Arizona Coyotes fans tuning into the team’s game with the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night were probably caught a bit off guard by the backdrop behind the team’s broadcasters, who are calling all road games remotely as part of the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols.
Hockey from Chase Field…it’s so beautiful 😍. pic.twitter.com/kuqFalZV8g
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) March 11, 2021
Yep – that’s Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Coyotes are in the midst of a seven game road trip, and Gila River Arena is hosting Professional Bull Riders events this weekend. With the arena unavailable, the broadcast crew moved from Glendale to downtown Phoenix for Wednesday’s game, as well as the games on Friday and Sunday evening.
Per the Coyotes website, the broadcasters not only watched the game in monitors in the Diamondbacks broadcast booth, but also had the game up on Chase Field’s center field scoreboard.
Coyotes TV play-by-play voice Matt McConnell and color analyst Tyson Nash used the Diamondbacks’ home television broadcast booth, located behind home plate. McConnell sat in (Diamondbacks play-by-play analyst) Steve Berthiaume’s seat and Nash sat in (Diamondbacks television analyst) Bob Brenly’s seat. They observed social distancing.
“It was fun doing something different by calling a hockey game in a place I never imagined would be an option,” McConnell said. “We had fun with the baseball references and we got to see a great performance from Antti Raanta. A big thanks to our FOX Sports Arizona crew which did an incredible job getting us ready for the broadcast from a technical standpoint. And thanks to the Diamondbacks for their hospitality.”
This isn’t some sort of groundbreaking situation, but I do think it’s pretty interesting how well this worked out in what could have been an unfortunate turn of events for the Coyotes and their fanas.
Image via Arizona Coyotes
