Bill Clement

William H. Clement (born December 20, 1950) is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey player who became an author, speaker, actor, entrepreneur, and hockey broadcaster.

Clement played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and was named an All-Star twice. He spent his first four years with the Philadelphia Flyers, with whom he won two Stanley Cup championships (1974, 1975). Clement later played for the Washington Capitals, whom he captained, and the Flames, both in Atlanta and Calgary.

Clement has broadcast five different Olympic Games and has worked for ESPN, NBC, ABC, Versus, Comcast SportsNet and TNT in the U.S., and CTV, CBC, Rogers Sportsnet and SiriusXM Radio in Canada.

Biography

Playing career Before his career as a broadcaster, Clement was an amateur and NHL hockey player. Born in Buckingham, Quebec, he played hockey as a child in nearby Thurso with Guy Lafleur. He played Junior Hockey with the Ottawa 67s of the O.H.A., in their first three seasons.

Originally selected 18th (second round) in the 1970 NHL entry draft by the Philadelphia Flyers (the Flyers' first pick of the draft), Clement played four seasons with the Flyers (as well as in minor league teams at Quebec City and Richmond, VA), and was part of the Stanley Cup-winning Flyers teams of 1973–74 and 1974–75 as the 4th line Center. Before the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft, he was traded to the Washington Capitals for their right to draft Mel Bridgman, as the first overall draft pick that year. After playing just 46 games with the Capitals (and serving as the team captain) in the 1975–76 season, he was then traded to the Atlanta Flames for Gerry Meehan, Jean Lemieux and a Round 1 pick in the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft. He would play with the Flames organization in both Atlanta and Calgary, until his retirement following the 1981–82 NHL season. He played in two NHL All-Star Games, in 1976 and 1978. In 719 regular season games, he scored 148 goals, earned 206 assists, and 383 penalty minutes. In 50 playoff games, he collected five goals and three assists.

Clement was known for a calm and consistent passing game, leading to the rhyme "Clement, Clement, Hands of Cement." Bud Light referenced the old taunt in one of their popular "Hockey Falls" commercials.

Post-playing career After retiring from hockey, Clement worked for many years as a lead color commentator for ESPN's NHL coverage, first with play-by-play man Mike Emrick from to and later with Gary Thorne from to . The Thorne-Clement duo were the commentators for EA Sports' NHL 07 (Xbox 360 only), NHL 08 through NHL 14, and ESPN NHL 2K5 when ESPN had the license, Clement having previously provided the color commentary on EA's NHL series for NHL 2000 and NHL 2001, with Jim Hughson. The pair called the Stanley Cup Final for ESPN and every Stanley Cup win from through , except for ; Mike Emrick and John Davidson were the broadcast team for the clinching game of that Finals series (which was aired on Fox). Davidson, who joined them as a third man in the booth for big games, did so for both Stanley Cup wins from through . From until he worked for SportsChannel America as lead color commentator on their national and regional Philadelphia Flyers telecasts.

Clement worked with Jim Lampley as a studio analyst for CNBC during their coverage of both the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and worked as the play-by-play announcer for table tennis, pentathlon events, and badminton tournaments for NBC at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. (Clement won province championships playing badminton in high school.) He also worked as an analyst at ESPN's Great Outdoor Games for several years.

He is also the host of a Flyers-based radio talk show on WBCB 1490 AM in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The show includes current and former players and coaches, as well as players from the ECHL's Trenton Devils. He also continues to provide color commentary, as well as post-game show analysis, working several local Flyers broadcasts for NBC Sports Philadelphia and The Comcast Network since the 2007–08 season.

From –, he broadcast at least one game of every Stanley Cup Final series (with ESPN from –, SportsChannel America from –, ESPN again from –, and ABC from –). After a lockout canceled the 2005 Finals, he worked the and 2007 Finals as the studio host for OLN and NBC. He continued his streak in as a color commentator for NHL Radio on Westwood One.

In January 2021, Clement announced his retirement from broadcasting at the age of 70. A year later, he and Al Morganti were inducted to Hockey Hall of Fame together, with him getting the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster while Morganti was presented with the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for his excellence in hockey journalism career.

Bill Clement was first married to Cathie (née Maclarty) of Ottawa, Ontario. They daughters Christa and Savannah, son, Chase and grandchildren.

Career statistics Regular season PlayoffsSeasonTeamLeagueGPGAPtsPIMGPGAPtsPIM 1967–68 Ottawa 67's OHA-Jr. 38 6 19 25 41 — — — — — 1968–69 Ottawa 67's OHA-Jr. 53 18 28 46 101 7 1 4 5 6 1969–70 Ottawa 67's OHA-Jr. 54 19 36 55 62 5 2 0 2 0 1970–71 Quebec Aces AHL 69 19 39 58 88 1 0 0 0 0 1971–72 Richmond Robins AHL 26 8 9 17 20 — — — — — 1971–72 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 49 9 14 23 39 — — — — — 1972–73 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 73 14 14 28 51 2 0 0 0 0 1973–74 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 39 9 8 17 34 4 1 0 1 4 1974–75 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 68 21 16 37 42 12 1 0 1 8 1975–76 Washington Capitals NHL 46 10 17 27 20 — — — — — 1975–76 Atlanta Flames NHL 31 13 14 27 29 2 0 1 1 0 1976–77 Atlanta Flames NHL 67 17 26 43 27 3 1 1 2 0 1977–78 Atlanta Flames NHL 70 20 30 50 34 2 0 0 0 2 1978–79 Atlanta Flames NHL 65 12 23 35 14 2 0 0 0 0 1979–80 Atlanta Flames NHL 64 7 14 21 32 4 0 0 0 4 1980–81 Calgary Flames NHL 78 12 20 32 33 16 2 1 3 6 1981–82 Calgary Flames NHL 69 4 12 16 28 3 0 0 0 2 NHL totals 719 148 208 356 383 50 5 3 8 26