Pierre Houde (born July 14, 1957) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

sports announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for RDS. He has announced broadcasts of

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

games since 1989. Over the years he was partnered with Pierre Bouchard and

Yvon Pedneault Yvon Pedneault is a French Canadian sports journalist and television and radio broadcaster from Chicoutimi, Quebec who is known for his coverage of ice hockey. Pedneault is the only person to have worked full-time for all three French-language Mont ...

. From

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, his partner was former Canadiens' player

Benoît Brunet Joseph Jean Luc Benoît Brunet (; born August 24, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, 27th overall, of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career After playing th ...

. In 2009,

Joël Bouchard Joël Bouchard (born January 23, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League with eight teams for parts of 11 seasons. He was most recently the head coach of the American Hockey League's ...

was his and Brunet's partners, but when Bouchard left for the

Blainville-Boisbriand Armada The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada is a junior ice hockey team of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The team is based in Boisbriand, Quebec, Canada, and plays its home games at the Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau. History The Armada sta ...

, he was replaced by former NHL goaltender

Marc Denis Joseph Marc Denis (born August 1, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender, who last played with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). For the 2009–10 season, he was hired as the goaltenders' coach of ...

. Houde also broadcasts

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Races at the same station along with Bertrand Houle. Houde's goal call is "Le tir, et le but!" ("A shot, and a goal!") after every Canadiens goal, though depending on the moment he stretches "but" out for as long as ten seconds. Other calls are "Eh bien, coup de théâtre, ma parole!" which he often uses when unbelievable situations occur and "Les rouges s'éteignent... et on roule!!" at the start of a Formula One Grand Prix. Houde does hockey play by plays on ''Le Hockey Du Samedi Soir'', ''Le Hockey Du Mardi Soir'', ''Le Hockey Du Jeudi Soir'' and any other days the Canadiens play. Houde has acquired a fairly large following among the Canadiens' anglophone fans, many of whom watch his telecasts rather than those on

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

. According to a 2020 poll by ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

,'' 44.5 percent of Canadiens fans watch Houde's broadcasts, a figure that ''The Athletic'' attributed to large Anglophone viewership. Houde is fluently bilingual in both English and French. However, he has only called two games in English. When Dino Soto, the English play-by-play announcer for the Canadiens on

CJAD CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as ''CJAD 800''. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power ...

, was unable to get back to Montreal from a party to celebrate the station's 50th anniversary, he asked Houde to step in and to call CJAD's broadcast of the Canadiens' game against the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

on December 2, 1995. Houde reluctantly agreed, as no other experienced anglophone broadcaster was available. The Canadiens lost that game in an 11–1 rout that proved to be

Patrick Roy Patrick Jacques Roy (; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey goaltender and executive, who serves as the head coach for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In 2017, Roy was named o ...

's last game with the team before being traded to the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

. The second came when he called a Canadiens game against the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

on RDS' anglophone sister,

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...

. Houde had previously been considered for the play-by-play spot with the Avalanche. Houde started his broadcasting career at

CKOI-FM :For the CKOI radio network, see ''CKOI (network)''. CKOI-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Verdun, Quebec and serving the Greater Montreal area, airing a CHR/Top 40 radio format. Owned and operated by Cogeco, CKOI-FM bro ...

as a weekend DJ when he was 20 years old and still going to École des hautes études commerciales de Montréal (

HEC Montréal HEC Montréal (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Montréal) is a public Canadian business school located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1907, HEC Montréal is the graduate business school of the Université de Montréa ...

). His first sports broadcasting was doing half-time NFL broadcasts in French as a freelancer. Houde was one of the original staff at RDS when it started in September 1989. Houde is from

Saint-Laurent, Quebec Saint-Laurent () is a borough of the city of Montreal, Canada, located in the northern part of the island. Although it is no longer an independent city, it is still commonly known as Ville Saint-Laurent (''City of Saint-Laurent'') or by its initi ...

, now a borough in the city of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. He shares his life with Lyne Couture since summer 2018.

References

External links

* Living people Canadian sports announcers Canadian television sportscasters Montreal Canadiens announcers Motorsport announcers National Hockey League broadcasters People from Saint-Laurent, Quebec 1957 births {{Canada-sport-bio-stub