Play-by-play great Jim Hughson misses the rinks

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Hughson, who was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame last week, says he was on the road for 45 straight days during the NHL playoffs

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Published Oct 27, 2025 • 5 minute read

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B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Jim Hughson speaks in the Norm Jewison Media Room at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on January 31, 2012. B.C. Sports Hall of Fame inductee Jim Hughson speaks in the Norm Jewison Media Room at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on January 31, 2012. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNGArticle content

Jim Hughson misses calling hockey games from time to time. He doesn’t miss hockey travel one bit.

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“When the Four Nations final was on, I remembering thinking that it would be really fun to call,” said Hughson, 69, the former play-by-play man for the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Hockey Night in Canada who ended his 42-year broadcast career just before the 2021-22 NHL season.

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“Then I thought about how I would have been up yesterday at 4 a.m., on a flight at 6 a.m. and then changing planes in Toronto on my way to Boston, and that’s a ‘no thanks.’ That was the killer for me at the end. I chose to live in Vancouver. That meant travel was really onerous, and especially in the playoffs, because I’d go for sometimes 45 days and not get home if all the series went long.

“I still watch the games with a thought in the back of my mind about how I’d call this or that. I still watch the playoffs with an eye toward what this guy is doing or what that coach is doing. I love the strategic aspect of the game and I think coaching has never been more important with all teams as equal as they are. The beauty of it all now is that when a game is crappy I can just turn it off. I never used to be able to do that.”

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People may forget that Hughson was part of the Toronto Blue Jays broadcast crew, too, during the early 1990s on TSN. He recalls there was one April when he did 29 games in the month, between playoff hockey and baseball.

“Between exercise and kids and grandkids, my days now are full and I’m thoroughly enjoying them,” Hughson said of retirement. “My wife gets after me for not doing enough but I spent the bulk of my life — 40 years or so — going 100 miles an hour. If I want to just go 30 now, that’s cool. I’m fine with it.”

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The longtime White Rock resident was formally inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame last week, part of a class that included soccer’s Christine Sinclair and hockey’s Ray Ferraro.

“Our province really isn’t all that old, and it wasn’t that long ago that we didn’t have a lot of athletes on the world stage or even the national stage,” said Hughson, who was honoured by the Hockey Hall of Fame with its Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for his broadcast contributions in 2019.

“I can remember a time when there were five players from B.C. in the entire NHL. It’s pretty cool to see how far it’s come, and I think that’s a reflection of many people in this class going into the Hall of Fame. They’ve inspired so many young people. Now we have first-round picks, now have top players in just about every sport. We’re top of Canada, top of the world in a lot of sports that were not even thought of when I was growing up in the province. It’s pretty cool to see that.”

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Craig Simpson (left) and Jim Hughson (right) of the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast crew work Game 5 in the Western Conference Finals of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Arena on May 24, 2011. Photo by Ric Ernst /PNG

Hughson grew up a fan of longtime Canucks play-by-play man Jim Robson, and told The Vancouver Sun in 1994 when he succeeded Robson as radio voice of the Canucks that “Jim Robson has made this job a very prestigious one.”

The feelings between the two are quite mutual, because Robson explained in a story on these pages last year that “I’ve always said that Foster Hewitt was the first, Danny Gallivan the most-loved, Bob Cole the best voice, but it’s Jim Hughson who’s my choice as the very best.”

Hughson says it was Robson who “taught me and I think everyone else who’s worked out here that there are two teams in every game.” He believe that’s changing in markets where the teams directly employ the broadcasters.

“They are paid by the team, work for the team and don’t care about the other team on the ice, or are not allowed to care,” Hughson said. “I find that gets old for me. I’ve never been one to be a cheerleader. I don’t like it, but it’s insisted upon by many of the markets in the league.

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“The home team scores a goal and there’s never been a greater goal scored in the history of hockey. The other team scores, and you don’t mention it. It’s just the way it is.”

Media Three Stars

First star — Jason Brough and Mike Halford on the Sportsnet 650 morning show last Thursday debating the crowd response to J.T. Miller’s return with the New York Rangers on Tuesday at Rogers Arena.

Halford was predicting the fans giving a hard time to Miller, and at one point hit Brough with “Buddy, are you kidding me right now? This is a guy who got traded away from the team because he got in a fight with a guy who is still here.”

Brough cut him off mid-sentence with a “Buddy, you know who they blamed? Not Miller.”

And the Buddy versus Buddy blows was just a small part of it.

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Second star — Don Taylor doing Canucks highlights on Donnie and Dhali — The Team

Taylor’s arsenal is so good that you have an idea it’s coming and it still connects. Brock Boeser scoring while wearing Adrien Plavsic’s old No. 6? You have to smile.

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Third star — Farhan Lalji’s FarhanCast on X after B.C. Lions games

TSN’s Lalji has taken to giving his recap via video on his X channel. They seem to be building an audience, too. This week’s take on B.C.’s win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders opened up with Lalji saying the Lions got a break with Keon Hatcher’s play at the goal line, tagging it as a fumble and a quick whistle. “It happens. There’s no conspiracy theory. I know everyone in Saskatchewan believes everyone is against them, which is bizarre to me,” Lalji replied.

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Play-by-play great Jim Hughson misses the rinks — but not the airports

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