Look Out Loretta! Penguins Mike Lange Retires

Nineteen-seventy-four was a magical time. It was the year it all came together for me as a young hockey fan.

After finishing the previous season on an upswing, the Penguins pulled out all stops that summer. With the blessing of owner Tad Potter and his partners, GM Jack Button acquired former 50-goal scorer and marquee player Vic Hadfield from the Rangers and promising sniper Rick Kehoe from Toronto. The club’s No. 1 pick in the draft, Pierre Larouche, dazzled in training camp. Promise was in the air.

Oh, and the Pens had a new radio play-by-play announcer that year by the name of Mike Lange. I knew little about him, other than the fact that he’d called games for the Phoenix Roadrunners of the Western Hockey League the year before and that he hailed from Sacramento, where my family had lived briefly when I was in seventh grade.

In those days the Pens went through play-by-play announcers the way gumballs spewed from a dispenser at Chuck E. Cheese. Who knew this would be the start of an incredible 46-season run at the mic and a Hall-of-Fame career that ended when Lange announced his retirement from broadcasting today?

During an era when very few games were televised, I realized right away that our new radio announcer was something special. He gave just the right amount of detail when describing the play. He didn’t overwhelm you and he didn’t leave you hanging.

Huddled next to the radio in our family room…listening to Lange call the action…I could literally see the game in my mind. I could feel myself being rattled into the boards by Philly’s Dave Schultz and envision Syl Apps, Lowell MacDonald and Jean Pronovost darting up ice on a scoring play.

Too, there was something in Mike’s tone and cadence that lent a certain drama and tension to the proceedings. There was always a sense of anticipation…that something was about to happen.

Of course, I loved his colorful descriptions.

In Lange-speak, hard-hitting defenseman Dennis Owchar “handed out checks like it was first of the month.” Or his feisty cohort, Colin Campbell, played like “a bulldozer in a construction yard.” Who could forget Lange’s signature call on goals?

“Heeeeee shoots and scores!”

Unsure of the team’s status when it entered into receivership during the summer of 1975, Lange left the ‘Burgh to call games for the Washington Diplomats soccer team.

I remember tuning into Pens games during the 1975-76 season, but it wasn’t the same. I was thrilled when Lange returned the following year and began his incredible run. He expanded on his repertoire of lively catch phrases as well, often while describing the action for decidedly mediocre teams. There was a particularly dark stretch in the early ‘80s, when the team collapsed and Mario Lemieux was but a glint in then-GM Eddie Johnston’s eye, Lange was arguably the only reason to tune in to Penguins games.

Then, thanks to Mario, we rose from the ashes like a latter-day Phoenix to win two Stanley Cups in the early ‘90s. In the process, setting the stage for Lange’s favorite call.

Game 1 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Final. Seventeen seconds left in the third period. Score tied at 4-4. Faceoff to the right of the Blackhawks’ net. Ron Francis wins the draw and nudges the puck back to Larry Murphy. Here’s the call.

“… out right side Murphy…shooting…save…rebound to Lemieux. Heeeeeeeee shoots and scores! Mario Lemieux and the Penguins lead 5-4 and you’d have to be here to believe it! Mario Lemieux has given the Penguins the lead!”

It doesn’t get any better.

Thanks, Mike, for the memories.