Next Season Will Be Last Call For Blackhawks Broadcaster Foley

CHICAGO — Pat Foley, whose voice has become synonymous with dramatic Chicago Blackhawks moments "for well over a generation" and during the stretch when the team won three Stanley Cup titles in six years, will work a reduced number of games in what will be his final season behind the mic beginning this fall, the Blackhawks announced Wednesday.

The upcoming season will be Foley’s 39th calling hockey and will include the Wilmette native and 2002 Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame inductee’s broadcasting “a portion” of Blackhawks games during the 2021-22 season, the team said in a news release. The Blackhawks said that Foley will be honored throughout the season before he hands off his play-by-play duties to a successor which has not yet been named.

The Hawks said that a search for a new play-by-play announcer is currently underway and that an update will be provided at an appropriate time.

“Any kid who eats, breathes and sleeps sports, grows up wanting to play for their hometown team,” Foley said a prepared statement on Wednesday. “Thankfully for me, I realized early on that my playing career wouldn’t last beyond intramurals and that broadcasting was the next best thing to staying around the game.”

Foley said in the statement that he has been in conversations with the Blackhawks about his future. He said that he could not guarantee that he would like to continue beyond the end of his contract, which runs out next season.

Foley called Blackhawks games between 1980 and 2006 before his contract was not renewed after he had a falling out with team officials, The Chicago Tribune reported. The broadcaster whose career began in the International Hockey League in Grand Rapids, Mich., was the voice of the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves for two seasons before Foley in 2013, which was his 30thseason broadcasting Blackhawks games.

“Pat Foley has been synonymous with Chicago Blackhawks hockey for well over a generation,” Hawks chairman Rocky Wirtz said in a prepared statement on Wednesday. “We are thankful for the memories that Pat created for our fans throughout the years, and he will continue to be part of the Blackhawks family.”

Foley has been paired with Eddie Olczyk for broadcasts on NBC Sports Chicago and has been calling Hawks road games remotely from the United Center during the coronavirus pandemic. The set-up led to a controversial moment for Foley this past season when he made an off-hand remark in the season finale when Foley said, “Had I been traveling with the team this year, I might have put a bullet in my head.”

Foley then issued an apology to “anyone he may have offended” after the comment drew sharp criticism from fans on social media. The Blackhawks issued a strong reprimand of Foley a day later, calling the comments “an absolutely unacceptable choice of words that trivialized mental health and suicide” and said that team officials would be speaking with Foley about the matter.

The momentary lapses in judgement have been outnumbered by the memorable moments Foley has had, especially in recent years when he was part of so many moments that were part of the Blackhawks Stanley Cup championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

“Pat Foley is not just a legendary broadcaster and great partner in the booth, but I’m proud to say he is an even better friend,” Olczyk said in a statement Wednesday. “I’m so happy for him to be able to go out on his own terms and so proud of what he has accomplished. Pat Foley will always be the voice of Blackhawks hockey."