5 amazing Doc Emrick goal calls to brighten up your day with (Video)
By Mike Zawisza
1. Devils, Rangers, Chaos
This play is both hockey in a nutshell, and the definitive Doc Emrick call.
Game six of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals saw the underdog New Jersey Devils shock the New York Rangers and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The deciding play is almost sensory overload between the noise and visual clutter. The plethora of sticks whacking at puck while Henrik Lundqvist sprawls and shuffles around the crease combined with the thousands of Jersey faithful screaming bloody murder creates an all out eruption of noise and color.
No other sport can come close to this level of chaos and visual absurdity. Yet, above all the craziness, is Doc Emrick.
Doc is the motor, the metronome that keeps the chaos and extravagance of the play in rhythm. Sure, he builds the pace of the play to feverish levels, and at times even flirts with losing himself and allowing the call to overwhelm him. But he never falters.
Instead, he orchestrates this wild chorus into an iconic call, all in a span of under 10 seconds.
From the moment his calm “Now Ponikarovsky with it,” morphs into a frantic “Threw one in front!” you know you’re in for a ride.
Doc’s constant insertion of “poking for it” and “still it’s loose” gives the illusion that time is moving at break neck speed, yet still impossibly slow. It’s as if the Devils had been scrambling around that crease for minutes — but in reality it’s just a few seconds.
Finally, the puck goes in and we receive the tension release as Doc screams “Henrique! It’s over!” and the sound of jock jams fill the arena.
One of the finest goal calls you’ll ever hear, Doc found a way to lean into the chaos of the moment while still guiding us through each millisecond of action.
Over the course of his career, Doc called many Devils games. But here, he gave a lasting memory to all NHL fans on the national stage.