Dan Patrick to Host NBC Stanley Cup Final Coverage
May 10, 2010 9 Comments
Make any jokes you might want to about “oh, he must’ve drawn short straws in a pool with Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Keith Olberman and Bob Neumeier”, but Dan Patrick will be the studio host when NBC airs games 1, 2 and potentially 5-7 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, NBC Sports confirmed to Puck the Media over the weekend, though apparently it isn’t news, as Patrick’s been mentioning it on his syndicated daily radio show according to Ken Fang.
It’ll be Patrick’s first time hosting a Stanley Cup Final, and the fourth different studio host NBC has used in four years for the championship series (2007: Bill Clement, 2008: Bob Neumeier, 2009: Darren Pang). One presumes he’ll have Milbury and any of Pierre McGuire, Darren Pang or Jeremy Roenick beside him when he works the series.
Patrick joined NBC Sports in 2008 as a co-host of the network’s NFL studio show, Football Night in America. He’s also done some Olympic reporting for NBC during the Vancouver Olympics. Prior to that, he had been with ESPN as an NBA Host and, more famously, as host of the famed “Big Show” edition of SportsCenter with Keith Olbermann.
Puck The Media 
This is a good move…the NHL gets a nice rub as NBC is clearly grooming Dan Patrick to be their next Bob Costas type. No offense to Darren Pang, but this definitely gives the casual viewer a little indication hockey is a big deal.
never heard of him…………..
He was the face of ESPN for years. For NBC to select Patrick for this role shows they are serious about maintaining a strong tie to hockey and promoting it. Now maybe they can broaden their coverage to teams outside of the Northeast U.S., say, maybe the Kings, Sharks and Avs for us west coast types?
Why dont they use him for the full coverage of the playoffs?
I hate the fact that NBC doesnt have a studio show between periods.
I’d rather have no studio show than the horrendous studio ABC gives the NBA playoffs with Stuart Scott. Seriously, I’d rather have NBC just not try than give a half-hearted, embarassing attempt.
I watched Dan and Keith on Sportscenter forever. I never got the impression that Dan Patrick ever gave a rat poop about hockey. I would be happy to be wrong.
Yeah…don’t get your hopes up.
For NBC to the poster above, What is this Avalanche, Kings and Sharks you speak of? At NBC we only know the Redwings, Capitals, Penguins, Rangers and Flyers. We at NBC only have a nothing but Crosby policy to guarantee out 1.0-1.1 rating per week until the playoffs.
nope he doesnt care about hockey…he got the shortest stick…he always cracked espn jokes about nhl….