Jack Michaels

Jack Michaels (born January 23, 1974) is an American ice hockey announcer who is currently the play-by-play announcer for Edmonton Oilers broadcasts on 880 CHED and Sportsnet television. He was previously the announcer for the Colorado Gold Kings of the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL) from 1999 to 2002, and the Alaska Aces of the ECHL from 2002 to 2010.

Born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Michaels attended Ithaca College in New York, where he did his first work in sports broadcasting. After graduating in 1995, Michaels returned to Meadville and worked as a sports announcer for WMGW-AM. In 1999, he decided to focus on hockey full-time and joined the WCHL's Colorado Gold Kings in Colorado Springs as a play-by-play announcer. After the team folded three seasons later in 2002, Michaels moved to Anchorage, Alaska, where he became the play-by-play announcer and media relations director for the WCHL's Anchorage Aces, which later joined the ECHL as the Alaska Aces. Between 2004 and 2010, Michaels also served as the play-by-play announcer for four ECHL All-Star Games. After broadcasting 919 professional hockey games, Michaels became a National Hockey League (NHL) broadcaster in 2010, relocating to the Canadian city of Edmonton to join the Edmonton Oilers as their radio play-by-play announcer. In 2021, he became the team's television play-by-play announcer on Sportsnet.

Early life and education Jack Michaels was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania on January 23, 1974. He is the son of Mary and Lloyd Michaels, who is an English professor at Allegheny College. His father Lloyd was also a sports fan and read him the sports section of the newspaper at a young age, hoping it would nurture his interest in other literature. He credits the Pittsburgh Penguins' drafting of Mario Lemieux in the 1984 NHL entry draft for his interest in hockey and sportscasting, as it was "when the Penguins got good and I started to pay attention to the announcing." who he compared to announcer Dave Johnson in horse racing, another sport he grew up watching. Although Michaels became interested in hockey, he never learned how to skate.

Michaels graduated from Meadville Area Senior High School in 1991, In the summer of 1994, Michaels interned for HBO Sports in New York City. rejection from major sports networks led Michaels back to Meadville, where he became a morning news reporter and sports announcer for WMGW-AM. According to Michaels, he was then paid 75 dollars a game to do play-by-play commentary for the high school Meadville Bulldogs ice hockey team, Michaels subsequently sent out recordings of his hockey broadcasts to pro teams across the country, and was hired by the Colorado Gold Kings of the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL) in Colorado Springs later that year. He was named the WCHL's Broadcaster of the Year for the 2000–01 season,

The Gold Kings folded on August 1, 2002, ending Michaels's three-season tenure with the team. and believed he was "not well established enough to take a year off". He replaced Fred Rannard, who was the team's broadcaster since the 1996–97 season. Flying to Alaska on September 11, In addition to his duties as the Aces' play-by-play announcer, Michaels also handled the team's public relations and coordinated team travel and scheduling.

After the 2002–03 WCHL season, the league folded and the Anchorage Aces joined the ECHL as the Alaska Aces. Michaels continued his work with the Aces and announced the 2004 ECHL All-Star Game, with Neil Smith as colour commentator. He was also selected for the ECHL Broadcaster Award at the end of the 2003–04 season. For the 2006 ECHL All-Star Game broadcast, Michaels was in charge of interviewing players, coaches and other officials. During the 2006 ECHL West Division Finals in May 2006, Michaels became known for his call of the Aces' 4–3 triple-overtime win over the Las Vegas Wranglers, in a game that lasted almost five hours. The Aces proceeded to win the Kelly Cup after defeating Gwinnett Gladiators in the Kelly Cup finals.

Michaels's non-broadcasting duties expanded in July 2006, when he was promoted to Vice President of Communications and Team Operations; in this capacity, he was responsible for hockey operations, as well as matters related to the ECHL. Michaels has cited the extra income from his additional responsibilities, as well as a reluctance to move his family, as reasons he rejected several broadcasting positions with teams in the American Hockey League (AHL); this was despite the AHL being a higher-tier league and thus a path to a broadcasting career in the National Hockey League (NHL). who joined Michaels in the third period as his colour commentator. Michaels returned as the play-by-play commentator for the ECHL All-Star Games in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

By the end of the 2009–10 ECHL season, his last with the Aces, Michaels had broadcast a total of 919 professional hockey games, 679 of which were during his eight-season tenure with the Aces.

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers of the NHL had an open play-by-play position in the summer of 2010, which Michaels did not take seriously at the time. He flew to Edmonton for an interview a month later, and was offered a position a week and a half later, while on vacation in Hawaii. In the press release announcing Michaels's hiring, Emrick stated he first met Michaels in 2005, and was "immediately struck by the quality of his call", adding that "there is no question [Michaels] is 100% NHL ready". According to the Oilers, he was the only American play-by-play announcer for a Canadian team at the time. Michaels would announce all Oilers games on 630 CHED, alongside colour commentator Bob Stauffer, beginning in the 2010–11 season. Outgoing play-by-play announcer of 37 years, Rod Phillips, would return for 10 "Rod's Classics" games that season, before officially retiring on March 29, 2011. Michaels has said that he did not seek to "replace [...] or stack up to" Phillips, instead feeling free to retain and develop his own announcing style. His second TV appearance was for a Los Angeles Kings home broadcast in April 2017, as one of a series of fill-in announcers for Bob Miller, who had experienced health problems and was due to retire at the end of the season. He was joined by former Oilers forward Louie DeBrusk, who replaced Drew Remenda as colour commentator. In November 2021, Michaels called two Oilers games on Hockey Night in Canada, as the program's first American announcer.

Moving to Edmonton, Alberta in the summer of 2010, Michaels was joined by his family in September; the family initially rented out a house in neighbouring Sherwood Park.