Buccigross gets to call the shots
When John Buccigross was growing up in Western Pennsylvania, the radio signal was so clear he could hear the call of Bruins games from Boston. Because his parents are from this area - his mother from Dorchester, his father from South Boston - he felt a real connection to all things black and gold.
Starting tomorrow, the ESPN anchor will realize a dream when he handles play-by-play duties for the Northeast Regional hockey games of the NCAA Tournament at DCU Center in Worcester. No. 1 seed Miami (Ohio) will face No. 4 Air Force at 4 p.m., followed by No. 3 Boston College against No. 2 Minnesota at 7:30. The BC game will be televised locally on Channel 38. Buccigross will also call Sunday's regional final with analyst Barry Melrose on ESPNU.
"I'm a fan of any hockey, from in-house to mites, all the way up," said Buccigross. "Play-by-play is always something I've wanted to do. It's my first love. I grew up listening to [legendary Bruins play-by-play man] Bob Wilson in Pennsylvania and Ohio. I was raised on hockey. You could hear WBZ in Western Pennsylvania clear as a bell in the early to mid-1970s, before cellphones and fax machines. Now I can't get it in Connecticut. They were a phenomenon then."
ESPN juggled Buccigross's schedule to free him up for the opportunity.
"I'd like to slowly get into more play-by-play, so I offered my services and I was lucky enough that they said yes," said Buccigross, a former host of "NHL 2Night" on ESPN. "I'm really happy. I've never done a game before. I've been studying like crazy. Fortunately, I got a DVD of each of the teams. I've been cramming. BC-Minnesota is my first focus. I want to get those teams down pat. I want to do the game justice. There are a lot of great fans out there and they want the game presented in a professional way and they should expect that and I'm going to do my best."
Buccigross said he has a sense of the teams' similarities and differences, particularly the Eagles and Golden Gophers.
"Obviously, Boston College has more skill," he said. "They're smaller but they're very quick and I think they can possibly capitalize on Minnesota's defensemen. They'll definitely get chances to score and their power play is very good. Minnesota has no one like Nathan Gerbe, for sure. BC has a good complement of scorers. Minnesota doesn't quite have that, but I think it's a good matchup. Minnesota is a good team and they believe in themselves. It's going to be a really good game."
ESPN senior coordinating producer John Vassallo said the network views this as the beginning of its college hockey coverage, which will peak during the Frozen Four in Denver April 10 and 12.
"What this weekend gives us a chance to do is get out there and put our production teams in place and get to know the teams," said Vassallo. "What we did this year is put an ice-level reporter/analyst into the mix. Each of the four sites is going to have one [with Worcester having E.J. Hradek]. We're really looking forward to hearing Barry and [Buccigross] work together."
Of the 12 games this weekend at the four regional sites, Vassallo said four will be syndicated, including BC-Minnesota. The rest, including the Northeast Regional final, will be offered exclusively on ESPNU.
"As ESPNU has been gaining traction, we've been putting more and more games on ESPNU," said Vassallo. "Last year, there might have been eight in syndication. This year it's down to four."
CBS has complete control over the NCAA men's basketball tournament, while ESPN spearheads the men's hockey coverage. Vassallo said both have similar goals.
"No. 1, we want to capture the flavor of the shows being in campus arenas," said Vassallo. "I think that's something we do on all our NCAA championships, whether that is a swimming and diving championship or whether that is a men's or women's volleyball championships. With the field of 64 [basketball teams], those are at neutral-site arenas where you don't have home teams playing in their home building.
"When you look at televising NCAA championships, what differentiates the event from a pro event? When you see cheerleaders and mascots on skates, when you see bands in the stands, those are the things really we try to capture with our coverage. What is unique about the event? What is unique about the college experience and how can we convey it? Those are the things we challenge our production teams with."
