Cheers to Rids as he enters his 45th season as the voice of the Tigers
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| Play-by-play man Bob Ridley at the wheel of the Medicine Hat Tigers' bus |
It is a site that has
occurred for over four decades at the start of every Western Hockey League
season, and if it was possible, it would be cool if it could go on forever.
Tonight, the Medicine Hat Tigers
will step on the ice to open their 45th regular season in franchise
history. At the same time, Bob Ridley will step into the broadcast booth and
begin his 45th season as the team’s play-by-play voice.
Between the regular season and
post-season, Ridley has called all but one of the Tigers games. After Medicine
Hat was eliminated by the eventual Memorial Cup champion Edmonton Oil Kings in
the WHL’s Eastern Conference championship series in April, Ridley had called 3,545
of the Tigers games in the regular season and playoffs.
That total includes calling 3,147 of
the team’s 3,148 regular season games, all 378 of the club’s contests in the
WHL playoffs and all 20 contests the team has played in the Memorial Cup
tournament.
Of course, the added kicker is the
fact Ridley drove the team bus for almost all of that time outside of about a
couple of years. On top of that, he also never made himself that big of deal,
and took the accolades that came his way in a humble manner. In a reality, Ridley is a WHL legend and icon.
It is almost impossible to imagine a
media person working that many contests following around one team in this
current day and age, and Ridley is set to build on those totals. To put his
totals into perspective, you would have to cover five full regular seasons
worth of games to even come close to Ridley’s WHL playoff total, and you would
still be short of that by 18 contests.
Besides having good fortune go your
way in the work environment to get to that total, Ridley has never had any
serious health problems that could threaten his ability to call games.
Actually, his health is so good that you almost can’t imagine the day when he
wouldn’t be calling Tigers games.
The Tigers open their season by
traveling to Lethbridge tonight to take on the Hurricanes to mark Ridley’s
3,546th game. On Saturday, the Tabbies return home to host the
Hurricanes to start the 45th and final season for The Arena.
That old barn that has seen a few
legendary games including the Tigers’ Game 7 win of the WHL championship
series, where Brennan Bosch scored the deciding goal in a 3-2 double overtime
victory over the Vancouver Giants.
It seems only fitting that Ridley
will get call all the games in the final season of the Tigers long time home.
When the team moves into what will be the newly built Medicine Hat Regional
Event Centre before the start of next season, the press box will be named after
him.
During my 10 years in Medicine Hat, I regret I
never got to visit with Ridley as much as I should have. Ridley was always so
busy with his broadcast responsibilities, and I was always busy with my
responsibilities working for the Medicine Hat News.
We did get to visit after the odd
game and the odd time in summer, when we were both on time off watching the
Medicine Hat Mavericks of the Western Major Baseball League play at Athletic
Park.
During the team’s last playoff run, I
also remember the two of us wandering the upper levels of Rexall Place in
Edmonton being disappointed a few of the restaurants weren’t open for a
pre-game meal just over an hour before puck drop. We both wondered if we got
the game start time wrong, and we might have been at the rink a little too
early. It makes for a good laugh now.
I did make sure to treasure those
visits I had with Rids, and I loved listening to the vast collection of stories
he has to tell. To you Rids, my friend, here is hoping you collect a whole pile
more stories in the Tigers 45th season, and it turns out to be
another memorable and special campaign.
I hope there are still many more seasons
to come.
If you have any feedback on this
blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.
