Chris Cuthbert

Chris Cuthbert (born in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian play-by-play sportscaster for the TSN cable network, and the American television network NBC on The NHL on NBC.

CBC

Cuthbert joined CBC Sports in 1984, where he anchored regional western games for Hockey Night in Canada, usually from Edmonton. He also got spot play-by-play work when the network's primary western broadcaster, Don Wittman, was busy covering other events for the network. He got his big break during the 1988 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was positioned as a reporter in New Jersey, providing brief and periodic reports to the national CBC viewing audience watching the Canadian network's game broadcast from Montreal. A power outage struck the Montreal area, post-poning the game, and CBC was forced to turn to Cuthbert in New Jersey to provide the full broadcast - play-by-play, analyst, host and everything else. His stellar solo effort caught the network's attention, was nominated for a Gemini Award, and launched what has been a very successful broadcasting career. Cuthbert rose to a sportscaster for CBC, where he called Olympic sports, figure skating, Canadian football, and NHL hockey. Cuthbert was the lead play-by-play voice of The CFL on CBC, broadcasting the Grey Cup Championship each November from 1996 to 2004. His most notable work was Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) games primarily involving the Montreal Canadiens or NHL teams from Western Canada. In the era of the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada double-headers, Cuthbert usually called the late games. He was also assigned to a conference final every year from 1992 until 2004. After being let go by the CBC in 2005, his role on HNIC was filled by Rogers Sportsnet announcer Jim Hughson. Cuthbert's contract was terminated by the CBC on February 24, 2005, by CBC Sports Executive Director Nancy Lee while the network endured the 2004-05 NHL lockout. There was much outrage over his firing, similar to that of Ron MacLean who had almost threatened to leave the network over stalled contract negotiations. Some criticized Lee, who had created the position Manager of Program Acquisitions for CBC Sports to hire her friend Sue Prestedge a year earlier, despite the looming threat of the NHL lockout. It was also believed that Cuthbert's strong opposition, when CBC chose to drop its popular Hockey Day in Canada broadcast, did not endear himself to Lee. This decision was widely criticized, as rival network TSN staged a Hockey Day of its own.^[1][2][3][4]

TSN and NBC

After joining TSN in the spring of 2005, Cuthbert became TSN's lead football voice, replacing TSN-original John Wells. Coincidentally, Cuthbert got his job at CBC in 1984 when Wells left the network to join the fledgling TSN. Cuthbert also serves as the network's secondary hockey play-by-play voice, working with analyst Glenn Healy. With NBC, Cuthbert usually works alongside analyst Peter McNab and inside the glass reporter Darren Pang for regional NHL broadcasts. Cuthbert made National Hockey League history on December 1, 2006 as the first play-by-play announcer in NHL's history to deliberately broadcast a game from ice level, rather than a high up broadcast gondola. Along with Glenn Healy, he called the Buffalo Sabres/New York Rangers game at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. According to the Globe & Mail, "it was a good show and it's unlikely to be the last."^[5]

Accolades

In 1998, Cuthbert won a Gemini Award for Best Sports Broadcaster, and in 2004, was recognized by Sports Media Canada as Sportscaster of the Year. In 2006, Cuthbert was given another Gemini, this time with his TSN CFL analyst, Glen Suitor, for Best Sports Play-by-Play or Analyst.^[6]

References

External links

• Chris's Bio in Brampton Sports