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Broadcaster of Year

BCHL award named after legendary NHL broadcaster

Jul 21, 2022 | 10:51 AM

Jim Hughson says he is flattered to be honoured by the BC Hockey League.

The former Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster, who retired last year after a four decade career, will have his name on the BCHL’s Broadcaster of the Year Award, starting next season.

Hughson, a native of Fort St. John B.C. started his career calling games for the Penticton Vees and the Kelowna Buckaroos of the BCJHL in the 1970s.

“This is incredibly flattering, humbling and, I hope for some young broadcasters, it’s inspiring,” said Hughson. “I hope that, in time, for those broadcasters, I can be an inspiration to them. [The BCHL] was my training ground. It’s where I learned to broadcast a game. It’s where I learned to love the game even more than I had as a kid and as a player. It’s just a fantastic experience. It’s a very humbling honour.”

Hughson, 65, was the voice of the Vancouver Canucks on radio from 1990 to 1998 and on television from 1999 to 2007. During that time, he also became a national voice for Hockey Night in Canada from 2005 to 2021, including 11 years as their lead broadcaster.

He called 12 Stanley Cup Finals, as well as the men’s hockey at the 2006 and 2014 Winter Olympics before retiring in 2021 after a 42-year broadcasting career.

In 2019, the Hockey Hall of Fame awarded Hughson the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster.

Since retiring from play-by-play, he is now the Chairman of the Board for the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in Penticton.

Graham Turnbull, the voice of the Vernon Vipers, and Evan Hammond of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, were the co-winners of the BCHL’s Broadcaster of the Year award from this past season.

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