Nicholas R. Nickson (born December 21, 1953) is an American sportscaster who currently serves as the radio play-by-play announcer for the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Biography

Early career

A native of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, Nickson attended

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

, where he served as the Sports Director and play-by-play announcer for the school's radio station,

WICB WICB (91.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to serve Ithaca, New York, United States. Established in 1947, the station is owned by Ithaca College. WICB broadcasts an alternative music format to the greater Ithaca area. Along with alternative m ...

. His professional broadcasting career began in 1975 with the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

. From 1977–81 he called games for the

New Haven Nighthawks The New Haven Nighthawks were a professional ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League from 1972 to 1992. They had affiliations with the Minnesota North Stars (1972–1977), New York Islanders (1972–1973), New York Rangers (19 ...

Kings broadcasting career

Nickson joined the Kings in 1981, calling games on TV and radio with Bob Miller. When the TV and radio broadcasts were separated in 1990, Nickson became the Kings radio play-by-play announcer. He has called all three of the Kings' appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals. As such, he was the voice Kings fans heard on the radio when they won their first-ever Stanley Cup. At the end of that game, Nickson told the story of the franchise up to that point when he bellowed: Two years later, Nickson called

Alec Martinez Alec Martinez (born July 26, 1987) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, having won with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014. ...

' goal in double overtime to give the Kings their second Cup. Nickson later recalled that he and Miller had had time to pace themselves for their Cup-winning calls in 2012, as the Kings had put the game out of reach by scoring three unanswered goals on a five-minute power play in the first period. They didn't have that luxury in 2014. In June 2015, the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

announced that Nickson would be the 2015 recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, officially being so honored on November 9, 2015. He becomes the third Kings broadcaster to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, following

Jiggs McDonald John Kenneth "Jiggs" McDonald (born November 28, 1938) is a sportscaster who has done play-by-play announcing for NHL games for more than 50 years. In 1990, McDonald received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame. Biograp ...

(1990) and Bob Miller (2000). From 1983–89, Nickson served as a

public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

announcer for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

. During that time, he called the

National League Championship Series The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the winners of the two National ...

and

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

during the Dodgers' championship season of .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nickson, Nick 1953 births Living people American Hockey League broadcasters Foster Hewitt Memorial Award winners Ithaca College alumni Major League Baseball public address announcers Los Angeles Dodgers personnel Los Angeles Kings announcers National Hockey League broadcasters Sportspeople from Rochester, New York People from Santa Clarita, California Sportspeople from Brooklyn