A new contender for worst broadcaster of all time (Leah Hextall)

[winnipegger]

In tonight's game there was a shot and rebound in close and it was just dead air! Aren't her producers in her ear saying "Leah you have to do play by play!!!". Why is this happening. Hockey announcing was not something that was broken and needed fixing. In what way is this better for viewers?!

 

[centipede2233]

Leah hextall has name recognition and is a woman, hire her! Lol

 

[Knightslayer]

I started to watch the game tonight and had to change the channel to the other game that was on.

If you put Leah Hextall, Kelly Hrudey, Cassie Campbell, Drew Remenda and John Garrett on the Oiler broadcasts, I would watch the entire game muted.

Is this seriously the best SN can do?

Just amazing everyone sucks except for the Oilers guys.

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

Just watching the highlights with her is pure torture. It's like listening to the world's dullest 10-year-old boy do broacasting.

 

[Chimpradamus]

She could go for a little more emotion. Other than that, just your average commentator.

She can't, because then she sounds like a dying giraffe, sometimes like an abused child. She can either sound like she reads the phone book or a dying giraffe. Neither is good.

 

[Rob Brown]

I started to watch the game tonight and had to change the channel to the other game that was on.

If you put Leah Hextall, Kelly Hrudey, Cassie Campbell, Drew Remenda and John Garrett on the Oiler broadcasts, I would watch the entire game muted.

Is this seriously the best SN can do?

It's not SN.

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

She's great.

At what?

 

[Channelcat]

I kinda like her.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Okay I don't want to dog pile on her just because she is a women it's going to be different from that alone.

I had my girlfriend listen in and give me her opinion. I told her listen to the broadcaster and let me know. She had no idea of my opinion until half way through.

It feels like the broadcast is 2 people watching a game but in different rooms. They don't talk to each other and her play by play is not great. It's not a good viewer experience.

The only thing I will give her props for is her different language she uses.

I am all about squirting the puck out of the zone. Squirt is my new hockey term and I plan to use it.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

I tried listening to her commentary last night with an open mind, cause I really haven't found a female commentator I enjoy, maybe I am just holding them to a different standard.

Nope.

Beyond her voice being terrible, she treated a breakaway the same as she'd treat a dump in. No sense of excitement, no flow, no idea who the players are.

 

[GreenLine]

Yet the same criticism hardly ever extends to the numerous male colleagues of similar level.

I'm not so sure. There's tons of old threads with people complaining about Don Cherry, Ron MacLean, Kelly Hrudey, Mike Milbury, that crazy Bruins guy, etc. Do you remember when they tried to revamp HNIC with Strombo? People were pissed.

It seems that people dislike a lot of commentators.

 

[Oscar The Grouch]

Okay I don't want to dog pile on her just because she is a women it's going to be different from that alone.

I had my girlfriend listen in and give me her opinion. I told her listen to the broadcaster and let me know. She had no idea of my opinion until half way through.

It feels like the broadcast is 2 people watching a game but in different rooms. They don't talk to each other and her play by play is not great. It's not a good viewer experience.

The only thing I will give her props for is her different language she uses.

I am all about squirting the puck out of the zone. Squirt is my new hockey term and I plan to use it.

A puck can only "squirt free". Any other form of squirting, be it by the puck or a skater, is a suspendable offence.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

A puck can only "squirt free". Any other form of squirting, be it by the puck or a skater, is a suspendable offence.

If a hockey commentator can talk about squirting when a million people are watching. (No idea how many). Then I should be as well in a hockey forum.

Did you see that player squirt by Poink?

Edit: I don't know if you mean suspendable on the forum or by a player. Both r funny.

 

[P10p]

You need to listen to Gigi Marvin

 

[57special]

You need to listen to Gigi Marvin

No, they really don't.
And as much as Gigi is not good, Hextall is a whole order of magnitude worse...like i can't believe that some idiot hired her. worse.

 

[MosTLucky]

She has as much enthusiasm as an Amazon Alexa

 

[robertocarlos]

She was good calling one of the Jets' PPs. She doesn't say stupid things like "a pair of 55s", although she did mention some stupid statistics. She perfect for the Jets playing in their new classics because I can't read the numbers so all she has to do is tell me who has the puck.

 

[KBstyle]

Didn't the flow of play by play either but we need to give her time, nobody is perfect by I hope someone is telling her to adjust a bit.

I'll give her a year, in summer she can reflect on her performance and came back better. Can't be worse than TVA in french.

 

[Dieseloil]

Just amazing everyone sucks except for the Oilers guys.

They suck too, but when calling the game they don’t suck near as bad as Hextall and Campbell. You should really check your Edm and Oiler hatred at the door, it’s not a good fit. And by the way, Remenda was on the Oiler’s crew for a while.

 

[Machinehead]

To be fair, I think just about every team in the league has an unqualified male announcer.

Mike Milbury worked for NBC for how many years?

 

[Kevin27NYI]

To be fair, I think just about every team in the league has an unqualified male announcer.

Mike Milbury worked for NBC for how many years?

And he got shit on.

I don't want to hear any woman nonsense with Leah, she's trash at her job.

 

[Machinehead]

And he got shit on.

I don't want to hear any woman nonsense with Leah, she's trash at her job.

I guess. It's just, to me, we could have this thread about 20 different people.

The problem is her last name is Hextall. They hire people who played hockey or know hockey people, not announcers.

 

[Mach2]

An AI bot would be much better: You could pick your favorite voice from an array of play-by-play personalities along with an infinite library of colorful anecdotes from hockey history to play during the stoppages. Could happen sooner than you think.

 

[not a troll]

An AI bot would be much better: You could pick your favorite voice from an array of play-by-play personalities along with an infinite library of colorful anecdotes from hockey history to play during the stoppages. Could happen sooner than you think.

So essentially NHL the video game? I don't think that's going to happen.

 

[Kevin27NYI]

I guess. It's just, to me, we could have this thread about 20 different people.

The problem is her last name is Hextall. They hire people who played hockey or know hockey people, not announcers.

But they do happen, there has been threads on Milbury, Edwards, The Colorado guy with his homerism, Pierre especially.