Chicago Blackhawks: Pat Foley will certainly be missed in the booth

It was announced on Wednesday that Pat Foley will call the 2021-22 Chicago Blackhawks and it will be the last year of his career with the team. It will make the 39th season that Foley was the voice of the Hawks. Pat Foley is a Hall of Famer and has become a legendary announcer in the city of Chicago. He might not be on the level of someone like Harry Carey but it does feel like he’s a tick below with a guy like Hawk Harrelson.

Everybody knows that this is going to be the end of an era as he has called so many great moments in the team’s history. Of course, the golden era from 2009-2016 might be the highlight of his career as those teams were so great. He wasn’t doing the playoff games outside of the first round but he was the voice of an era that produced three Stanley Cups in six years.

Pat Foley connects with multiple generations of Chicago Blackhawks fans.

There are about four generations of Blackhawks fans that will remember Pat Foley’s time calling the team. The relationship between the organization and Foley has not always been good but he truly loves the teams. It is going to be a lot different when they bring in someone to be his replacement.

When the Blackhawks announced that Foley is going to be retiring, they were sure to confirm that this 2021-22 season is going to be a celebration of him as well. He is the type of announcer that deserves one of those “farewell tours”. He truly deserves everything that he is going to get during the year in terms of kind words and recognition.

Foley is one of the last announcers that you would consider a part of the “old guard” as he is clearly a Blackhawks fan calling the team. He likes when they score and he doesn’t like when they are scored on. He is responsible for some of the best calls in the history of the team.

When Jonathan Toews scored that overtime game-winning goal against the arch-rival St. Louis Blues in the playoffs, the emotion in Pat Foley’s voice was an amazing soundboard and representation of how all Blackhawks felt in that moment. Calls like that are what will be missed most when he is gone.

Hopefully, Foley is happy in retirement and gets all the recognition in the world throughout the upcoming season. The team that he will be calling could be pretty bad but they also could surprise some people. Either way, we will enjoy having Pat on our TVs one more time.