NBC Sports hockey analyst Pierre McGuire might be the ultimate insider in sports broadcasting. As the “Inside the glass” reporter he stands between the benches. He listens to the coaches, the players and then translates what he hears to the viewers almost in real time.
The NHL is the only league to allow that kind in-game access to the coaches and players. But it is NBC’s McGuire that truly makes “Inside the glass” work. His knowledge of the game and ability to breakdown what is happening as it happens, makes him the best in the business.
I spoke to McGuire recently about his role as well as the Pittsburgh-Detroit Stanley Cup finals.
“Sometimes you can relay a lot of the things you hear down there and there are other things that you just can’t,” McGuire said.
“I’ve never once been editorialized, not once, by the National Hockey League, not once by NBC. Sometimes that gets me in trouble, but that’s OK. I’m there to tell it the way it is.”
However, that doesn’t get in his way much because of the reaction of many players and coaches to his presence.
“There have been a bunch of coaches and a bunch of players who have come up to me and said, ‘we love having you there because we know it’s a big game,'” McGuire said of his presence on the rink, but that his job is not as easy as it looks.
“My broadcast partners Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk allow this thing to flourish because they have to change and accommodate me. By doing that, we try to translate a bit of the speed that happens at the arena back to the people watching at home. This would never work if it hadn’t been for the spirit of cooperation between the coaches and the players.”
McGuire on the Penguins reaching the finals this year:
“The theater will not intimidate Pittsburgh like it did last year in Games 1 and 2 when they were shut out and they looked hopeless. They will look a lot better because of that experience of losing last year. Sidney Crosby has become a much better leader. Evgeni Malkin has become a much more effective player, especially in key times in games and Marc-Andr Fleury is a much more refined goalie. This should be a far more competitive and entertaining Cup final.”
NBC has Sunday night’s Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with games three and four to be seen on VERSUS.
Would adding ESPN help the NHL?
Both NBC and VERSUS do an outstanding covering the NHL — but the league is hot again. The success in Washington, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, to name a few cities, has the all important casual fan back watching the game.
Now is the time for the NHL to add that second cable partner — like the NBA and MLB — and it should be ESPN. They have the power to grow the sport with adding shows on their many platforms from TV to broadband to radio.
The NHL is gaining momentum, so now is the time to add a new network to mix.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on washingtonexaminer.com.
