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RIP Barry Melrose, Hockey Legend and Overall Great-Seeming Guy
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Barry Melrose, former NHL player and coach and longtime hockey analyst for ESPN, died on Wednesday at 70:
This is a sad one. Barry Melrose was the man. ESPN’s hockey coverage has been wildly inconsistent over the last two-ish decades — they seem to pick and choose at random when they care about hockey and when they don’t — but when the Worldwide Leader was breaking down the NHL, I always enjoyed listening to Barry’s analysis. He knew the game better than anyone. His borderline-too-big pinstripe suits, slicked-back mullet, and gray goatee were the embodiment of every hockey dad and coach I was around growing up. And he was funny as hell:
Media and fans alike have spent Thursday morning sharing tributes to the hockey lifer, and they’re all pretty moving:
That last tweet from Ryan Glasspiegel is such a good point. Just about every ESPN broadcaster gets annoying, or overdoes their shtick, or is simply nails on a chalkboard to some fans at one point or another. But I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about Barry Melrose. Having him on TV was always fun, and it’ll be missed. RIP.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com