The Hockey Show(s)

Thanks, the callers say to 98.5’s The Hockey Show hosts, for finally bringing hockey talk to Boston radio.

I’m glad that the Sports Hub has Dave “Left to Right Across Your Radio” Goucher and Bob “Blueliner” Beers—the B’s announcers since 2000—to dispense their vast and intimate knowledge to a wider audience. B’s fans deserve it.

But hockey talk on the radio is not new to Boston.

I miss the New England Hockey Journal Radio Show (NEHJRS) and hosts Mick “Doc5 Hole” Colageo and Kevin Paul “Hub of Hockey” Dupont. These lads lamented and lauded the local club on ESPN Boston 890, which recently signed off the airwaves. Mick and Dupes served as a lifeline to hardcore hockey fans not only here in the Hub but also to those listening, via the Internet, from far and wide.

I miss the other callers like "Michael from Brookline", “V”, and "Kevin from Melrose"; the great guests, Kirk Luedeke and “Cap” Raeder; and the trivia questions that Mick would concoct and that often had more than one correct answer (often one he hadn’t considered). Even the old school commercials—no frills, just Mick or Dupes reading the script—were entertaining (Mick touting the turkey tips at The Fours). And I’ll miss the end-to-end appreciation for music, including the song that ended the NEHJRS’s run: Bono belting out one of Dupes’s favorites, “Beautiful Day”.

You too? Do you miss it?

I hope the NEHJRS was a vital part of your Saturdays. But, if not, at least you know that the NEHJRS was a haven for some of us, a place that has been replaced (so far, so good boys) but not forgotten.