Hall of Fame broadcaster Lange scales back travel

The longtime voice of the Penguins won't be heard for each of the 82 regular season games this season.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Lange, 69, will call all 41 home games in 2017-18, but will scale back his travel schedule to approximately 15 of the 41 road games, the Penguins announced Thursday. When Lange is off, Josh Getzoff will handle radio play-by-play duties with analyst Phil Bourque, and Paul Steigerwald, who has moved into a front office role, will do the pregame and postgame shows on the radio.



"I decided that in my 43rd season of NHL broadcasting it was time to really take a look at the road schedule, to start reducing my travel a bit,” Lange said in a news release. “The Penguins have been very accommodating, and I really appreciate their willingness to work with me on this.”

Lange joined the Penguins in 1974-75, when he broke into the NHL as a radio play-by-play broadcaster. He left for one season but returned in 1976-77.

Lange did radio exclusively until 1979, when games started to be simulcast on radio and television. He served as the television voice of the Penguins through 2005-06 before returning to the radio booth in 2006-07.

Getzoff has spent the past two years as host of the Penguins’ pre- and post-game radio shows, as well as doing play-by-play for preseason games.

Lange will call the Penguins’ regular season opener against the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 4 at PPG Paints Arena, when the 2017 Stanley Cup banner will be raised to the rafters. By Lange’s choice, Getzoff will make his debut the next night, handling play-by-play duties when the Penguins travel to Chicago to play the Blackhawks.

“The opportunity to meet, watch and learn from the great Mike Lange over the past two years has been a dream come true,” said Getzoff, who turns 29 in October. “We call him ‘the Hall of Famer’ around the office, and he is one of the greatest hockey announcers – one of the greatest sports announcers – of all-time. To have this chance to fill in and do play-by-play on Penguins road games when Mike is off on occasion is both exciting and humbling. No one can be another Mike Lange. He is one of a kind. But it’s an honor to have his guidance and support, and I’ll just do the best I can for Penguins fans.”