Chris Cuthbert

Chris Cuthbert (born 1957) is a Canadian play-by-play sportscaster for the TSN cable network. Formerly, he worked for CBC Sports in a multitude of roles and for the American television network NBC on NHL on NBC.

He was lead play-by-play voice for Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for CTV, where he worked alongside Pierre McGuire, who also worked the tournament for NBC, and Ray Ferraro.

CBC
Cuthbert joined CBC Sports in 1984, where he anchored regional western games for Hockey Night in Canada, usually from Edmonton. He also got spot play-by-play work when the network's primary western broadcaster, Don Wittman, was busy covering other events for the network.

He got his big break during the 1988 Stanley Cup Playoffs. On April 18, he was positioned as a reporter in Washington, providing brief and periodic reports of the Washington Capitals-New Jersey Devils game to the national CBC viewing audience watching the Canadian network's game broadcast from Montreal (the Canadiens against the Boston Bruins). A power outage struck the Montreal area, which postponed the game in that city, and CBC was forced to turn to Cuthbert in Washington to provide the full broadcast - play-by-play, analyst, host and everything else. The broadcast was totally done off the cuff as besides no regular analysts, there were no graphics or replay capabilities. His stellar solo effort caught the network's attention, was nominated for a Gemini Award, and launched what has been a very successful broadcasting career.

Cuthbert rose to a sportscaster for CBC, where he called Olympic sports, figure skating, Canadian football, and NHL hockey. He eventually became the lead play-by-play voice of CFL on CBC, broadcasting the Grey Cup Championship each November from 1996 to 2004. He was the secondary play-by-play voice behind Don Wittman. His most notable work was Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) games primarily involving the Montreal Canadiens or NHL teams from Western Canada. In the era of the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada double-headers, Cuthbert usually called the late games. He was also assigned to a conference final every year from 1992 until 2004.

Departure from CBC
Cuthbert's contract was terminated by the CBC on February 24, 2005, by CBC Sports executive director Nancy Lee while the network endured the 2004–05 NHL lockout. There was much outrage over his firing, similar to that of Ron MacLean who had almost threatened to leave the network over stalled contract negotiations, as many believed he'd be the successor to Bob Cole. Some criticized Lee, who had created the position Manager of Program Acquisitions for CBC Sports to hire her friend Sue Prestedge a year earlier, despite the looming threat of the NHL lockout. It was also believed that Cuthbert's strong opposition, when CBC chose to drop its popular Hockey Day in Canada broadcast, did not endear himself to Lee. This decision was widely criticized, as rival network TSN staged a Hockey Day of its own.

TSN and NBC
After joining TSN in the spring of 2005, Cuthbert became TSN's lead CFL football voice, replacing TSN-original John Wells. Coincidentally, Cuthbert got his job at CBC in 1984 when Wells left the network to join the fledgling TSN. Since TSN gained the exclusive television rights to the CFL starting in 2008, Cuthbert has returned to his role as Grey Cup announcer. He also serves as the network's secondary hockey play-by-play voice.

In the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, he also worked for NBC, usually worked alongside analyst Peter McNab and inside the glass reporter Darren Pang for regional NHL broadcasts.

Cuthbert made National Hockey League history on December 1, 2006 as the first play-by-play announcer in NHL's history to deliberately broadcast a game from ice level, rather than a high up broadcast gondola. Along with Glenn Healy, he called the Buffalo Sabres/New York Rangers game at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. According to the Globe & Mail, "it was a good show and it's unlikely to be the last."

2010 Winter Olympics
Cuthbert was also one of the play-by-play announcers for men’s ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, including announcing the gold medal game between Canada and the United States. Just before Canada's Sidney Crosby scored the gold medal winning goal seven minutes and forty seconds into overtime, Cuthbert said "Pavelski shot, that's saved by Luongo. Niedermayer regroups, Crosby over the line, Sidney Crosby can't bust in, up with it again he's on the ice with Iginla. Iginla—" then yelled "Crosby scores! Sidney Crosby! The golden goal! And Canada has once-in-a-lifetime Olympic gold!" and then later added "These golden games have their crowning moment. And why wouldn’t it be Sidney Crosby to leave his mark on this Olympic tournament."

Accolades
In 1998, Cuthbert won a Gemini Award for Best Sports Broadcaster, and in 2004, was recognized by Sports Media Canada as Sportscaster of the Year. In 2006, Cuthbert was given another Gemini, this time with his TSN CFL analyst, Glen Suitor, for Best Sports Play-by-Play or Analyst.