First, it was Mike "Doc" Emrick, now it's Pat Foley. Two of the greatest play-by-play voices ever to call hockey will soon be retired. Emrick retired after last season's Stanley Cup Final and now Pat Foley, the Hall of Famer and long-time voice of the Chicago Blackhawks is hanging up his microphone when the season ends in a couple of weeks.

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Foley grew up in the Chicago suburbs where his father owned an auto dealership. He had an interest in announcing early and was able to sit in with Chicago Cub announcing legend Jack Quinlan and Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau. After that, there was no stopping him. Foley went on to Michigan State, where he called baseball and hockey and after getting his degree, he moved to Grand Rapids and called the Owls games in the old International Hockey League. The owner's brother heard him in Grand Rapids and Foley became the voice of the Blackhawks in 1980 at the age of 26.

On April 3rd, the team announced Chris Vosters, a former Great Lakes Loons (Midland, Michigan) baseball announcer had been selected as the man to replace Foley when he retires.

In a season a seismic change in other sports (Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit to name a couple), this one seems a little less than that, a simple retirement, but for any fan who has followed a team for four decades, this will be a big change.

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