Joseph Edward Beninati (born November 14, 1965) is an American sportscaster who serves as the

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

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 ...

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...

for 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 ...

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

. Along with Capitals television color analyst Craig Laughlin and "Inside the Glass" reporter

Alan May Alan Randy May (born January 14, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current analyst. He played in the National Hockey League with five teams between 1988 and 1995. Playing career May began his NHL career when he was s ...

, he provides Capitals game coverage for

NBC Sports Washington NBC Sports Washington is an American regional sports network owned by Ted Leonsis's Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the channel broadcasts reg ...

. Beninati has been with the Washington Capitals since 1994. When not behind the microphone for the Capitals, he's often heard as the play-by-play voice of Men and Women's Lacrosse on ESPNU and The Big Ten Network (BTN). Beninati has done freelance announcing for

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%). Th ...

, ESPNU,

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...

WFAN WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...

as well as being one of the prominent hockey voices on Versus (now NBCSN). Before his time with NBC Sports and the Capitals, he covered the Providence Bruins; the AHL system of the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

Biography

Early life and college

Beninati grew up on Long Island, listening to

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he wa ...

broadcasting

Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

and Rangers games. He attended Bowdoin College, where he still holds the school record for saves in a season (263) by a

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

goaltender.

Broadcasting

Beninati started broadcasting when he was injured playing hockey and some friends talked him into appearing on the school's radio station, WBOR. The following year, he began doing play-by-play of local high school events. He later served as a sports information director. Out of college, he was hired to broadcast

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

games, where he rode buses for 5 years.

Other sports

In addition to

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

coverage, occasionally he's heard as play-by-play for Men and Women's Lacrosse on ESPNU and The Big Ten Network where he also provides play-by-play coverage for College football ACC and CAA sporting events. Beninati has also filled in for coverage of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

and

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

along with the Washington Mystics.

References

External links

Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beninati, Joe 1965 births Living people American Hockey League broadcasters American television sports announcers Baltimore Orioles announcers Bowdoin College alumni College hockey announcers in the United States College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Lacrosse announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Hockey League broadcasters National Football League announcers Major League Lacrosse announcers People from Long Island Washington Capitals announcers Washington Mystics announcers Washington Wizards announcers Women's National Basketball Association announcers