Every new season always brings a few new faces on the ice. This season brought a new face on all of our television screens. Longtime New Jersey Devils’ play-by-play announcer Steve Cangelosi announced his hockey retirement this past off-season.

Taking Cangelosi’s place next to Ken Danyeko is Bill Spaulding. Spaulding brings to MSG Networks a terrific resume of experience calling 32 different sports as he becomes the new voice for the New Jersey Devils. He was kind enough to chat with us earlier this week about the path to Prudential Center, being Dano’s new partner, and adopting the culture of New Jersey.

Don’t Ask Why it’s Called That

Bill Spaulding hails from the town of Horseheads, New York (don’t ask why it’s called that). The little town is an almost a four-hour drive to MSG’s home headquarters in New York City. First things first, we had to establish where his sports allegiance was growing up:

“I was mainly Syracuse for college sports, since my dad’s family is from Syracuse, I was always a huge college guy.”

Unfortunately, he got a little too close for comfort to one of the Devils main rivals. It’s probably not the ones you think:

“My mom’s family is from Philadelphia so my uncle had been a Flyers’ season-ticket holder for years, so he would take us to games when we would go down and visit around Thanksgiving.”

Even if he went to watch the Broad Street Bullies in person, Spaulding has recollections of the Devils that every fan would want to hear:

“My early memories of the Devils were in the heyday when they would knock the Flyers out of the playoffs consistently. The ‘Danos,’ Scott Stevens, those physical teams you hated to play against.”

The NHL wasn’t what drew Bill to the world of ice hockey. It was actually a local team you may, or may not, have heard of:

“My biggest hockey allegiance was Division III college hockey. The Elmira College Soaring Eagles; their arena was about four or five miles from my house and that’s where I fell in love with hockey for the first time…almost every Friday and Saturday night I’d be there at the dome with my cowbell.”

Here’s a fun fact: Elmira College actually holds the record for most Women’s Division III Ice Hockey championships. Be like Bill and go out and support local hockey!

Finding His Way

As with anybody who succeeds in the highly competitive professional arena of broadcasting, we asked Spauling who he looked up to as a play-by-play announcer. Growing up in Horseheads (did you listen to our advice not to look up why it’s called that?), he was able to get New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils’, New York Islanders’, and Buffalo Sabres’ broadcasts. He had great praise for a legend us Devils’ fans are all too familiar with: Mike “Doc” Emerick:

“I personally think Doc is the best play-by-play guy in any sport bar none that ever has been and ever will be.”

Then he paid a nod to those Flyers’ roots:

“I’ve gotten to know Jim Jackson, the Flyers’ broadcaster, over the past few years or so.”

As well as NBC Sports lead sports broadcaster for Sunday Night Football:

“I love Mike Tirico. I feel like every time you watch something about Mike Tirico you just learn so much about both team. He preps so well that you feel like he’s an expert on that team.”

He also added fellow Syracuse alum and current Brooklyn Nets’ broadcaster Ian Eagle. We joked that by this point, everyone should know that it is pronounced “Eye-An” and not “E-An.”

Bill feel his talent matched up with broadcasting hockey, and his professional on-ice calling career became clearer when he began work in the Boston area:

“I’ve always loved hockey and thought it was a sport that suited my style of play by play so I wanted to keep pursuing it for bigger opportunities. I’ve done 32 different sports at this point, but I’ve done hockey since my professional career started in the Boston area. Trying to do anything and everything, and college hockey is a huge draw there.”

There is a Devils’ connection to Bill’s education as a broadcaster. He and fellow MSG Networks’ Devils’ reporter, Erika Wachter, both attended the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, although they were a year apart. Spaulding remembers her for her athletic accomplishments during their college days:

“We never had any classes together, but I knew her as Erika Wachter on the (field) hockey team. Because during my time at Syracuse I not only broadcast football and basketball for the student radio, I actually called field hockey games Erika played in.”

His Sidekick Dano

When we asked Bill about his audition process for MSG Network, he made it abundantly clear how much his broadcast partner Ken Danyeko has continued to support him. When Spaulding was initially announced for the position, the Devils tweeted out a video of his audition. That consisted of Bill and Dano watching and calling a game that had already happened in the past season. They had to broadcast, and pretend, they had just seen the exciting footage for the first time. While it may sound like an odd experience to us, Bill was prepared for it from his prior roles broadcasting 32 different sports:

“It was actually something I’ve had some experience with because some of my work with NBC doing Olympic sports for the Olympic Channel. We do what’s called “live to see air” type of show where the event was edited down from  however long it might take to like 90 minutes and then we commentate over the 90 minute show.”

Then it was back to giving credit to Dano for making his transition to the Devils’ booth an easy one:

“I think for some reason the two of us have meshed together very well even with our cadence and our vocal style and things. Obviously we’re getting to know each other better and better each game but from the start it just very great and very natural and Dano has been great helping me from the start. We kind of naturally jived from that audition”

Spaulding left that audition with confidence. He did explain waiting for that phone call was a bit nerve-wracking for what he referred to as “dream job.”

“I left that audition feeling good because I felt like I had done what I could do and performed to the best of my abilities.”

Bill went on to explain the significance of the Devils matchup against the Edmonton Oilers (November 3rd’s game). Prior to puck drop, the Oilers are holding their own Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Danyeko, an Edmonton native, was sure to have interest in watching the ceremony:

“Dano is an Edmonton guy, he has a relationship with them and he’s played against much of those guys so I think Ken’s going to share a lot of his memories of playing with guys like Ryan Smythe and what it was like growing up in Edmonton. It’s a great chance for Dano to tell stories of his childhood and his playing days and doing what he does best which is telling stories about his love of hockey.”

Quick Turnaround And The Numbers Behind it

Fans may have noticed Spaulding likes to incorporate analytics into his broadcasts. While former Devils’ captain Bryce Salvador remains the broadcast’s resident statistical expert, Bill has added his own little bit to his play-by-play calling. He explained on how much analytics he decides to share with the audience:

“I think there’s a happy medium. I don’t think it’s something you want to hit people over the head with all of the time but I think a stat or two a game that have some analytic value to the game. It adds an extra layer to the game and I want to be someone who gives you as much pertinent information as possible.”

The Devils have seemed to right the ship on this season after two brutal losses to start the season. Fans have loved to see an almost “flip-switch” starting with the Devils third game of the season against the Anaheim Ducks. Considering Spaulding spends much more time around this team and players than any of us, we asked what he considers is behind the impressive turn around. He pointed specifically to a practice between their home opener and their game against the Ducks:

“After that second game they had a really hard practice where they would take 30-second shifts. Every mistake was corrected, coaches would intervene when they saw a mistake and players left that Monday practice saying, ’Hey, we’re all 100% brought in and confident with where we’re supposed to be and what we’re supposed to do.’”

The biggest culprit of those early season losses? Defensive-zone breakdowns:

“There were some goals in the first couple of games that came off of defensive end turnovers and lead to really good scoring opportunities for the Flyer and the Red Wings and ever since then the Devils have been really good in their own zone. The biggest thing Lindy preaches is take care of the puck and the Devils has been much better with the puck in their defensive end.”

Pizza, Pizza!

Considering his impressive resume, we were interested to see where Spaulding’s favorite place was that his job had taken him. He and Dano didn’t accompany the team on their Western Canada road trip, but stayed behind to broadcast from MSG’s New York City studios. Spaulding explained that this is not the norm, and they expect to be on the road for a vast majority of the team’s away games, while adding his previous experience calling those “live-to-tape” games helped him prepare for this current setup.

Devils’ team reporter Amanda Stein has made the trip to Canada and stayed in touch with Spaulding in regards to team updates and Western Canada’s already winter like weather. Spaulding added he might even get a better view of the action from his in studio screens:

“I have heard it’s (Rogers Place) one of the higher up broadcast perches so we might have a better view in the MSG studio.”

Spaulding mentioned calling college football at the Los Angeles Colosseum as a high point, but also had praise for one of the NHL’s newest venues. He and Dano accompanied the team to Detroit and got to experience Little Caesar’s arena first hand. Spaulding left thoroughly impressed:

“Just absolutely beautiful, and one of the things you think about as a broadcaster is sight lines and it had absolutely beautiful sight lines.”

We jokingly asked Bill if the arena served Little Caesar’s Pizza. Not only did they in the press room, but in the locker room after the games for the teams to eat. There’s no better way to celebrate a team win than with less than healthy chain pizza, after all!

Don’t Say His Name

Buried deep in Spaudling’s resume is the fact that he called KHL hockey games for American broadcast televisions. That unique hockey centric experience made us wonder exactly that that must have been like:

“[In] 2015 and 2016 when there was a network called One World Sports, between that and NBC, I’ve had a lot of work doing shows remote. KHL is a lot of fun to call because you had those guys like Ilya Kovalchuck, but you also had those European guys who were up and coming to the NHL”

He had to mention that name. Just hearing the name of the Russian sniper who broke a several Devils’ fans hearts by “retiring” was enough to pierce my heart. Still, personal hatred of former #17 aside, I asked what Bill’s thought were on the AHL versus KHL debate. Which is the second best hockey league in the world, after the NHL at number one, of course:

“The AHL is deeper because you have more guys who are closer to the NHL and young prospects. But, the KHL has more stars because you get some of the best Russian players who decide they just want to stay home.”

It’s all a matter of competitive balance and parity throughout the league:

“I think the top couple of teams in the KHL are better than any AHL team. It is top heavy. There are some very bad KHL teams that would be wiped by a regular AHL team.”

The Great Garden State

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Since us New Jersey residents are a prideful bunch, we had to make sure Spaulding was up to date on the ways and culture of our people. First off we asked his thoughts on the age-old pork roll vs taylor ham debate:

“It depends on where you live.”

Next, which New Jersey rock legend reigns supreme? Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi:

“Springsteen. I mean Bon Jovi isn’t a bad second choice, but you can’t go against Springsteen. Come on.”

Which of our state’s two greatest contributions to televised media did he enjoy more, “The Sopranos” or “Jersey Shore”:

“Definitely The Sopranos.”

Bill chose correctly on that one. We went with a slightly harder question next. Does Central jersey exist?

“I mean geographically there is a central part of New Jersey, but for me the dividing line of New Jersey is when you go from affiliating with New York to affiliating with Philadelphia.”

Last, but not least, we asked how great it feels not to have to pump your own gas:

“I’m still getting used to that. I feel like I’m very efficient at the gas pump. It is nice to not have to leave the car and it’s going to be particularly nice in the winter time when it’s freezing.”

Closing Thoughts

At the end of our interview, we asked Bill if he had a message for the Devils’ fan community:

“I’m so grateful and appreciative for all the support early on from Devils’ fans. I love getting to know folks either in person at the arena or on social media and they’ve been so welcoming. I really appreciate how everyone has made me feel like part of the family.”

We would like to thank our friends at MSG Networks for making this interview possible and extend our gratitude and welcome to Bill Spaulding.