McKnight's book on hockey voices comes to audio

In the summer of 2017, current Wahkiakum County Eagle Editor Kirk McKnight was living in Las Vegas and waiting with bated breath for the hockey season to begin. A month earlier, McKnight witnessed the players who would comprise the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights get drafted one by one. However, McKnight's book, "The Voices of Hockey: Broadcasters Reflect on the Fastest Game on Earth," had already been on bookstore shelves for over a year. "As happy as I was to have another book deal with a publisher, I couldn't help but sit and wonder what if the timing had been a little better," said McKnight. "I grew up in Vegas, and the city had never been given a sports team at the highest level. They awarded us an expansion in June of 2016 and, by that time, my book was already in the editor's hands and coming out two months later. A year later, I asked the publisher for the audio rights to the book because I knew I would be writing a chapter on the Golden Knights eventually." McKnight's book gives a tour through the NHL's history over the past 60 plus years from the perspective of 65 play by play broadcasters.

Having discussed the prospect of being the book's narrator, McKnight's brother-in-law, Chuck Bowler, admitted it was something he had always wanted to do. "The guy's voice is so smooth," McKnight said of Bowler. "I had already interviewed people like Vin Scully, Bob Costas, Bob Uecker, Joe Buck, and both Marv and Kenny Albert and couldn't help but think Chuck would be the perfect option to read "The Voices of Hockey." I sent my agent a demo of him reading one of the book's chapters and, within a week, she was lining him up to read all her other clients' books."

While Bowler was readying himself to eventually read his book, McKnight was taking advantage of the delay, interviewing more broadcasters and getting up-to-date content. "Since the original edition of the book came out, not only have two new teams come into the NHL, but four teams who had never won the Stanley Cup were finally earning themselves a championship," said McKnight. "Even after interviewing 65 broadcasters, I still get people asking, 'Why didn't you interview this guy?' The hockey crowd is a tough one, so I had to do what I could to best represent each team. Most books focus on a single team. This one focuses on all 32, plus a few more that are no longer around."

Estimating over two and a half millennia worth of professional experience is shared among the 65 broadcasters in his book, McKnight opted to gather hockey's most memorable and, at times, craziest moments from these familiar voices. "One chapter of the book has a mascot nearly dying of asphyxiation in a Zamboni to begin it and a goaltending coach coming out of the crowd and suiting up mid-game to beat the home team to end it," said McKnight. "Players have nearly died out there as well. Fans have spilled onto the ice and players have gone into the stands, and we're talking at the game's highest level. The movie 'Slapshot' may make you think this stuff only happens in the minor leagues, but history has proven otherwise."

Beginning with a young Bob Costas fleeing for his life to escape an unruly Johnstown crowd and concluding with the Seattle Kraken eliminating the defending champions from the playoffs, McKnight's book is full of stories that show why hockey really is "the fastest game on Earth."

"When an eventual Hall of Famer like Chicago's Pat Foley looks up from the action and thinks to himself, 'Really? This is how it works up here,' you know this sport is worth the price of admission," said McKnight. "With Chuck's inflection and my improvement as a writer over the past few years, this is the most confident I've ever been in a production I've been part of, and that includes as a musician."

The audio edition of "The Voices of Hockey: Broadcasters Reflect on the Fastest Game on Earth" is available on Apple Books, as well as Audible and other markets where audiobooks are sold. McKnight's other book, "The Voices of Baseball: The Game's Greatest Broadcasters Reflect on America's Pastime," is available on Amazon as well.