Pierre McGuire
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Pierre McGuire (born August 8, 1961) is an ice hockey analyst and provides colour commentary for hockey programs on TSN and The NHL on NBC, where he is the lead "Inside the Glass" analyst. He won 2 Stanley Cups as a scout and assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He became a head coach, leading the Hartford Whalers to a 23-37-7 record in 1993-1994 before being replaced by Paul Holmgren the following season. Prior to his coaching career, McGuire played professional hockey in Europe. McGuire also served as colour commentator for the Montreal Canadiens radio broadcasts on CJAD 800 with Dino Cisto before moving to TSN.
Pierre McGuire calls the games along with the play-by-play voice of Gord Miller. He also does special hockey events for TSN, including the NHL Entry Draft, and international events like the IIHF World Junior Championships. McGuire is known for his signature catch-phrase "WHAMMO!" and is an unyielding fan of Dion Phaneuf. To go with his in-your-face personality, he hosts as segment on TSN known as McGuire's Monsters. A 'Monster' is someone who may not be the best player, but loves to hit and cares about his teammates. McGuire's Monster of the Week (or Month or Year) is a distinction going to the player with the highest combined total of hits, blocked shots, and goals. Despite his short broadcasting tenure, McGuire has already joined the ranks of Don Cherry and Brian Williams as one of Canada's most outspoken sports personalities.
Quickly becoming the voice of the new National Hockey League (post-lockout), McGuire has been outspoken as an advocate of removing the red line and allowing skilled players to play a skilled game without clutching and grabbing impeding them. His progressive views of hockey have him campaigning for all players to wear partial visors and for hockey to ban fighting. With respect to fighting, McGuire has professed that he loves this aspect of the game but he believes for the game to sell in the United States and for the game to progress, this aspect of the game must be removed. McGuire's outspoken nature provided one of the more interesting stories during the 2004-05 NHL hockey lockout. After McGuire boasted that, if asked to vote privately, more than 70% of NHL players would accept an owner-imposed salary cap, NHL player Tie Domi countered that McGuire was completely off-base. In fact, Domi proceeded to not only discount the analyst's claims, but he assassinated McGuire's character by going on a national sports radio program in Canada and bringing up negative points about McGuire and his history as a coach and broadcaster. McGuire later retracted part of his claim by saying he never should have given a percentage but that he still believed strongly that assertion was true. McGuire was ultimately vindicated when 87% of players accepted the new collective bargaining agreement at the end of the lockout, which did include a cap.[1]
Amidst his busy schedule, McGuire also writes for Sports Illustrated and provides frequent commentary on New York's WFAN, Ottawa radio station, the Team 1200, SensUnderground an Ottawa Senators fan podcast, and Montreal's Team 990 where he can be heard on the Mitch Melnick show.
[edit] The Carey Price Incident
At the 2005 NHL entry draft, McGuire got into a minor controversy for alleged racist remarks. When the Montreal Canadiens selected goaltender Carey Price 5th overall, to the surprise of most people, McGuire claimed "that's right off the reservation". McGuire later explained that it was a little known saying similar to "out of left field", meaning no one expected it. However, it was soon noted that Price was part Native Canadian, leading some to accuse McGuire of using "right off the reservation" as a way to make fun of Price's background.
- ^ Faceoff 2004-05: Lockout chronology. CBC Sports Online (July 13, 2005). Retrieved on July 21, 2006.
