Peter Maher back on the air...

[T@T]

Man, am I the only one who misses Pete?

I mean what is with these bouncing pucks?

Pete would say "loose puck" around the net or the "skipping" puck towards the boards etc.

Derek Wills has one word "BOUNCING" puck like its a rubber ball, someone who's listening who knows little about the game would be picturing a round ball bouncing on ice not a piece of frozen rubber with flat sides.

Personally I'm getting tired of the word bouncing a hundred times a game.

He's irritating, he sucks and to be honest his hockey knowledge is not exactly great either.

Miss you Pete. over and out!

[GoJetsGo]

Derek Wills drives me crazy with a weird, off-time delay at the tail end of every build-up call.

"Gaudreau... over to Monahan. He shooooooots.... and heeeee...........SCORES!"

and while he's dragging out "shoooots... and heeeee" you can clearly hear crowd noises indicating something's happened but you're left hanging on his dawn out delay.

Obviously when he's calling a home game the crowd gives it away, but away broadcasts when there's just gasps it really makes me feel anxious and a step behind.

[HotHotHeat]

Derek Wills should be narrating children's TV programs.

It's not even a knock against him, he just never should have been told he had a good voice for sports play-by-play.

[Atodaso]

Originally Posted by Lionel Steel

This probably won't go well for you

I wanted to like this, but it's currently at 89 likes...

[Scary Eloranta]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

Derek Wills drives me crazy with a weird, off-time delay at the tail end of every build-up call.

"Gaudreau... over to Monahan. He shooooooots.... and heeeee...........SCORES!"

and while he's dragging out "shoooots... and heeeee" you can clearly hear crowd noises indicating something's happened but you're left hanging on his dawn out delay.

Obviously when he's calling a home game the crowd gives it away, but away broadcasts when there's just gasps it really makes me feel anxious and a step behind.

I thought I was the only one who noticed that too. Obviously it's tough to fill Pete's shoes but not sure why they chose Wills to be honest.

[CaptainCrunch]

Either its a tough adjustment period or the new team just really rubs me the wrong way.

I used to watch the games with the radio on because I couldn't stand the Sportsnet team.

Now I don't listen to the radio team unless I'm driving.

They're just not very good.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

"Gaudreau... over to Monahan. He shooooooots.... and heeeee...........SCORES!"

and while he's dragging out "shoooots... and heeeee" you can clearly hear crowd noises indicating something's happened but you're left hanging on his dawn out delay.

This is what drives me nuts too. Your #1 job as a radio PBP guy is call the play as it happens, for the simple reason that people can't see the game (but can hear the noise). Having a drawn-out scoring call is passable on tv, but on radio you can't be behind the crowd. It takes all the spontaneity out of a goal.

He seems like a decent guy and I don't mind his analysis (apart from coming across as a bit of a sponsor shill), but I just haven't warmed to his play calling at all.

What makes it worse is that every time a Peter Maher commercial comes on, you're reminded of what you're missing. Peter Maher didn't try to win a Grammy with his goal calls. He just did a simple "he scores" as soon as possible and it worked.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

Derek Wills drives me crazy with a weird, off-time delay at the tail end of every build-up call.

"Gaudreau... over to Monahan. He shooooooots.... and heeeee...........SCORES!"

and while he's dragging out "shoooots... and heeeee" you can clearly hear crowd noises indicating something's happened but you're left hanging on his dawn out delay.

Obviously when he's calling a home game the crowd gives it away, but away broadcasts when there's just gasps it really makes me feel anxious and a step behind.

My biggest problem with Wills is that his calls for non-goal calls are exactly the same and it's infuriating as a listener.

"Gaudreau... over to Monahan. He shooooooots.... and heeeee...........MISSES!"

[burn_this_city]

Tried to give Wills a fair shake but I'm not a big fan either. He needs to dial the intensity or uppitiness down a notch or two. Even the interviews with players are cringy at times.

[underGRADFlame]

I think Wills has done a pretty good job filling the shoes of one of the best PBP guys ever. The fact is that Peter had been starting to slip with his PBP in the last few years, it happens, and Wills while not at Peter's level has done a good job. He's a different style no doubt, and I prefer him to many of the other PBP guys out there.

[Da_Chief]

In the past I've tried watching games on mute, you guys should try listening to games on mute.

[GirlySports]

I think Willis is doing fine. And I also get a kick out of it when he says "The Flames are attacking from left to right on your radio" So if I'm in the car, the windshield is the ice heh.

[jaydub74]

I miss maher in the morning. Can't listen to wills, just not the same.

[Dan403]

Originally Posted by Poster

Well I know Maher is well respected and all but he had to be one of the worst PBP guys I ever heard.

booooring!

also, what a terrible title "Flames Insider" .. more like "Flames media speak guy". He never shared a single bit of "inside" info, just news that was either already reported or filtered by the club.

the guy would have plenty of inside information to share but never did.

wish him well with his part time job but glad he is off the Flames broadcast.

I'll take "Oiler's Fans" for 1000 Alex.

[The Yen Man]

I didn't realize how much I missed Peter until they had him on in the morning a couple weeks back on Boomer and Rhett. Peter definitely has a stronger voice than Wills. Brought back good memories of Maher in the morning. Wills seems like a decent and positive guy, but he hasn't really improved his pbp much in the almost two years at the job. I guess it takes time, but I just haven't warmed up to him much TBH.

[Weitz]

It's kind of funny reading through this thread, but the Oilers went through something similar. When Rod Phillips retired he was replaced by Jack Micheals who I think is just awful in comparison.

[McG]

Everyone has a different style of course, and replacing Peter would be difficult for anyone.

Just to add to an earlier post, if you want to know how good we have it with our PBP team, use the TuneIn app or SiriusXM and listen to what other fans get to listen to. Some of them that i have heard, you can't even tell what is happening on the ice because they are so busy talking to and over each other.

FWIW, I like both Wills and Maher.

[Coach]

I like Wills' call. His segments on the Fan are pretty weak though. He never really offers much insight and usually just repeats stuff that the main crew has already discussed, be it morning show, Hockey Central or Flames @ Five.

[TheScorpion]

Wills isn't bad, but he isn't Maher. There's no contest there.

[Magnum PEI]

He keeps improving. I still ant stand it when he goes into announcer mode and uses his voice training/game show host voice.