Play By Play: A chat with Hurricanes broadcaster John Forslund

In my mind, when I turn on a nationally televised game in the states, I want the voice coming out of my TV with the game description to be that of John Forslund.

You may ask, "Why John?" Well, it's partially mechanical as far as our shared craft is concerned. It's the flow, the cadence, the methodical energy level he brings to a game. John is never too over the top and as he puts it himself in our chat on the first edition of "Play By Play," "I will never sell a goal down, never sell a save down."

John explains he learned that part of the art of calling a game from none other than one the greats Dan Kelly. For the record, Dan is also one of my favorites and for the very same reasons John shared with me during our conversation. Dan had a flow to his call that let you ride along with what was happening on the ice.

The highlight internationally of Dan Kelly's career was the 1987 Canada Cup. Mr. Kelly's call of "Gretzky to Lemieux…" is simple yet powerful and iconic without going over the top to steal the moment from what it was: a great hockey play made by two of the games all-time greats.

John says he fell in love with the idea of hockey play by play specifically, at a very young age. As a teenager, he would sit and watch games on TV and call them onto a tape recorder in his living room, with his dad as the color commentator!

It was during these early years he first became aware of Dan Kelly as he watched the 1970 Bruins win the Stanley Cup with Kelly calling the series for CBS. That series is best remembered for the imagery of Bobby Orr flying through the air after scoring the Cup-winning goal against the St Louis Blues 40 seconds into overtime.

Another name John brought up during out chat of people he liked to watch or listen to was Tim Ryan. Like Kelly, Ryan is also Canadian born. Tim worked on NBC's NHL broadcasts and called three Stanley Cup Finals. Ryan also held the radio play-by-play job with the California Golden Seals, before moving onto the Rangers then Islanders broadcasts.

During our conversation, John and I discuss the 2005-06 Stanley Cup playoffs, specifically the Eastern Conference Finals between Buffalo and Carolina. That series is re-airing each weeknight at 8 p.m. on MSG as part of "Sabres Classics."