One of hockey broadcasting’s most recognizable voices will call it a career after this season.
Jack Edwards will step away from the microphone after this NHL season after 19 years of calling Bruins games on NESN amid a broadcasting career that has spanned 45 years with stops at various networks, including ESPN.
“I grew up a Bruins fan, and who had more fun than us over the last two decades?” Edwards said in a press release announcing his decision. “In collaboration with Bruins and NESN leadership, I recently decided that the time has come for me to finish my shift as the voice of the Boston Bruins. I am no longer able to attain the standards I set for myself, to honor the fans, the players, the Bruins organization and NESN with the best they all deserve.”
“I retire from broadcasting not with a heavy heart, but gratefulness for a 19-year-long joyride,” Edwards continued. “I owe my career, my own pursuit of happiness, to the love and support of my family. I thank every member of the Bruins and NESN for your loyalty, helping me to achieve and live out a lifetime goal, high above the ice.”
Edwards was honored with a pregame ceremony ahead of the Bruins’ regular-season finale at TD Garden against the Senators on Tuesday night.
He was given a loud ovation by the Boston crowd.
Edwards spent time at WCVB and WHDH in New England as a sports anchor and reporter in the 1980s and has been part of Olympic coverage on ABC and CBS, while also having done play-by-play duties for the Little League World Series, ESPN’s NHL coverage and the 2002 World Cup.
The 66-year-old’s calls have made him both beloved by Bruins fans and an irritant to those who support other teams in the NHL.
Phrases such as “tumbling muffin” and “high above the ice” have become synonymous with Edwards, among a number of memorable on-air rants and calls.
Edwards once compared a Bruins victory over the rival Canadiens in 2009 to an American Revolution battle in which he equated the B’s to a group of “rag-tag farmers” fighting off the “red coats.”
The well-known broadcaster had revealed in an interview with the Boston Globe in February that he had been dealing with problems with his speech that had mysteriously developed.
“I did not have some kind of accident,” he told the outlet at the time. “I do not have cancer. I don’t have dementia. I haven’t had a stroke. All of that’s been confirmed by Mass. General neurology.
“They’ve done tests that seem like I’m going through some sort of science-fiction scene, but it’s really true. The images of my brain literally reveal nothing. That’s my joke with them.”
Bruins fans will get a chance to say goodbye to Edwards, who will be on the call for the Bruins-Senators matchup on Tuesday night and their first-round playoff series with either the Maple Leafs or Lightning.
