Sean McDonough, Joe Buck, Kenny Albert Edit by Liam McGuire, Comeback Media.
By Sam Neumann on

You could make a strong case that no one in sports media is more underappreciated than hockey play-by-play announcers.

Joe Buck made sure that wasn’t the case on Monday.

Buck has called the biggest games of most of our lifetimes on the NFL and MLB stages, the soundtrack of fall Sundays and October nights, if you will. As for the NHL, well, we wouldn’t rule it out. But with voices like Sean McDonough and Kenny Albert already elevating the sport, there’s really no need. And that’s no slight to the voice of Monday Night Football.

But Buck himself would be the first to say he’s in “awe” of their work.

And while the St. Louis Blues dropping a Game 7 after allowing a game-tying goal to the Winnipeg Jets in the final seconds “gutted” Buck like a “carp,” he wrote on X what “an absolute joy” it was to watch two of the “very best” play-by-play guys “to ever do it – in any sport.”

“You guys are amazing,” Buck writes, “I’m in awe of your talent!! Thanks for the clinic.”

And McDonough’s brilliance was front and center during Saturday night’s Game 7 between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars. As the series reached its chaotic crescendo, NHL fans lit up social media with praise for how he captured the moment.

Just listen for yourself.

Voice crack and all, McDonough was electric. But honestly? Those are part of his charm.

As for Albert, he did what he always does in the biggest hockey moments — let it absolutely rip.

And as Joe Buck so eloquently reminded us, even the greats know greatness when they hear it.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann