After 19 years of being the voice of the Boston Bruins for NESN, Jack Edwards announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2023-24 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“The whole experience is a 19-year joy ride at the end of a 45-year career,” Edwards said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I’m having trouble forming words, and (doctors) can’t find out what is wrong with me, but I’m going to gut it out in Toronto. I cherish the Bruins tribe for staying with me, and I leave with not a heavy heart but with all smiles because this has been a fantastic career.”
Ever the poet, Edwards spoke about the frustrations he had through the course of the season while he attempted to call the games with the same passion he’s displayed for the past two decades.
“The frustration is the whole thought is in my brain, and I can’t get it out of my mouth in time,” Edwards explained. “The game keeps speeding up, and I keep slowing down. It’s time to get off the ice, and I’ve had a good shift and fresh legs need to cowboy over the boards.”
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Edwards has been partnered with Andy Brickley in the NESN broadcast booth since 2005. The legendary play-by-play announcer said he couldn’t have asked for a better teammate.
“Brick is the most fascinating mind I’ve ever met,” Edwards said. “He has an encyclopedic memory over decades. … I’ve worked with over 100 analysts, and he stands above the rest because he’s able to assimilate what just happened and find the language which matches the mood and the event best. … He’s a better man than he is an analyst and I’ve grown as a person knowing him.”
Edwards was honored ahead of Boston’s matchup with the Ottawa Senators when Bruins chief executive officer and alternate governor Charlie Jacobs and NESN CEO Sean McGrail presented him with a gold stick that he lifted high above his head.
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Featured image via Boston Bruins
