I'll begin this post by featuring Dan Parkhurst (left), the play by play voice of UNH hockey and arguably one of the most committed and hardest working people in the college hockey game today. Dan's work not only can be seen and heard on a local basis and within Hockey East, but also on a national level as he can frequently be seen calling games on the NBC Sports Network and has been paired with former Boston Bruin and BC radio analyst Ken Hodge, Jr.
Dan's broadcasting career has spanned over two decades. An attendee and 1993 graduate of UNH, he began by calling UNH games on student radio. In the 1997-98 season he called the Hockey East Online Game of the Week, which to this day was one of the first online broadcasts of college hockey on the Internet.
He then made a stop in North Andover and had a three year run at Merrimack College from 1998-2001 and additionally called selected UNH hockey games for New Hampshire Public Television. It was during these times that Dan was paired with Mike Machnik, the current color commentator for Merrimack hockey (see Mike's entry here). Dan then became the full time voice on NHPTV, and remained in that role until 2008 when the station dropped its coverage of UNH hockey.
Dan was named the voice of UNH hockey in 2007 and has also combined his radio work with doing UNH games on television broadcasts which are produced by UNH athletics. These broadcasts are shown both locally on WBIN television as well as nationally on various outlets, most notably on FOX College Sports. Dan also has called tournament games for ESPNU and NESN over his illustrious career.
Dan also has been the website designer and coordinator of the Hockey East website for the past 18 years and has been instrumental in promoting the league through merchandising sales of college hockey gear. And he was named the 22nd annual winner of the distinguished Joe Concannon Media Award in 2013 for outstanding service to college hockey through media work.
Additionally, Dan and I share a common bond- playing music. He is very active as a musician and is quite good at it. His daughter Riley is an accomplished musician as well and she plays out frequently at various locations. Here is a clip of the two of them performing live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpIofcOiIW0.
Dan retired from UNH hockey at the conclusion of the 2015-16 season, calling his final game with Pete Webster on the campus of Merrimack College, as the Wildcats were eliminated by the Warriors in three games in the opening round of the Hockey East playoffs.
Dan's partner on the call of UNH hockey is a man who has been a huge part of UNH hockey for the past three decades, Pete Webster. Pete's roots in the game go back to his days as an intern at the ECAC. He has been behind the mike for 22 years. Pete began his career on the air with UNH during the 1992-93 season and was named full time analyst in January of 1994.
Pete has been on the radio for two national championship games at UNH. He has called two Frozen Fours, in Anaheim, CA, and Buffalo, NY. Some other highlights of Pete's career included being at the mike for UNH's 2009 NCAA regional come from behind win over North Dakota and the 1998 Regional Final win over BU that vaulted the Wildcats into their first Frozen Four since 1979. He also has been a huge asset assisting the UNH athetic department with media relations work.
Pete is a middle school instructor at York Middle School in Maine and is active in the coaching of youth and public school sports, and is the varsity tennis coach at York High School, a position he has held for over 20 years.
Pete was honored with the reception of the Concannon Media Award in 2014, the year after Dan's acceptance of the award, making it two consecutive years for a UNH recipient and becoming the third person associated with UNH to receive the award. Pete became the 23rd person overall to accept the award since it's inaugural winner in 1992 (Maine's Larry Mahoney).
I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Dan and Pete's work and have followed them for as long as I've been in the league. Here is a clip of their work from a recent 3-0 win over Merrimack at the Whittemore Center:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkgeoexgR2A
And a second clip from the same weekend against Merrimack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v2Ul4rxiyw
And finally here is a clip of Dan calling a goal in the NCAA Regionals in March 2015 in a game between BU and Minnesota Duluth:
"https://www.facebook.com/dan.parkhurst.125/videos/vb.100007560494300/1593402817588386/?type=2&theater"
To tune in to Dan and Pete on the call of UNH hockey, their voices can be heard on the Wildcat Sports Network, which is comprised of three stations on the dial: WPKX (AM 930) in the Dover-Portsmouth-Rochester area, WQSO-FM 93.7 in the same region, and WGIR-AM (610) in Manchester. Check for those stations also on the TuneIn radio app for your phones and tablets.
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