Each year, the NHL Broadcasters’ Association decerns the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in recognition of radio and television industry members who have made outstanding contributions to their profession and the game of hockey. This year, the winner is none other than the French voice of Montreal Canadiens’ hockey: Pierre Houde (from “Hockey Hall Fame honours Canadiens announcer Pierre Houde of RDS”, The Gazette, May 31, 2024).
The Foster Hewitt Memorial Award
Foster Hewitt is often described as a pioneer and a trailblazer and is an important name in Canada’s broadcasting history. In 1923 at the ripe old age of 21, Hewitt conducted his first broadcast from the Arena Gardens in Toronto, his hometown. That was only the start of what would become a fantastic career in sports journalism and broadcasting. Hewitt dipped into commenting on numerous sports including baseball, football, and sailing, amongst others, but it’s as the voice of hockey that he’s most remembered. When Canada won the Summit Series against the USSR in 1972, Hewitt was the one who described the action as a whole country watched which would help to make him one of the most memorable voices in hockey.
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He is credited with being the first to say, “He shoots, he scores!” which became the go-to expression for broadcasters to this day. For hockey fans in Canada, Hewitt also became a symbol of Canadian unity. Nowadays everyone remembers his patented greeting “Hello Canada and hockey fans in the United States…” The NHL Broadcasters’ Association began awarding the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 1984 and Hewitt himself was the first recipient. He received the Order of Canada in 1972, was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1975, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.
Pierre Houde’s Career and Importance in Quebec
If Hewitt is remembered by many as the voice of hockey, in Quebec, Houde is known as the French voice of the Montreal Canadiens, deservedly so. He was one of the courageous ones who made the jump to the only French sports-specialized network le “Réseau des Sports” or RDS in 1989, not knowing how well the new network would fare. From then on, he became the French play-by-play announcer on RDS, a profession and a passion which continues to keep him busy every season. Analysts have come and gone by his side, but Houde is always there, the only voice the French Canadian hockey fans want to hear saying “Le tir et le but!”.
What makes Houde so special for the people of Quebec is not only the passion that inhabits him when he’s describing the game, but also the professionalism he shows. He might be French-speaking, but he makes a point of getting the pronunciation of each name right, so much so that when there’s a name he doesn’t know on the team’s roster, he seeks out the player to ask him how he wants his name pronounced. It’s a delicate attention to detail Quebecers have come to know and love. To this day he has called close to 3,500 games including NHL, World Championships, and Spengler Cup games, but mostly it was Canadiens’ games.
Upon hearing the news, RDS put together a touching homage including extracts of Houde calling plays and a word from the player who just scored featuring David Savard, David Desharnais, Maxime Talbot, and Patrice Bergeron. Towards the end of the 10-minute video, the Canadiens’ vice president of communication Chantal Machabee makes an appearance to congratulate Houde for getting the award, but also to tell him, he’s at the same level as legendary broadcasters Rene Lecavalier and Richard Garneau. Machabee worked for RDS when hired by the Canadiens in January 2022 and she has done so for the last 32 years, having worked alongside Houde from the inception of RDS.
The RDS vs TVA Sports Battle
In 2015, RDS lost the Canadiens’ national broadcasting rights to TVA Sports, a new channel belonging to Pierre-Karl Péladeau, which was their direct competition. What that meant was that RDS was keeping the weeknight games and TVA Sports the week-end night games.
Even without the Canadiens’ national broadcasting rights, RDS’ hockey-centered shows continue to dominate TVA Sports’ counter-programming. RDS’ hockey coverage is so much better that they had a bigger audience for the Memorial Cup Final than TVA Sports did in the first game of the Stanley Cup Final. It’s very hard for the TVA Sports duo featuring Félix Séguin as the play-by-play announcer and former NHL goaltender Patrick Lalime as the analyst to compete with the Houde-Marc Denis tandem on RDS. Fans like their work so much more, that on nights when TVA Sports shows the Canadiens’ game, numerous French hockey fans switch to hockey in English and come back to French when RDS shows the game (from “Le hockey en anglais, ça me plaît”, La Presse, July 14, 2021).
The list of past Foster Hewitt Memorial Award winners doesn’t include many French-speaking broadcasters. The last French-speaking winner was former Canadiens player Gilles Tremblay in 2002 and before him, only Richard Garneau in 1999 and René Lecavalier in 1984 have received the legendary award. This goes to show how much of an accomplishment it is for a French-Canadien to win it.
This is not the last time we will hear about Houde. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame just as Hewitt was.
