Murphy’s Hockey Law Ep. 8: Dave Goucher

Former Boston Bruins radio play-by-play man and current Vegas Golden Knights TV play-by-play man Dave Goucher joined Jimmy Murphy on the latest Murphy’s Hockey Law Podcast. Murph and ‘Gouch’ went on a trip down memory lane of Goucher’s broadcasting career, highlighted by his famous call of Patrice Bergeron’s overtime winner in Game 7 of the 2013 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“That one Murph was pretty organic because it was so out of the blue,” Goucher pointed out from his summer home in coastal Rhode Island. “The day Bergeron retired last week, NESN was re-running it, and I clicked it on with about seven minutes left when they were down 4-1. So I was like, let’s stick around and see how this turns out (laughing).

No, I think for that moment, well, they’re down 4-1 with like 10-11 minutes left, and at the time, I had my phone in the booth on the little desk we had, and I was looking at it, and my buddies are texting me saying ‘This sucks. Can you play golf tomorrow? So it got to a point where I didn’t want to read them anymore, so I put my phone out of reach purposely. Then, all of a sudden, they get it to 4-2, 4-3, and then ‘Bergy tied it with what 50 seconds left? Then I remember the intermission between the third period and overtime, and I looked at my phone again, and the tone of the texts completely changed. ‘They might actually be able to pull this off!’

Still in disbelief that the game had made it to overtime, Goucher, like the Bruins, just rode the momentum in what was a rocking TD Garden, all the way to when Patrice Bergeron scored.

“It was just strictly organic, and I think some of it was just disbelief that they had actually found a way to win the game,” Goucher recalled. “You don’t think of it in the moment, how many more times you’re going to hear it. Obviously, I’m glad it worked out the way it did, and for that team, I’m glad it did. That really propelled them. They beat the Rangers in five, and they swept the Penguins, and they were on their way to the final.”

While that memory and, of course calling the games during the 2011 Stanley Cup run and cueing up the Duck Boats for the Boston Bruins’ Cup parade will always hold a special place in Goucher’s heart and memories, he now has another memory to cherish. One day shy of the 12th anniversary of the Boston Bruins beating the Vancouver Canucks for the 2011 Stanley Cup, the Vegas Golden Knights won their first-ever Stanley Cup on June 14. Goucher wasn’t able to call this Cup win since local TV broadcasts give way to the national rights holders. However, Goucher and former Boston Bruins defenseman Shane Hnidy were the MC’s for the Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup rally.

For more on that experience and a trip down Gouhcer’s memory lane of broadcasting, click on the video below or HERE.