Rick Peckham (born March 1955) is a retired

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 ...

broadcaster for the

NHL 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 ...

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

hockey team and the 2020 recipient of the

Foster Hewitt Memorial Award The Foster Hewitt Memorial Award is an annual accolade honoring a member of the ice hockey broadcasting world. It was named for the Canadian hockey radio broadcaster and newspaper journalist Foster Hewitt, and it has been presented every year at a ...

. Peckham served as the play-by-play announcer for the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

from 1984 through 1995. He has also broadcast NHL games on ESPN (1987–88) and SportsChannel America (1988–92). Through 1977–84, he called games on television and radio for the AHL’s

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 ...

. Peckham was broadcasting Lightning games with the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

-based

Fox Sports Sun Bally Sports Sun is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local coverage ...

, as well as occasionally doing play-by-play for the ''

NHL on NBC The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States. While NBC covered t ...

'', a role that increased with the passing of

Dave Strader David Strader (February 24, 1955 – October 1, 2017) was an American sportscaster, primarily known for his play-by-play commentary of ice hockey. During his career, he worked on telecasts for the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyo ...

. He is a 1977 graduate of Kent State University with a

B.A. degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate education, undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally complet ...

in telecommunications.

Career as a broadcaster

play-by-play, TV and radio, 1977–84. *

TV play-by-play, SportsChannel New England, 1984–95 (New England Emmy Award-winning live sports production in 1993). * University of Hartford basketball, 1986–87. *

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

NHL on ESPN The broadcasts of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by ESPN have been shown on its various platforms in the United States, including ESPN itself, ABC, ESPN+, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, and Hulu. Since 2021, games have been broadcast under ...

play-by-play, 1987–88. *

NHL on SportsChannel America The ''NHL on SportsChannel America'' was the presentation of National Hockey League broadcasts on the now defunct SportsChannel America cable television network. Terms of the deal Taking over for ESPN, SportsChannel's contract paid US$51 million ...

play-by-play, 1988–92. *

SportsChannel America SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, 1 ...

college basketball play-by-play, 1991–95. *

play-by-play, 1995–2020. *

ESPN International ESPN International is a family of sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1989, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Operating regions Latin America Spanish-speaking countries * E ...

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

telecasts, 1995. *

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

play-by-play, 1997–02 and 2005. *''

NHL on Versus ''The NHL on Versus'' was a presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games broadcast on Versus. Versus became the NHL's cable partner in the United States beginning in the 2005–06 season from previous partner ESPN, providing coverage of r ...

''/''

'' play-by-play, 2007–2020.

References

FoxSportsFlorida.com, Sun Sports broadcasters
College basketball announcers in the United States National Basketball Association broadcasters National Hockey League broadcasters Hartford Whalers announcers Tampa Bay Lightning announcers Philadelphia Eagles announcers Living people American sports announcers Kent State University alumni American Hockey League broadcasters Foster Hewitt Memorial Award winners 1955 births {{US-icehockey-bio-stub