Abbott shifts from Ottawa to Calgary this season, calling Flames games on Sportsnet. He sat down with The Hockey News to look back on his time in Ottawa.
In a classic case of "good things happen to good people," broadcaster Jon Abbott has landed his dream gig.
Abbott signed on with Sportsnet this week as their new play-by-play man for Calgary Flames broadcasts this season.
But that means Abbott has to bid farewell to the Nation's Capital for the second time. He's spent the past few seasons calling Ottawa Senators games for TSN. Before that, he was well known to Ottawa hockey fans for his time on Sports Radio Team 1200 (now TSN 1200), doing sportscasts and Ottawa 67s games.
This week, The Hockey News Ottawa caught up with Abbott, who put his realtor on hold for a few minutes to share some thoughts with us about his time in Ottawa.
THN: So how did the new job in Calgary come about?
Abbott: As difficult as it is to move on from Ottawa and a great crew on TSN, it just happened to be a timing thing that lined up that once Rick Ball left for Chicago, the wheels were in motion. I think there were lots of candidates, as you would expect. Eventually, it came down to the point where they started calling me a little bit more regularly and getting me in front of some different people on both sides – both the Flames and Sportsnet.
And then it started moving really quickly and I was hopeful, but not trying to get too far ahead of myself. And then very grateful that they did decide that I would be the guy that could carry the baton from Rick Ball and his 10 years on the Flames broadcast.
What was the highlight of your first stint in Ottawa?
As many as there are, this one always stays with me. And that was having the privilege of calling 67's games during Brian Kilrea's last year (as coach) along with Bert O'Brien. Those are just two wonderful people that have had a big impact on me personally and professionally.
So that meant a lot to me that somehow my tenure lined up with being able to call his final games as a coach and then and a general manager. And then it was really important to me to share the booth with Dave Schreiber, who brought me in all those years back and be able to not only work with him and call him a friend, but do games with him.
And just being able to be around the Sens and Dean Brown and Gord Wilson and Brent Wallace and that world really taking me under their wings, as well as times in the studio with you and JR and Lloydy. And not to go too far back down memory lane, but it's a special place in my life and it is crazy how quick time goes.
And how about the highlight of this latest stint in Ottawa that just wrapped up?
Ah, man, reuniting with all the friends and colleagues. That's pretty special. How often do you get to have two opportunities in the same big city in Canada and enjoy the fact that there are still a lot of the people that you call friends still there.
And I just think the energy from the young team, the direction now the franchise is really encouraging, I think, since Michael Anlauer came in and we're seeing his quick work and how impactful that can be. So despite the fact things didn't go well there (in the standings), there were still a lot of fun moments on the ice. And I think now those are creeping into where they're going to be fun, but they're going to be good too. So it's seems like they're in a good spot right now.
So the Senators have that in common with Jon Abbott, one of the truly good guys in our business. Take good care of him, Calgary. He's a beauty.
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