It was a rather happy week for John Buccigross and ESPN’s hockey holdovers.
Buccigross, who has been at ESPN for 25 years as a “SportsCenter” anchor and play-by-play voice, is among a passionate cadre of longtime personalities at the network — among them Linda Cohn, Steve Levy, and Barry Melrose — who continued to let their passion for the NHL shine through even after the broadcast rights went to NBC in 2005.
ESPN didn’t cover the league the past 15 years with quite the depth it would have had it been its broadcast partner, but Buccigross and friends always gave the league its proper due.