John Buccigross, Neil Smith saluted John Saunders during Frozen Four Championship

One of the most-missed ESPN personalities is John Saunders. The famed sports broadcaster worked for ESPN and ABC from 1986 until his death at 61 in 2016, hosting shows from NFL Primetime to NHL on ABC, College Football on ABC, Baseball Night In America, The Sports Reporters, SportsCenter, and more, while also calling play-by-play for the NBA and more.

But before starting his broadcasting career in 1978 in his home country of Canada, Saunders was quite the accomplished hockey player. He played three NCAA seasons for Western Michigan and then two seasons for Ryerson in Canadian university competition. And with Western Michigan in the Frozen Four Championship Saturday night (which they’d eventually win 6-2 over Boston University for their first-ever NCAA Division I men’s hockey title), the ESPN2 broadcast of that game saluted a pair of former Broncos: Saunders and his brother Bernie.

That came with play-by-play voice and long-time Saunders colleague John Buccigross narrating that tribute. And Buccigross also mentioned a further tribute to Saunders from a former Broncos’ teammate, Neil Smith. Smith became the first-ever draft pick from Western Michigan in 1974 after playing a year with the Saunders brothers, then went on to a remarkable career across hockey as a scout, executive, and broadcaster.

“Our dear friend John Saunders who we lost, part of the ESPN family, legendary sports broadcaster, on the Western Michigan team (in 1974-76) with his brother Bernie…” – John Buccigross on the Frozen Four Championship broadcast 🏒🎙️❤️ pic.twitter.com/1wUUTsgZ9v

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 13, 2025

“Our dear friend John Saunders who we lost, part of the ESPN family, legendary sports broadcaster, on the Western Michigan team (in 1974-76) with his brother Bernie. I just got a text from Neil Smith, of course GM of the Rangers when they won the Cup [in 1994], he says ‘This is hard to believe, 1975-2025, I started this 50 years ago with John and Bernie Saunders.”

Saunders’ 2016 passing sparked massive tributes on both sides of the border. He showed versatility and professionalism across a wide range of sports and shows, and was a key source of credibility for many ESPN and ABC broadcasts. But he also made a huge mark on not just those he worked with, but those he played with, as tributes following his passing from those at Western Michigan and Ryerson show.

This was a nice salute to that hockey-playing side of Saunders from ESPN. And it was interesting to see that even as the Broncos were hitting their highest-ever level of success, famed former figures like Smith were still thinking back about Saunders.