Name: Dave Randorf is the Lightning's new play-by-play voice
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Dave Randorf is the Lightning's new play-by-play voice

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Jan 7, 2021The first time Dave Randorf called a game in Tampa, he made himself a prescient promise.It was in the spring of 2003 and Randorf was calling games for Canada’s TSN. The Lightning were playing the Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, and had won back to back games after falling behind 0-2. That night, Martin St. Louis scored in triple overtime, and Tampa won the next game to secure its first playoff series victory. The next year, they won the Stanley Cup.“I was blown away by the atmosphere, the fan base, the whole experience,” Randorf recalled. “I’m walking out of the rink, they’re doing the postgame show from an outdoor set. As I’m heading back to the hotel, I looked back at the rink and thought, ‘This is awesome. If Rick Peckham ever decides to retire, I’ve got to look at this.’“I’ve never forgotten that.”So when Peckham retired last summer, Randorf, 53, was quick to apply for the TV play-by-play vacancy. And after a lengthy search, with a few twists and turns, Randorf got the job on New Year’s Eve, giving Tampa Bay their long-awaited replacement for their Hall of Fame voice. Randorf arrived from Toronto Wednesday, was welcomed in his downtown Tampa hotel by a bunch of Lightning gear and a handwritten note by CEO Steve Griggs, who said he’s “thrilled to have Dave join our Fox Sports Sun broadcast team and continue Rick Peckham’s legacy of exciting our fans with legendary calls of Lightning hockey.”Randorf has been broadcasting games for Sportsnet for six years, serving as national play-by-play commentator for Hockey Night in Canada. He’s done All-Star Games, worked multiple , and was TSN’s play-by-play voice for the Montreal Canadiens.“I can’t wait to be part of this team and this community,” Randorf said in a 30-minute chat with The Athletic. “I’m not going to be going back and forth, flying in and out, I’m going to embrace this community, these fans. You talk about the difference of doing national games versus a team, I’m loving the thought of being part of a production that I know who we’re talking to. We’re talking to Lightning fans.“The fans will soon see, I’m just like them. I’m a guy who loves hockey, loves sports. And I’m going to bring my passion every night.”Randorf grew up in the Vancouver suburbs aspiring for a life on the air.But not necessarily in sports.“I wanted to be a DJ,” he said.Randorf is passionate about music, his eclectic taste varying from blues to U2 to Kings of Leon and Eric Church. He went to Ryerson University in Toronto where he serendipitously got his start at age 18 at TSN, which was then just a one-year-old network. Randorf got connected with John Wells, a big name in Canadian sports broadcasting, through family friends. Wells invited Randorf for a tour of the TSN studios.The tour lasted two-to-three minutes, with Wells handing Randorf off to Scott Moore, who was in charge of the show “Sportsdesk.” He also had attended Ryerson. Here is how Randorf recalled it:“Where’s your resume?” Moore asked.“I didn’t bring one,” Randorf replied.“You came to a job interview without a resume?” Moore said.Said Randorf: “I’m just here for the tour.”Moore laughed. “You’re an idiot!”But Randorf got a second chance. Moore told him to write him several voiceover scripts of that night’s Thursday Night NFL game between the Vikings and Bears, and bring the tape to him by 9 a.m. the next morning; this was the 1985 Chicago team that won the Super Bowl. Randorf had been in college for barely a month, and didn’t want to miss class that night.Back then, there was no Internet, no TiVo. Randorf had to go to the video store and rent a machine where he could tape the game.“They were these colossal video machines, like beta machines,” he said. “They were the size of a small car.”Randorf was living in his grandparents’ house in Toronto, and he had to talk his Italian grandmother — who was in her late 70s — into recording the game for him.“I was thinking, ‘This is never going to happen,’” he said.Grandma got the job done. Randorf stayed up until about 3 a.m. re-watching the game, taking 30 pages of notes, did his voiceovers and had the script on Moore’s desk the next day by 9 a.m.Moore looked at Randorf for about 30 seconds and said, “When can you start?”That’s how Randorf got his first job, which was in the newsroom making highlight packages for the Sports Desk, which is now SportsCentre. He thought he had arrived.“I thought, ‘This is it, I’m set for the rest of my life,’” he recalled. “But soon, I gravitated towards on-air work.”Randorf spent the early part of his career in the studio as a host.He went back to Vancouver and was part of the popular late-night show, “The Sports Page,” and did that for six years. He spent more than a decade doing a studio show for the . Then he got hired back by TSN, eventually getting his big break. Randorf was living in Vancouver and got a call by his bosses in Toronto.There was a women’s hockey game in Calgary, the Canadian University Women’s National Championship&nbsp;game. The original play-by-play guy got sick and couldn’t make it. Randorf stepped in, calling the game with Cassie Campbell, who is now on the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The game? Well, it didn’t give Randorf much to work with.“Women’s hockey, has come a long way since this game was played and there wasn’t a lot of national-team level players on the two teams,” Randorf said. “It went into overtime, and the game wasn’t necessarily a Picasso. But we got through it.”A year later, after Randorf had done some junior hockey games and other Canadian events for TSN, which had just landed national rights. He thought he might be able to have a role. But he didn’t expect what happened next.His bosses told him that they’d use two crews, that Gord Miller would be play-by-play for the top crew. They asked Randorf to lead the second.“I was blown away, the most surprised guy in the room,” Randorf said. “I thanked them profusely. And before I left, I told them, ‘I’m going to do my best to prove that you guys did the right thing. But I’ve got zero experience, and this is a big deal. There’s a lot of eyeballs on it. What made you think I could do it?”That’s when TSN exec Rick Briggs-Jude said: “Remember when I called you in a year ago on short notice to do that women’s game? That game was awful. But you made it sound interesting. So if you can do that, you’ve got something.’“It was a real lesson for me at the time that I’ve never forgotten,” Randorf said. “You never know who is watching. You never know who is paying attention. Don’t treat anything like a smaller event, because you never know where it can lead. And ultimately it led to me talking you today and being the voice of the Tampa Bay Lightning.”What made Randorf fall in love with play by play?“I think all play-by-play guys will tell you the same thing — it’s the live aspect of it,” Randorf said. “It’s riding the energy of the crowd. It’s when you got a close game and there’s a lot at stake. It’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs or it’s overtime and it’s a rival and it’s been one of those magical nights It’s just the middle of February but you’ve got a game on your hands and the crowd is going crazy and it’s the adrenaline of being the voice, the soundtrack of the game. There’s a real nostalgic or romantic element to that. ”It’s hard to describe Randorf’s style, as every play-by-play man has their own. Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick has his iconic voice and vocabulary. Peckham had his meticulous preparation and his passion, all the way until his during the Lightning’s overtime winner in Game 5 of the first round against Columbus.Randorf prides himself on his preparation too. He believes it’s the players who are “the show,” not the broadcasters, but the key is blending your own enthusiasm and picking your spots. He takes a few things from his favorite broadcasters, from Bob Cole, “who rode the emotions of the games and knew when to pull it back and push it at appropriate times.” The late Dan Kelly, too, was an idol, the one with Randorf’s favorite call, the 1987 Canada Cup. “The purest and best call ever,” he said.Randorf is used to calling different teams each weekend, when he’d fly from Toronto to Vancouver or other parts of Western Canada. But he’s pumped to put down roots in Tampa and become part of the community. His three sons are college-aged now, with Kyle, 23 and 19-year-old twins Blake and Trevor.Randorf doesn’t know his new partner, Fox Sports Sun color analyst Brian Engblom, very well yet, but the two have been on the phone quite a bit during the process. Engblom, who said this will be his 23rd play-by-play partner over the years, believes the two will work together well.“He’s a good guy and he’s got a great reputation,” Engblom said. “I told him this is one of the best jobs, a plum job, and he’s going to love it.“It’s even better once you get down here.”The Lightning wanted to hire a broadcaster that would not only be talented, but also someone who could be part of the fabric of the fan base and the community, much like Peckham has been the past 25 years. The was delayed at first due to the pandemic, then the Lightning’s run to the Stanley Cup. They They talked with John Forslund, due to timing, wanting to keep his options open. The Lightning also touched base with their former radio voice, John Ahlers, who is now with the Anaheim Ducks.Randorf said he had several interviews over Zoom with the Lightning, talking with Griggs and executive VP for communications Bill Wickett. When the search started, Wickett said they were looking for a quality broadcaster and personality, someone who wants to be a big part of the community, “someone that our fans will be proud to call one of their own.”The Lightning believes Randorf checks all those boxes. And while the veteran broadcaster knows he can’t replace Peckham, he’s honored to be given the chance.“I know this is a big decision,” Randorf said. I know Rick has been here for decades and, I mean, . He calls an overtime goal to clinch a series. It was the play-by-play equivalent of a walk-off grand slam home run in Game 7 of the World Series. He knows his career is going to end in this moment, he wants it to be clean. And he’s doing it off a monitor from a building that’s thousands of miles away. And he nails it. Talk about a mic drop.“I’m very proud to be following him. I’ll try to bring as much passion and professionalism as he did night in and night out.”(Top photo: Courtesy of Dave Randorf)

Jan 7, 2021The first time Dave Randorf called a game in Tampa, he made himself a prescient promise.It was in the spring of 2003 and Randorf was calling games for Canada’s TSN. The Lightning were playing the Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, and had won back to back games after falling behind 0-2. That night, Martin St. Louis scored in triple overtime, and Tampa won the next game to secure its first playoff series victory. The next year, they won the Stanley Cup.“I was blown away by the atmosphere, the fan base, the whole experience,” Randorf recalled. “I’m walking out of the...

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Dave Randorf is the Lightning's new play-by-play voice

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