

(Photo by Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)

NBC broadcaster Mike “Doc” Emrick will call his seventh Winter Classic on Thursday when the Capitals host the Blackhawks at Nationals Park. While there’s no snow in the forecast to replicate the picturesque conditions of the inaugural Winter Classic in Buffalo in 2008 or last season’s game at Michigan Stadium, Emrick says he’s looking forward to the game as much as any other event he’s called throughout his distinguished career.

“I think it’s equivalent, in my mind, and also in the mind of the guy that created the Winter Classic, [NBC Sports executive producer] Sam Flood, to the seventh game in the Stanley Cup Final, or any game of the Olympics,” Emrick said Monday from the Detroit airport, where he just missed crossing paths with Jim Harbaugh. “You get the potential for so many more people to watch. The players recognize this. It’s like 40 years ago when ‘Monday Night Football’ began. It was always a hard-fought game because the players knew not only fans, but their peers, were watching. Everything stops on this day between 1 and 4. People watch this.”

The 2014 Winter Classic between the Maple Leafs and Red Wings matched the highest television rating for a regular-season NHL game in 39 years. Emrick doesn’t expect this year’s matchup to disappoint viewers and fans.

“I think the ‘Great Eight’ loves the spotlight,” Emrick said of Alex Ovechkin. “He’s always good on the big stage. You expect a wonderful performance out of him. And the Blackhawks have been in this event before. I’m sure they’re going to rise to the occasion, too. It’s a majestic spectacle. That causes the game to be good. The players know when it’s a big game. They know when they’re entertaining.”



(Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

Emrick was at Heinz Field for the Capitals’ previous appearance in the Winter Classic, a 3-1 win at Pittsburgh in 2011.

“I remember [then-Penguins defenseman] Brooks Orpik telling me in the warmup at Heinz Field, while he was passing the puck around, he was seeing rooster tails going off the sides of the puck,” Emrick said of the rainy conditions that led organizers to push the start of the game from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. “One of the referees told me the best ice was the second period because the wind picked up. With the second period being so windy, the ice tended to dry a little bit from the rain.”

Three of the game’s four goals were scored in the second period, including two by Washington’s Mike Knuble and Eric Fehr. The Capitals are on their fourth head coach since that game, and they’ve got a new general manager, too. Emrick said there’s no reason Washington can’t get back to the playoffs under Barry Trotz after a one-year absence.

“I like what they’ve done,” Emrick said. “Now, I liked the heavy offense that Bruce [Boudreau] had going there. When it was going there, gee, it was fun to watch. But this [style] wins, too, when you have guys like that who play a different brand of hockey and who can play it well, and that’s something they’ve learned in Hershey. Does it work best for the marquee guys? Well, that’s what this season will tell you, with Alex [Ovechkin] and the guys with the high skill. I think you can win with all sorts of styles, and much of it has to do with the guy between the pipes.”

Emrick is looking forward to watching Ovechkin, a player who, in his estimation, has the greatest combination of scoring ability and hitting since Gordie Howe.

“But the real guy in these games as we know is Eric Fehr,” Emrick said of the Capitals’ less-heralded forward, who scored two goals in the 2011 Winter Classic. “I guess you would call him a slosher, or a mudder as they would say in horse racing. I like his type of player because they’re responsible. And you can’t have 12 forwards like Brooks Laich on your team, but boy, you want one. He plays five times bigger than his body and he bears down hard. It’s not only the raw skill, but it’s the heart and the will to win. You really have the same thing going with Chicago. You have that in [Jonathan] Toews, who bears down, and [Patrick] Kane with the high-level skill. I think it’s going to be fun.”