Dear NHL, Do The Right Thing: It Would Be A Travesty If Anyone Besides Joe B And Locker Were On The Call For Ovi's Record Breaking Goal

Understandably, the NHL has poached 3 Caps games to put on national television in case Ovi breaks Gretzky's record during one of those games. Honestly, I'm surprised they aren't taking...all of them? I mean, nothing is going to do higher ratings than any game Ovi is skating in from here on out, nevermind when he's only 5 away and down. Them taking March 27, April 12, and April 17 is fine and dandy, but the games in between should be seen by the entire world too.

The Caps have 24 games remaining and Ovi needs 12 to hit 895 and hold the record. Here is the remaining schedule for him:

So 12 games from now would be at home vs Florida, 13 and 14 at Winnipeg and Minnesota, the latter of which is the first flexed primetime game. That is assuming basically a 1 goal a game pace, more or less. 

The games I have my eyes on is 4/4, 4/6, and 4/10. I mean…he can't score every night…can he? It's so crazy because we literally are seeing him do that right now, so who knows! It's all so god damn exciting. And meanwhile the Caps are the best team in the league too. It's obviously not going to get the same attention as McGwire's HR chase or Bonds passing Aaron, but this is SO AWESOME and I hope people are loving it. 

Ok so I say all that to say this- It will be a damn shame and an absolute travesty if Joe B and Locker aren't on the call when he breaks the record. If you don't know who they are, they are the play by play and color commentator who have been with the Caps for decades, and nearly every game of Ovechkin's career. The NHL is a business and blah blah blah, I get them wanting the games on the national broadcast and you can't argue against that, but they can take Joe B and Locker with them. They are 2 of the best, if not THE best, in the league as it is. And yeah maybe it'll be slightly homerish on a national call, but shit, tune into 1 Rangers nationally televised game, bias city like you read about. And hardcore hockey fans love to talk about how "hockey is different" and "just means more" and a bunch of things like that, and to a degree, they are right. So the NHL should do the right thing and let the people who have called his entire career call his biggest goal. These tweets sum it up well:

This record is for Ovi, the team, the city, the fans, and everyone who has followed his career every day for 19 seasons. Not for a national broadcast team that declared Ovi "done" 10 years ago and would rather slurp the Pens or Rangers at any given second. 

For such a monumental goal to be called by anyone other than the voices of Ovi's career would be absolutely criminal. Hopefully the NHL does the right thing.

PS: Just a little side story since this is probably only being read by Caps fans- I have been lucky enough to have dinner with Joe B and Locker twice and I promise they are even more delightful in person than you already think. Joe B is just such a national treasure of a human, and Locker is 10x even funnier when the cameras are off. So grateful I've been able to meet them and listen to their stories.