How Gord Miller became the voice of the world junior hockey championship

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Gord Miller is the soundtrack of the Holiday Season for a generation of hockey fans across Canada.

After you’ve watched Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty The Snowman, and once Santa makes his annual visit, you’re ready to put up your feet in front of the television to watch the IIHF world junior championship on Boxing Day.

The upcoming 2025 edition will mark the 30th anniversary of Miller behind the microphone introducing Canadians to the next generation of hockey stars.

“I’m very fortunate to do what I do, and if this is my legacy I’m more than okay with that,” Miller said.

The annual tourney has taken on a life of its own across Canada over the holidays, in large part thanks to the coverage from TSN and Miller, who will once again have a front-row seat when the tourney gets underway on Dec. 26 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.

“So many people and families are sitting around through Christmas, and with TSN and Gord’s commitment, this tournament has been built into something that people just do around the holidays,” said Ray Ferraro, a former TSN analyst and NHL player from his Vancouver home.

“The first year I didn’t do the tournament after doing it for over a decade, as I did, (Miller’s) voice is on all day in our house. You have it on, it’s in the background and when you focus in, Gord is there. The one thing about Gord, that I think people know, is his preparation and passion for everything he does, but in particular this tournament. … It’s impressive and noteworthy to see up close.”

Miller will play a big role in this tournament for the 30th straight year.

When the puck is dropped at 2:30 p.m. on Boxing Day in Ottawa between the United States and Germany to open the round-robin portion, Miller will begin a stretch that will see him call 16 games in 10 days, including the gold medal game on Jan. 5.

While most people spend Christmas Day opening presents, Miller will be hard at work in a hotel room in Ottawa making preparations to call two games on Dec. 26, including Team Canada beginning the tournament against Finland at 7:30 p.m.

Once that work is done late in the day, he’ll head to a ballroom at his downtown hotel with the rest of the TSN crew for a Christmas dinner organized by Paul Graham, the club’s executive producer of live sporting events, who has played a major role in the success of this event.

This isn’t a job that the 59-year-old takes lightly or, for that matter, for granted. The IIHF tourney has become a labour of love for Miller and he wouldn’t trade in any of his past experiences for the opportunity he’s earned to be the voice of a nation and its shared passion for the game.

“It’s very rare in our business to have an event attached to your name,” said Miller during a lengthy chat in the Canadian Tire Centre after a Senators’ morning skate. “To have this (attached to me), which is one of the most popular events in our country, is an honour.

“The nicest thing people say, and it happens year-round is, ‘You’re part of our family holiday’. That’s a really nice thing to be told because it’s almost like everyone invites you into their house for a New Year’s Eve party. Whenever my career ends, the first line will be that I was the voice of the world junior.”

Sometimes when you’re in the middle of something, it’s hard to appreciate the chance you’ve been given to be part of something special.

Over the years you come to realize that this isn’t Anaheim Ducks vs. the Ottawa Senators on a cold Tuesday night in December, this is a moment people may remember for a lifetime.

“Not a week goes by that somebody doesn’t ask me about the world junior and how is Canada looking? Well, it’s August, I don’t know … fine I guess,” Miller said with a smile and laugh. “But you start to appreciate the passage of time.

“I called a goal by Jorian Donovan last year in the world junior and his dad, Shean, played in the first world junior I covered in 1995. When you see these players, you get to know them before they’re in the NHL. They’re in awe of being there. When you see those players you have a different relationship because you met them when they were just starting out.

“They were excited to be there and everything was in front of them. That’s a neat relationship you have with those players.”

HOW MUCH PREPARATION IS INVOLVED, AND WHAT MAKES IT SO HARD?

While Miller spends most of his nights in NHL arenas across North America, he sets that work aside for these two weeks to focus on the world junior tournament and the players who aren’t household names.

That doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future, but when broadcasters Mike Johnson, Bryan Mudryk, Craig Button and Miller get their hands on the final rosters for every country, they’re hardly familiar with every one of them.

TSN has a researcher who helps by putting together a large binder as a resource throughout the tourney.

Sounding knowledgeable is one of the biggest challenges when you’ve got this amount of work to do quickly, but the preparation begins in the summer when they work the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, which features the best under-18 players in the world in August.

“You see a lot of the same guys two years later, so you have seen them before and that’s a big advantage,” said Miller. “I go to junior games, I’m talking to people now about who’s going to be on the roster and you get a better idea once training camp rosters are announced.

“The way you do it is that you focus on the top players. Learn the No. 1 goalie, the top or three defencemen on each team and the top four or five forwards.

“We’ll know all the Canadian and American guys but in a tournament like this, but with countries like Sweden and Finland it’s best to get to know their top guys first because by and large, they’re the ones that have the puck the most.”

The panels hosted by James Duthie and Laura Diakun along with analysts Cheryl Pounder, Bob McKenzie, Jeff O’Neill and Dave Reid make it sound easy, but countless hours of preparation have gone into what you’re seeing on your TV screen.

Since Miller, Mudryk, Johnson and Button spend the most time on the air, they have to be ready for anything. Miller has spent a lot of time since he worked his first tournament in Red Deer staying in touch with the people he’s met over the years to help in his preparation.

As Ferraro noted: “It’s an extensive project because you’ve got to introduce all the players to the public and connect them.

“(Miller) is so committed to the tournament and he’s cultivated so many contacts in the IIHF family,” Ferraro added. “He can call heads of hockey in different countries, past coaches or current coaches, that would give him insight into players.

“We sat on conference calls before the tournament, talking to different people and federations, along with most of the coaches and general managers of the Canadian players to dig up insight, stories and background. Gord is as good at that as anybody.”

Accuracy is imperative, which is why Miller will often take a player aside to see how they want their name pronounced. Countries have gotten to the point where they provide taped pronunciation guides before the tournament but that wasn’t always the case in the past.

“There is preparation and there’s execution, but you can’t execute if you’re not prepared,” Miller said. “Just because you’re prepared it doesn’t mean you’ll execute it. But I spend my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on the rosters.

“They aren’t finalized until Christmas Day and that’s when you knuckle down to get pronunciation down. I never complain about working Christmas Day because lots of people work on Christmas Day. It’s one of my busiest days of the year.”

Miller and his colleagues dig deep into every Canadian and American player. They speak with his coach, NHL team and his agent to learn more about the player. For other countries, Miller speaks with the manager or coach of each team.

“The template of the tournament, set by Paul Graham, is to make the first couple of games about introducing the players,” Miller said. “This player might be from your hometown or drafted by your NHL team. We have to tell their stories to get you interested in and hooked on their stories.

“That’s kind of been the template and we should do it more often in the NHL and other spots. We get bogged down in the weeds of stats and everything else. Ultimately, what we do is tell stories and what’s most compelling about sports. … That’s what the world junior is, it’s about telling stories.”

This is the groundwork that has to be done to make the broadcast sound smooth.

“You have to do it. If someone called me, say Ottawa was playing in Toronto, and said that somebody is sick and you’ve got to do the game. I could do it,” Miller said. “It wouldn’t be great, but I could do it on an hour’s notice.

“If you were sent into a world junior game without notice, you’d be exposed because you wouldn’t know the players. The great thing about the tournament is that it has new guys every year, but the hardest thing about the tournament is that it has new guys every year.”

He wants to make sure that the names of players are pronounced properly and he’s seen the evolution of that practice for his nearly three decades at the tournament.

“A lot of teams are giving us recordings now, which is very helpful,” Miller said.

WHAT ARE THE TOP HIGHLIGHTS OVER 30 YEARS?

Miller got his first assignment at the tourney in 1995 when it was held in Red Deer, Calgary and Edmonton.

He was the host of the games in Red Deer while Paul Romanuk was doing the play-by-play. That year is widely regarded as the year the world junior championship took the next step on the hockey calendar.

The NHL lockout, which was settled in mid-January, was still going on, which meant people in Canada were starved to watch competitive hockey, especially over the holidays. The roster included the likes of Jeff O’Neill, Darcy Tucker, Bryan McCabe, Wade Redden and Alexandre Daigle.

“The whole hockey world was focused on it and it was incredible,” Miller said.

Canada won the gold that year and since then it’s become a must-watch in this country. Plus, it’s only grown around the world. People will flock to the Canadian Tire Centre and TD Place Arena during the 10 days after the puck is dropped and the reception is now the same in every part of the world.

“It’s the timing of it because it’s the holidays, it’s kids playing for their country, it’s the future stars and it’s different every year,” Miller said. “Some people have Tampa fatigue in the NHL because (the Lightning) have been good for so long. People get this been there, done that feeling.

“This is different every year and it’s also single elimination. I’ve seen Team Canada win lots of gold medals when they shouldn’t have and I’ve seen them lose out when they shouldn’t have.

That’s the amazing thing about it. Plus, they’re kids, so there are amazing highs and lows. It’s a rollercoaster.”

There have been so many highlights, but some of Miller’s greatest memories came during the 2009 world junior in Ottawa when the tourney was last held in the nation’s capital and set an attendance record.

Canada faced the arch-rival Americans on a cold New Year’s Eve.

Canada fell behind 3-0 only 13 minutes into the first period and it looked like it was lights out for the night with the legendary Pat Quinn behind the bench.

But John Tavares, vying to be the No. 1 pick that spring, cued the comeback by scoring twice in 48 seconds before Jordan Eberle tied it up at the end of the period.
Canada went on to win 7-4, but it was a classic.

“Pat Quinn called a timeout, Tavares got double-shifted, James van Riemsdyk clotheslined a Canadian player going by the bench. It was crazy,” Miller said. “That happens all the time. We thought that was the greatest game we’d ever see at the world junior.

“Then, three days later you’ve got the semi-final game with Canada and the Russians. You never know, and that’s what is great about it. NHL players are even-keel. They are never too high or low, they manage things. These guys: A goal is the greatest thing that ever happened, and a goal against is the worst thing that ever happened. They’re always trying to reel it in.”

The game three days later that Canada played against Russia produced one of the most memorable calls in the history of the sport in this country.

Working with longtime colour analyst Pierre McGuire, Miller had a front-row seat as Canada trailed 5-4 to Team Russia in the dying minutes of the semi-final. A victory moved Canada to the gold medal game and a loss meant playing for bronze.

Tavares threw a backhand towards the net, there was a loose puck in front and Eberle scored with five seconds left in the third tie it up 5-5 and send the game to overtime.

“Eberle scores! Tie game! Can you believe it!!!,” Miller said.

It summed up the moment perfectly and Canada went on to win that game 6-5 in a shootout before capturing the gold medal with a victory over Sweden in the final.

“I don’t think I can go more than two weeks without someone saying to me ‘Can you believe it?’,” Miller said with a smile “That was 15 years ago and it still lives on.”

WHAT MAKES THE WORLD JUNIORS SO SPECIAL?

Whenever Miller hangs up his microphone, he’ll surely be remembered for his work calling NHL games, but a lot of Canadians will attach his voice to the memorable hockey moments he called at the IIHF world junior.

“There’s a generation of players who grew up with this tournament and the voice of their generation is Gord,” TSN’s Graham said.

If people remember Miller best for the work he did during this tournament, he’s 100% fine with that.

“It will be in the first line of my obituary probably. You might write it so you tell me,” Miller said with a smile. “I’m not a big legacy guy but I love what I do. I work with tremendous and incredibly talented people.

“The people who do this volunteer to do this, they’re freelancers (which means they can pick and choose) and they offer to do this. They’re the best of the best. The best camera people, audio, replay, producers, directors, it’s the very top of the business.”

Ferraro, who does colour on broadcasts of the Vancouver Canucks for Rogers Sportsnet and has a national role with ESPN in the United States, misses working with Miller and the crew at the tourney.

“It was a tough decision for me and my family,” Ferraro said. “I loved travelling, working and preparing for games with him. We had such a great connection doing the games. He could tell you 100 stories of how he could just nod his head and we’d get onto the next thing.

“We travelled and worked together seamlessly. I miss travelling with Gord, but I don’t know if he misses travelling with me because he had to look after everything. I miss the dinners where we’d talk about lots or not much, it didn’t really matter.

“When you go to work you hope you’re working with good people but it’s pretty rare that you end up with someone you’re friends with always.”

The holiday season is a special time of year and the people who work this tournament have spent Christmas all around the world. Miller’s daughter, Blair, has grown up with the world junior as part of her routine and is now assisting at the tournament.

She takes pictures of the player’s families with their seat locations and gives them to the TSN camera people so that the crew can find them quickly during the game.

Graham has done a great job of building a strong team off the ice. At the annual dinner, he hands out certificates to all the people who have been part of this for more than five years to recognize their contributions.

It’s a simple gesture, but it’s meaningful and Miller knows he wouldn’t be where he is today without the people behind the scenes.

“It’s pretty cool,” Miller said. “Everybody knows their job, everybody does their job and you never go in wondering, ‘Are we going to be okay?’ We know we are because we just have the very best at what they do and it’s incredible.”

Miller knows he’s in a good place with good people and doing a job he loves.

“It’s an honour. It’s something I take seriously and I don’t take it for granted,” Miller said. “It’s about the players, it’s not about me, it’s always about the players.”

True enough, but Miller has played a key role in some memorable moments in the game we love so much in this country.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com