Dan Rusanowsky, the radio play-by-play voice of the San Jose Sharks since the team’s inception in 1991, has been named the newest recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster.
Rusanowsky, who has called 2,411 regular season Sharks games and has been behind the microphone for all 241 of the team’s playoff games, will receive his award at the Hockey Hall of Fame NHL Media Awards Luncheon in Toronto on Nov. 13.
Chuck Kaiton, president of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association, called Rusanowsky earlier this week to him know he was receiving the award.
“It totally caught me by surprise,” Rusanowsky said. “I was really thrown for a loop on it and it was pretty amazing.”
“It’s the highest honor that a hockey broadcaster can get. It’s right at the top.”
Longtime sports journalist Mark Mulvoy, who went on to become the youngest managing editor in Sports Illustrated’s history, will be the recipient the of Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for excellence in hockey journalism.
Rusanowsky’s and Mulvoy’s award plaques will be displayed in the Great Hall at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto alongside past award recipients.
Recipients of these awards, as selected by their respective associations, are recognized by the Hockey Hall of Fame as Media Honorees — a separate distinction from individuals inducted as Honored Members. For instance, former Sharks player and general manager Doug Wilson was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020 and is an Honored Member.
Rusanowsky, 62, broadcast the first-ever Sharks game on Oct. 4, 1991, in Vancouver, and his 2,000th Sharks game on Jan. 16, 2018, in Arizona.
Rusanowsky directs the Sharks Audio Network, contributes to the team’s official game program, and provides regular columns and broadcast reports for sjsharks.com.
A native of Connecticut, Rusanowsky began his broadcast career as the voice of St. Lawrence University’s NCAA Division I hockey program and the American Hockey League’s New Haven Nighthawks.
The Foster Hewitt Memorial Award is named in honor of the late “Voice of Hockey” in Canada and was first presented in 1984 by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association in recognition of members of the radio and television industry who have made outstanding contributions to their profession and to the game of hockey.
Other recipients of the award include former Montreal Canadiens broadcasters Danny Gallivan, Rene Lecavalier, and Dick Irvin, former St. Louis Blues play-by-play voice Dan Kelly, longtime Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Bob Cole and former Los Angeles Kings play-by-play voice Bob Miller.
“To be put in that group, I don’t know how to describe this, it’s just surreal,” Rusanowsky said. “It’s a tremendous honor, not only for me personally but to represent the San Jose Sharks in that group.”
On Nov. 25, 2000, Rusanowsky was involved in a near-fatal car accident. Another vehicle ran a red light and hit the side of Rusanowski’s car, causing him numerous injuries, including a partially collapsed lung, a ruptured diaphragm, a fractured left femur, a cracked pelvis, and cracked ribs.
Remarkably, Rusanowsky returned to play-by-play duties on Dec. 30 of that year. In his 31 seasons with the Sharks, Rusanowsky has missed just 27 games.
In 2013, Rusanowsky was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in the sports category. In 2019, he was presented with the Sherwood Award through the California Historical Radio Society and the Bay Area Hall of Fame as the “most popular” in the Bay Area sports category.
“I wanted to come here and make San Jose my home and it became my home very quickly,” Rusanowsky said. “The privilege of being able to broadcast any games in the NHL is of a very high level, but to do over 2,400 regular season games with one franchise is more than special.”
TRANSACTIONS: Goalie Ben Gaudreau and forwards Liam Gilmartin and Max McCue — all drafted by the Sharks in 2021 — were not tendered bona fide contract offers by the team and will re-enter the NHL Draft. Thursday was the deadline for NHL teams to make offers to certain draft picks to retain their negotiation rights.
Players who were tendered offers by the Sharks were defensemen Eli Barnett, Michael Fisher, and Jake Furlong, forwards Reese Laubach and Joey Muldowney, and goalie Mason Beaupit.
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