Edzo Unforgettables, From Kraken, Back To Coaching Days

Our Small Hockey World

Now former Kraken broadcaster Eddie Olczyk and I have crossed paths a number of times over the last two-and-a-half decades of broadcasting.

That would be my broadcasts, with him coaching, commentating, or guesting.

The first time we crossed paths was unforgettable. I was doing the Boston Bruins telecasts on the New England Sports Network (NESN) as the live ice level reporter. One of the features of my first season there was to sit down with head coach Mike Sullivan immediately after he came off the bench following a game.

Trust me, just an absolute delight during a nine-game skid. My heart used to be pumping through my chest waiting for him to come around the corner with a scowl.

“Let’s go,” he’d say.

The delicate times postgame reached a climax that early season when the Pittsburgh Penguins and head coach Olczyk were visiting the TD Garden. The Bruins won the game 6-3 on November 5th. Edzo wasn’t too happy with “Sully” having his number-one power play unit on the ice late in the game with the final result already out of reach.

There were extenuating circumstances. The Penguins had lost by that same score two weeks earlier in Boston. In both games, the Bruins tallied a remarkable four power play goals.

As I sat in the little room/studio with the door open, just around the corner from where the bench tunnel met the main locker room hallway, I hear yelling laced with expletives.

Olczyk had come down the hallway to protest. “What the bleep are you doing, the first power play unit … ”

“I’m trying to win a (f-bomb deleted) hockey game,” Sully responded. Apparently they were close to blows.

After the hub bub died down, Sullivan turned the corner and came to sit down beside me.

Having won the game, Sully was actually pretty pleasant for that two question chat, despite the stress of the previous moment.

Olczyk was fired as Penguins coach on December 15th after a season-and-a-half at the helm.

By the way, the live coach interview, not live-to-tape, actually live, immediately following a match, lasted just that one season. It was unprecedented to my knowledge, and hasn’t been done by any NHL team since.

NHL Live

Eddie was also a twice a week phone guest on our radio show (one that also aired on TV) called NHL Live, which I c0-hosted from a studio above the old NHL store in New York City.

He was loquacious to say the least. One query and Edzo was off and running. We didn’t need a lot of questions to fill the 15 minutes. And that’s not to suggest we didn’t enjoy or appreciate the answers because we did, but he knew his stuff and he wasn’t afraid to go into detail.

I think we shared those “hits” for most of two or three seasons.

Early Kraken

Probably the first “Simmer’s Morning Skate’s” I did for my YouTube channel during the Kraken’s run in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs was with Edzo. He was kind enough to pop down and do a full hit with me on my gorilla-style set-up.

We had some laughs, we broke things down, and as usual, it was a delight. He was on a run of eight games in eight nights on various networks during the first round of the playoffs.

Simply put, Edzo is the consummate pro and fun to be around. He’ll be missed.