SEATTLE -- Eddie and Nick Olczyk, father and son, share the same favorite Winter Classic memory.
Jan. 1, 2009. Wrigley Field in Chicago. Detroit Red Wings against the Chicago Blackhawks. The NHL's second Winter Classic.
"Being in Buffalo for the first one, seeing Sid as 'Doc' [Emrick] said, 'With the game on his stick,' stickhandling through snowbanks, and there's Ryan Miller with the toque on over the mask, that was obviously awesome," Eddie said Saturday. "But going back home and doing a Red Wings-Blackhawks game at Wrigley, and being a diehard Cubs fan, yeah that's the one for me. I've pretty much done them all, but that one for me is certainly at the top of my list."
Eddie, then 42, was perched on the risers in short centerfield calling the game on television with Dave Strader for NBC. Nick, then 13, was 16 rows up behind the first base dugout, a Blackhawks fan in the stands mesmerized by where he was and what he was watching.
It was a home game for both Chicago born and raised Olczyks in their favorite ballpark. The only negative was the end result; Detroit 6, Chicago 4.
"It almost wasn't real life for me," Nick said. "I was into baseball and going to Cubs games, and there was nothing better than being at Wrigley Field on an 85-degree Chicago summer day with a blue sky, chomping down on a hot dog. And now, all of a sudden, you have a hockey rink in the middle of the field and instead of a hot dog, it's hot chocolate. I remember the spectacle. I remember looking around and thinking I don't know how they do this, but it's breathtaking. I was this little kid in this big world, and it was unbelievable."
Fourteen years later, Eddie and Nick will experience their second "home" Winter Classic together, when they are both on the mic for the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Park on Monday (3 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX, truTV, SN, TVAS).
Eddie will be in the Seattle Mariners' television booth calling the game for TNT with Kenny Albert, Brian Boucher, Darren Pang and Jackie Redmond. Nick will be on the glass on the penalty box side doing color commentary alongside broadcaster John Forslund for Sports USA Radio.
Eddie and Nick are both part of the Kraken's local television broadcasts on ROOT Sports; Nick on a full-time basis and Eddie for between 45-50 games a year because of his national television schedule.
They share an apartment in nearby Bellevue, about 11 miles from T-Mobile Park.
"We're all day to day in the big picture and you just don't know what opportunities or what lies ahead, and when you get an opportunity to be front and center and to share it with your son or with your dad, those are priceless moments and those are things that nobody could ever take away," Eddie said. "To be able to be in the same venue, him on radio and getting that opportunity, and obviously me with TNT, it's just something that you're very thankful for."
They did this last year at the Winter Classic at Fenway Park too, with Eddie calling the game for TNT and Nick for Sports USA radio.
But this year, it just feels different, mainly because the Olczyks have been here to witness the rise of the Kraken.
Eddie and Nick both came to Seattle at the start of last season after working for the Blackhawks in 2021-22, the Kraken's first season as the NHL's 32nd franchise. They joined Ricky Olczyk, Eddie's younger brother and, of course, Nick's uncle, who is an assistant general manager for the Kraken. Eddie Olczyk, Jr., Eddie's oldest son and, yes, of course, Nick's oldest brother, is one of Seattle's amateur scouts, but he is not based here.
"The thing that has been most special for me has been how I've been able to see the city kind of wrap around the event," Nick said. "I've been very fortunate to make a lot of great friends around town, some with a hockey background, majority not. Whenever I tell them the Winter Classic is here, the initial response is, 'What's that?' Instead of going on a long spiel, I just say, 'Imagine a National Hockey League game being played in a baseball stadium.' The immediate response is, 'How is that even possible?' The coolest part for me is being able to spread the word around town, and the word has spread, and then to see the city take to the game, which is a celebration of the game and the history."
Eddie grew up in an Original Six market and played for three Original Six teams in the Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs during a career that spanned 16 years from 1984-2000 and 1,031 games. But he's been struck by Seattle's hockey fever too, feeling it especially now as the Winter Classic approaches.
"It's an unbelievable sports city and the people are all in," Eddie said. "The people here are lathered up for the Winter Classic. They've been buying the gear. It's been flying off the shelves. To be able to have a marquee game like this and introduce or re-introduce the Seattle market and the Kraken to the rest of the country and the world, it's only a positive for the game and obviously, a huge positive for the brand here, the franchise."
It's a major moment for the Olczyks too. They'll share the same grand stage not far from the apartment they share together, each expecting to have their next favorite Winter Classic memory when it's all said and done.
"When I was younger and I would go to Hawks games or any games that he would broadcast, we always had this little thing," Nick said. "I would wait for that one text from him, and it was just one word and it said, 'Wave.' He would look down at me and wave. I would look up and wave back. We did one of those at Wrigley. It was a really special moment.
"To be able to spend this time with him now, going to dinners, watching hockey together and being able to work around one another, it really is a dream come true, honestly. I don't think this is anything you can script. I don't think it's anything you can even wish for."
