Becoming a play-by-play broadcaster in the National Hockey League isn’t exactly the most common childhood aspiration. Most kids yearn to journey into outer space, fight fires courageously or wish to dive into the field of medicine like nurses or doctors. Florida Panthers radio play-by-play broadcaster Doug Plagens was not your average five-year-old child growing up in Detroit, Michigan in the early 1990’s.
Along with his father, a longtime season ticketholder to the hometown Red Wings, Plagens was exposed to the thrills of the famed “Russian Five” as well as the numerous Hall of Famers that suited up at the Joe Louis Arena draped in red and white sweaters in the coming years. But despite his vast interest in hockey at a young age, Plagens desired to be on television as a weatherman before pursuing his current profession.
“I wanted to be a weatherman first when I was five or six, but because some of my earlier memories involve watching hockey on TV, this is what I always wanted to do.”
While combining a passion for the game of hockey and a fascination of the sports media process, Plagens ascended through the ranks of the East Coast Hockey League and the American Hockey League before being hired by the Panthers in late August of 2015 to be a part of the team’s radio broadcasts in a play-by-play role. At 30 years old, Plagens is one of the youngest broadcasters in the NHL, already living out his lifelong dream.
“Being able to call play-by-play of a sporting event is like an honor, you know? It’s something special.”
This week, I had the opportunity to speak with Doug and discuss his path in the hockey broadcasting realm, his childhood icons and the future of the Florida Panthers.
Cristiano Simonetta: Growing up in Detroit, I’m assuming you listened to Bruce Martyn on the airwaves for the Wings before he retired in 1995. Who were some others that perhaps influenced the way you call games to this day?
Doug Plagens: [Bruce] was legendary, he was awesome to listen to. That was one of the first voices that I grew up with but I remember Dave Strader on TV for the Red Wings from a young age and in the late half of the 80’s until the mid 90’s. He was always one of my favorites and still is to this day. He and I emailed back and forth in the past couple of years and had him listen to some of my stuff just to get some feedback in the offseason when I was in the AHL and he was nice enough to give me some good pointers. When you throw Ernie Harwell into that mix who did the Tigers for a long time, we were pretty spoiled in Detroit with solid broadcasters over the years and still are to this day.
CS: You made your regular season debut in the National Hockey League on October 10th, 2015 with the Florida Panthers at 30 years old, what were you feeling at the start of the broadcast knowing that this was an experience you were going to remember for the rest of your life?
DP: To be honest with you, it was huge that we broadcasted the preseason game (against the Lightning) one week before that because I got to go through the whole format and call a game in the booth at the BB&T Center. But, there’s no question that whole day was something that I’m going to remember forever and something that I had looked forward to forever in hopes that one day it would happen and it did. Even now, we’re about a month into the season, everything is really setting in that it actually happened. It was kind of a whirlwind and like I told you earlier, it was a dream come true.
It took a while for it all to sink in but that first game was unbelievable. I was anxious to get on the air and do it, I wouldn’t say I was incredibly nervous about calling the hockey game because that’s where I feel like I’m in my comfort zone. I’ve called a lot of hockey games, it was obviously just a different stage. I was more anxious to get it started to make sure everything fell into place as far as formatting and it worked out in that regard. I was able to take it all in, but it was a day I’ll never forget and it was a dream come true. It’s an opportunity that I’ll be forever thankful for from the Panthers and everybody I’ve met along the way that’s helped me get there.
CS: A lot of people don’t realize how different broadcasting hockey on TV and radio are, can you describe the strategy that a play-by-play guy has for both spectrums?
DP: It’s very separate from a play-by-play standpoint. Especially on TV, obviously people can see it so you can go about things in a different way. You and the analyst can go back and forth more so while the play is happening. Where as when you’re on the radio, you and the color guy can have your rhythm like if the puck gets dumped in, line change, the color guy can jump in and really make a statement. When you’re watching a game on TV you can see everything that’s going on and when you’re listening to a game on the radio you’re trusting the PBP guy and the color guy to put it all together and paint a picture for you. When I was in Cleveland in the AHL and when I was in Boise in the ECHL, our TV games were simulcast, so I did more of a straight radio call even though it was on TV because it was still being broadcasted on the radio. It’s two different styles.
CS: Do you have a game that sticks out to you, at any level, as the most exciting you’ve ever been a part of, broadcasting or attending?
DP: Best game I’ve ever seen in person was when I was 11 years old which was the Avalanche-Red Wings game in March of 1997. There was so much anticipation going into that game that my dad and I set the old VHS recorder before we left the house because we knew we were going to go back and watch the game again. We went to the game and that was when they had the brawl. Darren McCarty fought Claude Lemieux and Roy fought Vernon and the Red Wings won in overtime when McCarty scored. I mean, it was unbelievable; it was Mike Vernon’s 300th win in which got overlooked and nobody even talked about that because of how much other stuff happened in that game.
You had the whole thing when McCarty kind of took out Lemieux and Roy and Vernon that spilled out of that. Brendan Shanahan and Adam Foote were also on the ice. It all started because Igor Larionov and Peter Forsberg were wrestling each other down and then later on McCarty fought Adam Deadmarsh. You can just go up and down the lineup, there were so many superstars and Hall-of-Famers. You had the feeling that the winner of that game was going to win the Stanley Cup. Red Wings-Avalanche was must-see TV in the 90’s and that was as good as it got. To be at that one was unbelievable. I was also at Joe Louis when the Red Wings won the Cup in 1997 and 2002. So, seeing a couple of a championships in person was cool.
CS: Who was your favorite player growing up, was it a Red Wing like Sergei Federov or Steve Yzerman?
DP: I definitely liked those guys; Vladimir Konstantinov was another big one for me. Obviously he had his career tragically cut short with that limousine crash after the 97′ Cup. Growing up, I was a defenseman and I liked watching him play all the time. It’s just a shame that we didn’t get to see his career go to the heights that it probably should have. He was a heck of a player and only had about a six-year career because it ended due to a limousine accident. I loved Darren McCarty, everybody did; he was always a fan favorite. But, Darius Kasparaitis was another guy I loved. You had to admire the guy that was 5’10”, 5’11” who could hit harder than everybody. There were guys on a lot of different teams that I enjoyed: I also liked Eric Lindros and Ed Belfour.
CS: If you had one piece of advice to someone like myself who is hoping to work in this business, what would it be?
DP: Number one just remember that everyone’s path is different, there’s no set path for how you get to your dream job. If you go down the list, I’m just one radio PBP guy in the NHL but if you ran through all 30 of them, you’d have 30 different ways that guys got to their jobs. No two paths are exactly alike; there’s no defined way of getting there. I can speak from experience that there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing and I thought that in the AHL and I think that in the NHL. It’s really been rewarding to make it happen and if there’s something you want to do, I just say do it.
Some of the best experiences are finding out what you don’t like. I found that out during internships and different things in college; it’s better to learn that stuff sooner rather than later. Have an open mind, make the best of every experience you can and continue to keep going as far as broadcasting goes. Just make sure you get as many reps as possible. It doesn’t happen overnight. Keep doing a good job and focus on the position you have and where you are. If you do a good job, people will notice and keep your eyes open for the opportunity.
CS: You may have a slight bias in this last question, but where do the Panthers end up after 82 games this season?
DP: I think this is a playoff team. They had the biggest turnaround in the NHL, a 25-point turnaround, from 2013-2014 to 2014-2015. This year, everybody in camp had the expectation of making the playoffs. With Roberto Luongo back there, we’ve seen what he’s been able to do in the early part of the season. He’s going to give you a chance to win every night, same thing with Al Montoya when he’s been called upon. You look up and down the roster, there are not only guys who have experience over their careers but there’s a lot of championship experience. Willie Mitchell has two Cups, Shawn Thornton’s been a part of championship teams and Dave Bolland has won before.
Brian Campbell has a ring; there are a lot of guys who have been there before and seen what it takes and it’s a really healthy mix between the veterans and the youth on this team. The guys are ready to take that next step. It’s a fun team to watch and the Eastern Conference is wide open. That’s just the NHL now; it’s such a competitive league from top to bottom and anybody can beat anybody. This Panthers team is going to be a heck of a team and they are only going to get better.
I’d like to thank Doug Plagens for going out of his way to clear his schedule to talk to me and answer my questions. You can follow him on Twitter @DougPlagens.
The Florida Panthers next game is against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday at home. You can listen to Doug and Bill Lindsay’s call of the game on 560 WQAM, 640 WMEN in West Palm Beach, 97.7 FM The Wave in the Florida Keys and on WAXE 1370/107.9 on Florida’s Treasure Coast.
