-deprecating and had some great one liners. It's too bad he only lasted one round.

2) Harry Neale: Count me in the Harry Neale fan club. Sure he can be annoying at times, but he's rarely boring. If there was a way to permanently get him away from Bob Cole I think more people would appreciate his talents.

3) Greg Millen: His obsession with sticks is grating and often has no clue what he's talking about. He was hired during CBC's "We can only hire former goalies as analysts" phase and for whatever reason has earned a permanent place in the booth. Here's hoping CBC swaps Neale for Millen in round 3.

4) John Garrett: I understand Oiler fans were happy with Garrett's work in round 1. More reason for me to dislike him.