Gary Thorne

[GMR]

For those who grew up watching 90's hockey, he was THE voice of hockey in America. When he would call a goal, it wouldn't matter if it was a regular season game or game 7 of the Finals. He made games more enjoyable for me as a fan. He and Clement were a great team.

Sadly, after the lockout, the league went in a different direction. I believe he's still calling baseball games today for the Orioles. He called Frozen Four games as recently as a few years ago. Some LA Kings games several years ago as well.

I would watch more hockey today if Thorne was still calling the games. Maybe the ultimate compliment you can give an announcer.

Where do you rate him compared to the all-time greats?

What are your favorite Gary Thorne calls?

Click to read more...

 

[GMR]

 

[Doshell Propivo]

 

[Cursed Lemon]

It's hard to beat Thorne in terms of legacy, he called so many iconic moments and he did it with an unparalleled and characteristic enthusiasm. He also knew when to shut the hell up, which might be as much of a skill.

 

[plusandminus]

It's hard to beat Thorne in terms of legacy, he called so many iconic moments and he did it with an unparalleled and characteristic enthusiasm. He also knew when to shut the hell up, which might be as much of a skill.

He sounded nothing special to me. But I'm from Sweden and basically have no knowledge regarding North American commentators.

We have a legendary commentator named Arne Hegerfors, who for many years had Anders Parmström as his "expert commentator". Very effective commentating... "Krutov... Makarov... back to Fetisov... goal again, 10-1 to Soviet...". Didn't do much small talk during games. Had lots of humor too. One famous quite is the legendary "And here's Krutov, with a face only a mother can love".

I generally want commentators to focus on the play and to say who has the puck, what's happening, etc. Thorne seems like that kind of commentator, right? I also appreciate that he shouts "Scores!!!", if one for example is in another room or so.

Unfortunately, many commentators today doesn't (during a significant part of a game) comment what's happening on the ice. It seems more and more common for the commentator and expert commentator to more or less sit and chat with each other. Sometimes they also presents loads of more or less irrelevant info, like "some years ago he played for Philadelphia... with (some Swede) as teammate. You have also played with (some Swede). Can you tell us a little about him?", all while things are happening on the ice, like a great scoring chance or even a goal being scored.

I actually sometimes switch off the sound completely. The talking actually sometimes distracts me. I start "hearing hockey" rather than watching hockey. Without sound, I pay much better attention to who is where, etc.

 

[Hobnobs]

He sounded nothing special to me. But I'm from Sweden and basically have no knowledge regarding North American commentators.

We have a legendary commentator named Arne Hegerfors, who for many years had Anders Parmström as his "expert commentator". Very effective commentating... "Krutov... Makarov... back to Fetisov... goal again, 10-1 to Soviet...". Didn't do much small talk during games. Had lots of humor too. One famous quite is the legendary "And here's Krutov, with a face only a mother can love".

I generally want commentators to focus on the play and to say who has the puck, what's happening, etc. Thorne seems like that kind of commentator, right? I also appreciate that he shouts "Scores!!!", if one for example is in another room or so.

Unfortunately, many commentators today doesn't (during a significant part of a game) comment what's happening on the ice. It seems more and more common for the commentator and expert commentator to more or less sit and chat with each other. Sometimes they also presents loads of more or less irrelevant info, like "some years ago he played for Philadelphia... with (some Swede) as teammate. You have also played with (some Swede). Can you tell us a little about him?", all while things are happening on the ice, like a great scoring chance or even a goal being scored.

I actually sometimes switch off the sound completely. The talking actually sometimes distracts me. I start "hearing hockey" rather than watching hockey. Without sound, I pay much better attention to who is where, etc.

One of Arne Hegerfors most famous ones was the unintentional "It looks dark on Cameroons bench"... Still makes me laugh

Thorne was a great announcer though. He made every game exciting and I agree with you on some of todays announcers.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

He sounded nothing special to me. But I'm from Sweden and basically have no knowledge regarding North American commentators.

Gary Thorne could make a regular season goal feel like this.

 

[Air Budd Dwyer]

Gary Thorne was the voice of my childhood (along with Stone Cold Steve Austin).

Watching old games or clips with him and Bill Clement is still awesome. Even though he’d get names wrong more than you’d like, his voice on the play by play is still so much more enjoyable than Doc’s shrill screeches he lets out.

 

[plusandminus]

Gary Thorne could make a regular season goal feel like this.

Then he must have been good!

I watched that game. Mikael Renberg is the expert commentator, with his beautiful dialect (he's from Piteå, quite far up North, same town as Holmström). I thought the other (main) commentator was Chris Härenstam, but I don't recognize his voice... strange...

Anyway, this is the way for you to go in order to get bonus points from us Swedes.

 

[Mr Burns]

"And after 22 years, Raymond Bourque!!!"

 

[GMR]

Gary Thorne was the voice of my childhood (along with Stone Cold Steve Austin).

Watching old games or clips with him and Bill Clement is still awesome. Even though he’d get names wrong more than you’d like, his voice on the play by play is still so much more enjoyable than Doc’s shrill screeches he lets out.

Yep. No offense to Doc Emrick, but he's not on Thorne's level.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

Watching old games or clips with him and Bill Clement is still awesome

Best combo in the biz IMO

 

[The Panther]

Yes, he was awesome. Today's broadcasters all blow (possible exception being Chris Cuthbert, who goes back to the early-80s anyway).

 

[tarheelhockey]

He had the trifecta:
1) a PBP man’s ability to keep pace with the play
2) a color man’s sense of dramatic timing and phrasing
3) a PA announcer’s pipes and voice tone

I don’t think this is nostalgia speaking... he was simply a better announcer than the ones who came after.

 

[vikash1987]

That duo on ESPN/ABC of Gary Thorne & Bill Clement was, simply put, hockey broadcasting at its finest. They made the game that much more fun and exciting to watch. So many wonderful memories growing up with them. What voices!

I love boasting how Gary Thorne and Doc Emrick, two of my favorite play-by-play guys of all-time, were Devils broadcasters before going national

 

[Air Budd Dwyer]

Luckily for us, somebody did God’s work.

 

[Air Budd Dwyer]

 

[alko]

Nice. But nobody, and im from Slovakia and actually dont understand a single word, can beat Antero Mertarannan.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Throne was/is the sound and voice of hockey for me. Is there any evidence that he DOESN'T want to do any hockey games? I think his last hockey gig was a pre-season Kings game (2013/2014?)

Doc is just annoying to me. I don't understand how anybody can relate to that.

 

[GMR]

Throne was/is the sound and voice of hockey for me. Is there any evidence that he DOESN'T want to do any hockey games? I think his last hockey gig was a pre-season Kings game (2013/2014?)

Doc is just annoying to me. I don't understand how anybody can relate to that.

I thought it was because he worked for ESPN, and the league went to a different channel after the lockout. I haven't heard anything stating he didn't want to call hockey games anymore.

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

"Off the floor...on the board!"

 

[c9777666]

one thing about gary is he knew when to get excited and not overtalk through everything

After Bourque got the Cup, he let the moment speak for itself.

He always had a tendency to let the moment speak for itself and not talk over everything

 

[Boxscore]

Thorne was okay--he was definitely iconic with 90's NHL hockey. He seemed to always be screaming on the top of his lungs which was a tad annoying to me. I think I was spoiled--I grew up in Philly listening to the great Gene Hart--who, IMO, was the greatest of all-time regardless of sport. The way he called a game was simply an art form. It was the perfect combination of excitement, passion, knowledge, elegance, timing and wit.

Here is the greatest 5-minutes of play-by-play in hockey history IMO--and it was a brawl. Listen to the delivery, humor, honesty, elegance and knowledge by Hart in this video.

 

[HFBS]

Thorne was okay--he was definitely iconic with 90's NHL hockey. He seemed to always be screaming on the top of his lungs which was a tad annoying to me. I think I was spoiled--I grew up in Philly listening to the great Gene Hart--who, IMO, was the greatest of all-time regardless of sport. The way he called a game was simply an art form. It was the perfect combination of excitement, passion, knowledge, elegance, timing and wit.

Gene Hart was a blubbering moron homer.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Would love for him to come back. I know he calls Baltimore Oriole games and Professional Bowling nowadays, talk about a waste of talent.

In terms of NBC guys, I like Forslund and Gord Miller. Doc is Doc, he ain't goin anywhere. Kenny Albert is mediocre at best, would be great to replace him with Gary.