Bob Ridley backs the Medicine Hat Tigers team bus out of the bus dock at The Arena on Thursday, April 4, 2013. -- NEWS FILE PHOTO
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
A few years back, longtime Medicine Hat Tigers broadcaster Bob Ridley made the decision to stop driving the team bus to and from road games, but continued on behind the mic and now sits on the cusp of 4,000 games.
But in order to reach that milestone, he’ll have to climb back behind the wheel and get on the road again.
“I can’t even ride on the bus because of this COVID thing and all the restrictions. I have to drive to the games,” said Ridley, who will make the trip to Red Deer tonight for Medicine Hat’s season opener against the Rebels at 6 p.m. “I thought my driving days were over, but no, here I am back on the road driving again just to broadcast the hockey games.”
It’s been a long year for everyone in the hockey world, and Ridley says he’s no exception. After so long outside the broadcast booth, he joked about having some potential rust ahead of this weekend’s puck drop.
“It’s been a long year off and for an old guy like me, I maybe forget how to do certain things so I’ve got to kind of reschool myself all over again. But I am pretty excited to get going again,” he said. “Even though it’s just going to be a short season, it’s going to be kind of fun watching some of these real young guys develop and so on, and get kind of kick-started for next year, so it’s going to be a good thing for sure.”
Ridley admits not having fans in the building is likely “the most frustrating part” of this season, but he’ll be pulling out all the stops to ensure Saturday’s broadcast feels just like any of his past 3,999.
“It will be an empty building, but we’ll do the best we can to try to make it as exciting as we can for the fans that are listening on the radio, so that is kind of cool,” he said. “Junior hockey is so exciting, and it’s so exciting for people to be sitting in the stands and watching it rather than listening to it on the radio. Maybe the radio is kind of the second-best thing, but boy, oh boy, to be in the rink and enjoy a game the way we have over all these years, that’s what junior hockey is all about.”
While that social aspect of the game might be missing in the stands when the puck drops on Saturday’s home opener against the Red Deer Rebels at
7:30 p.m., Ridley says the game will still serve a symbol for all the relationships he’s made over the past half-century.
“I’ve met so many tremendous people and this is just kind of an
indication of all the wonderful people I have met and been involved with over the many, many years,” he said.
