Steve Mears looks forward to broadcasting Penguins games
Growing up an avid Penguins fan in Murrysville, Pa., Steve Mears dreamed of broadcasting the team鈥檚 games.聽
This fall, he gets the chance.
Root 缅北禁地 hired Mears to take over television play-by-play duties starting next season.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tremendous honor,鈥� Mears said.
Mears broke into the NHL as the radio play-by-play voice for the New York Islanders from 2006-09. He joined the Penguins radio network from 2009-13 and spent the last five seasons as co-host of 鈥淣HL Live鈥� and 鈥淣HL Now鈥� on NHL Network.
鈥淭he art of play-by-play 鈥� that鈥檚 the thing that I truly enjoy and I do miss. I鈥檝e lived that life before with the Islanders. The challenge of doing a game and trying to have a perfect broadcast, which rarely happens. If you don鈥檛, you go back at it the next game night,鈥� Mears said. 鈥淚 just try to sound like my heroes and emulate so many influences on me, with Mike Lange being at the top of my list.
鈥淚 am looking forward to the challenge of getting back to play-by-play and following the ebb and flow of a team鈥檚 season and all the storylines, which happens to be my favorite team ever in the Penguins.鈥�
Along with his experience within NHL circles,the NHL Network gave Mears opportunities to try his hand on the international side as well. He鈥檚 done play-by-play for the World Junior Championships for them and called the last two Stanley Cup Finals on NHL International.
鈥淚鈥檝e done quite a bit to stay as sharp as I can. Just to continue to have that second love of mine, which is the art of play-by-play, was great,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a nice mix with doing the show and having the chance to call some games.鈥�
Mears said he鈥檚 been 鈥渞eally lucky鈥� that the Penguins have been in the Cup Final the past two seasons. He鈥檚 been able to get a head start on his new job starting next season.
鈥� I get to call some games, be around the team and get to see old friends again I knew from my previous stint in Pittsburgh,鈥� said Mears. 鈥淚 had multiple reasons for the Penguins to pull out that Game 7 with Ottawa. I wanted to be there in Pittsburgh and do things like start looking for apartment and get a chance to be around the organization.鈥�
Nashville is quickly becoming a hockey town, especially for Penguins fans
The Penguins own a 2-1 series lead over the Predators for the Stanley Cup. They are striving to become the first repeat Stanley Cup champions in the salary cap era. The Red Wings last won consecutive Stanley Cups in 1997 and 鈥�98.
It鈥檚 something that hasn鈥檛 gone unnoticed by Mears.
鈥淛ust to make it this far again is an accomplishment. In the past few years, there have been some great teams in Chicago and L.A. that were not able to do this,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey came close, but it鈥檚 remarkable the Penguins have made it to two in a row.