As your eyes are glued to the TV tuning into the Golden Knights skate onto the ice and your anticipation builds moments before the puck drops, your ears are greeted by the voice of the broadcast, Dave Goucher. Goucher started his career as a young kid announcing anything he could.
The now VGK television play-by-play announcer started his career in radio right after hist time at Boston University in the minor leagues and eventually worked his way up to the Boston Bruins. When the opportunity had approached him about joining the first ever professional team broadcast in Las Vegas, Goucher instantly knew it was a special opportunity. Fast forward to now, with his designated seat in section 16, where he continues to bring the game alive to fans in their own home.
What was your journey like to get to where you are today?
Dave Goucher: Very long. I did seven years in the minor leagues. Two in Wheeling, West Virginia was where I started, right out of Boston University, five with the Providence Bruins, which was kind of my hometown AHL team and then 17 years doing the radio for the Bruins. So, 24 years of radio by the time I got this job. By the time I got this job, I had that feeling of what's next? And I had that for a while. So, for me, what's next was television. I wasn't going to just pick up and go anywhere to do TV, but when this became an option, the first ever major league team in Vegas, therefore to be a part of the first TV team for a major league franchise here, that was something so incredibly different. When this became an option there was no way I was going to pass it up.
What was the reason why you initially wanted to get involved in sports journalism and broadcast journalism?
Dave Goucher: I had played hockey from the time I was five through prep school, and then I was the last cut on the JV team at BU. I had a couple of bad injuries. I always thought as a kid how cool it was that the broadcasters get to go to the games for free, and they get to travel, and you get a pretty good seat, and they pay you to do it. I thought to myself, that's a good job, but I didn't know what it entailed. I didn't have anybody, family, friends, nobody in the business. My cousins would tell you that I was the kid when we were playing street hockey or wiffle ball in my house, I would be announcing the games as they were going on. I have always loved the game since I started playing, but playing wasn't an option anymore. I thought, well, I'd like to try to stay involved in the game somehow. And the only thing I really thought might even be a viable option was broadcasting.
You and Shane announce the broadcast right in the middle of the action in section 16 and it's a cool aspect where you're so open to fans. What is your favorite part about being in that area?
DG: A couple things. One is you can actually see the game. There's a lot of buildings where it's like you're on the surface of the moon, and it's a challenge, especially now when you're high up and back. Also, it's just the energy that comes with that location, the energy of the crowd, every game during the anthem, where everybody chants 'Knight!' I take my headset off just so I can hear the crowd yell it, because I'm standing right in the middle of it, so those were the two best things. It’s just the energy that comes with it and doing a game. I think it's just the reality of the business. Now, when you're high up, you tend to be almost a little detached from the game because you're so far away. At T-Mobile Arena, you're about as in the game as you can be. You can be right in the middle of everything, which is great.
How has Shane and your relationship evolved since days in Boston to today?
DG: It's changed a lot. Shane never talked to me back then. He wouldn't talk to the radio schmuck of the Bruins. No, I'm just joking around. It's funny when I called a lot of Shane's games, whether he was playing for the Bruins or playing for somebody else, I would see him only two or three times a year back then, and we always would have good conversations, like at the morning skate, before the game and then I would see some of his highlights on NHL Network and I thought it then, and I think it now. He's a natural at it. It's funny because it felt there was instant chemistry from the first period of the first game we played. I remember after the first period, we both took off the headphones and we were like, wow, that wasn't terrible. Pretty much from that, that period on, that's what it's been, I think it's just grown. Our relationship has grown to be pretty special and unique over the last seven years.
What are fun facts that people don't know about you?
DG: Well, the music part. It's kind of developed a lot over the last three years, because I've been in the band for three years, but I played guitar for the last, I'd say 16 or 17, years. It's a great release for me. It's completely different from what I do for a living, and I like that. It’s kind of a guilty pleasure. I can't remember a time where music wasn't a huge part of my life, but it's one thing to sit in your music room and play, and it's another thing to be in a band. So that's been a huge learning experience for me. I think you need a release from what you do for a living. I know I love what I do, and I love the game, but there's got to be more to life than just that. I do like to just kind of unplug from it for a little bit. I'm lucky I'm able to do it. I realize that a lot of people can't do that. So, the fact that I can get away for the summer and just sit there and then my attention deficit disorder kicks in, and I got to go do something and I've been told that I can't sit still. I try to prove that wrong, sometimes with varying degrees of success.
What has been your favorite memory or one of your favorite memories so far since the team has started?
DG: That's a good question. Well, the Cup and to be there and see them winning the Cup was an incredible experience. It was also a little bit strange because we weren't broadcasting the game. During the finals, we traveled, and we were at all the games, but to just see that celebration and have it happen so quickly, I think that was it, and then the parade. To see the parade down at the Strip with a quarter of a million people. It's unbelievable. I just remember being up on the stage, as far as you could see, it was just a sea of people. It was unbelievable. I think of that experience and then probably another memory was after those shootings on October 1st. I remember Shane and I talked about it before the first game and I remembered thinking, well, maybe we can just help people forget about it. I don't want to say that's certainly not a favorite memory, but that jumps out at me that we had an opportunity, at least to try to, take the focus away from all that pain for a couple hours a day. And hopefully we were able to do that.
What is a piece of advice that you were given early on your career that you still hold onto today?
DG: Hang in there. If this is what you really wanted to do, then you really must go after it. Look, if you really want to do this, you really must be committed to picking up and moving to wherever the job is and to have some patience. You see other people get jobs in the NHL, and I thought, look, I'm not the best and I'm not the worst, but I'm better than that guy. What I learned as I got a little bit older, it's not always about how good you are. There comes a point, and I tell kids this now but there becomes a point. It's not about talent. It's about an opportunity. There's got to be the right opportunity for you. This could take a while, have some patience and really go after it if you want to do it. I have tried to adhere to all those things. The patience thing is, the one I have, tend to have an ongoing struggle with. But as I've gotten older, I've tried to get a little better at it as I approach retirement.
What are you most excited for looking forward to this season?
DG: I'm looking forward to a little bit of the unknown because they've had a lot of guys leave from last year, but I still think they're in a good spot to make a good run. So that is one of the things I like about what I do is the unknown to an extent. You can think you're going to know how a game is going to go, or how a season is going to go, but you never really know. That's what I love about what I do the most is every game is a new adventure. There's a lot of jobs that it's basically the same every day, you do your thing and the world's built on that. I'm lucky enough that mine's a little different. These guys will have have had plenty of time to rest and recover and re-energize themselves, so hopefully that puts them in a good spot.
Remember you can keep up with Dave Goucher on air as you listen and watch throughout the season on VegasGoldenKnights.com, Vegas34 and partner channels and on KnightTime+.
