Jiggs McDonald to serve as Keynote Speaker at 2022 ECHL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

The ECHL, in conjunction with the Jacksonville Icemen, announced on Monday that legendary National Hockey League broadcaster Jiggs McDonald will be the Keynote Speaker for the 2022 ECHL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, presented by BFL CANADA and Sutton Special Risk.

The event takes place on Monday, Jan. 17 at 12:00 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Jacksonville Riverfront in Jacksonville, Florida, the Official Host Hotel of the 2022 ECHL All-Star Classic. and will see Ray Harris, Brett Marietti, Joel Martin and Tim Nowak officially enshrined as the 14th class of the ECHL Hall of Fame.

McDonald began his NHL broadcasting career in 1967, as the original voice of the expansion Los Angeles Kings. After five seasons in Los Angeles, he joined the Atlanta Flames as their original announcer. Following the Flames relocation to Calgary in 1980, he joined the New York Islanders, where he was in the booth for three consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

He has also spent time in the booth with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers, in addition to some national work, including for five seasons on SportsChannel America, when that network was the exclusive national broadcast partner of the NHL. In November 2003, he announced his 3,000th regular-season game, which, at the time, was the highest by an NHL announcer.

In addition to his time in the NHL, McDonald also broadcast hockey in three different Winter Olympics, working for ABC in 1988 and TNT in 1992 and 1994.

In 1990, McDonald received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, which is presented annually by the Hockey Hall of Fame “to recognize distinguished members of the radio and television industry who made outstanding contributions to their profession and the game during their career in hockey broadcasting.”

In this year’s All-Star event, the host Jacksonville Icemen will take on a team of ECHL All-Stars representing the other teams in the League, as well as feature several Skills events which will count as a goal towards the winning Player’s team score. Each team will also have a representative from the Premier Hockey Federation and Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.

About the ECHLBegan in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 27 teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces for its 34th season in 2021-22. There have been 718 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 20 who have made their NHL debuts in the 2021-22 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 27 of the 32 NHL teams in 2021-22, marking the 25th consecutive season that the league has affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com as well as on Twitter and Facebook.