Shorty and Cheech together again on Saturday, just not for the Canucks game
8 months ago
There is good news and bad news for Vancouver Canucks fans this weekend.
The two Johns – Shorthouse and Garrett – the wildly popular broadcast duo that described games and entertained viewers on Canucks broadcasts on Rogers Sportsnet for 15 years will be working together once again on Saturday night. That’s the good news. Incredible news, really.
The bad news is that they’ll be calling the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens game from Bell Centre at the same time the Canucks take on the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in the featured game on Hockey Night in Canada.
With Sportsnet assigning its broadcast crews for nationally distributed Saturday night games, the lead Hockey Night In Canada voices of Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson will be in the booth for the Canucks and Leafs game. So West Coast hockey fans will have a difficult decision to make: watch their favourite team on one channel or get a fill of their favourite broadcast tandem on another.
And actually the reunion runs deeper than just the two men at the microphones for the game action as Dan Murphy will be joining Shorty and Cheech as the host of the Habs-Bruins telecast. So it’s a complete throwback for Canucks fans who had the pleasure of watching that trio and its undeniable chemistry up until Garrett was re-assigned to select national broadcasts following last season.
The former NHL netminder has worked a couple of recent out-of-market games for Sportsnet calling a Jets-Canadiens game in Montreal on October 28th and a Rangers game in Winnipeg two nights later. On both occasions, Garrett worked alongside play-by-play man Harnarayan Singh.
Following their final Canucks broadcast together in Arizona last April, Shorthouse and Garrett worked the Florida Panthers stunning seven-game upset of the Boston Bruins in the opening round of last spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs. Their work there was said to be well-received by upper Rogers management which could lead to more national assignments for Shorthouse down the road.
This has been a season of transition on Canucks telecasts with Dave Tomlinson joining Shorthouse as the primary game analyst while Ray Ferraro made his Canucks television debut last night in Ottawa. Ferraro will also work Sunday’s game in Montreal.
It’s unclear at this point whether Saturday’s reunion of Shorty and Cheech will be a one-off or whether that pair will get the opportunity to work together again this season. As much as many fans would like, Garrett will not be returning to Canucks broadcasts. So if there are other opportunities for the duo to work together, they will have to be on games that don’t involve the Vancouver Canucks.
If tradition continues – and we suspect it will – look for pictures on Murph’s social channels on Saturday detailing Cheech’s game day lunch selection. And make sure to flip the channel from the Canucks-Leafs game at least a few times to get your fill of John and John back together again.
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