This afternoon at HSBC Arena Sabres Managing Partner Larry Quinn formally introduced Harry Neale and Mike Robitaille as the newest members of the broadcast crew. Both men will serve alongside play by play announcer Rick Jeanneret as color analysts, with Neale picking up approximately 70 games and Robitaille the remainder. Robitaille’s first official game as analyst will be this Saturday on Long Island against the Islanders.

Neale will retain his duties with CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, but his schedule there has been reduced from 30 to 15 games. Neale will no longer do mid week games for the Toronto Maple Leafs which are telecast on either Leafs TV or TSN.

Additionally, Jeanneret has signed a two year contract extension with the team. “He is a big part of our brand” said Quinn in announcing this news.

I asked Quinn how this all came about, and he replied that Neale’s name came up while he was in meetings in New York City discussing logistics and planning for the Ice Bowl. Quinn then spoke with management representatives of the Toronto Maple Leafs to see if they were amenable in letting the Sabres talk to Neale. “The Leafs were tremendous” said Quinn. “From there it was a matter of Harry’s rep calling me, and the negotiations took about five minutes.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I almost got the feeling that had the Sabres not signed Neale, that the next big shoe to drop would have been Jeanneret’s departure. He came across like a guy looking ahead to his own retirement and departure from the broadcast booth, and Quinn repeatedly paid compliments to Jeanneret across the dais.

Jeanneret had the assembled media in stitches a couple of times, at first saying “I’m not sure the broadcast booth is big enough for two chick magnets.” He added that he was happy to have someone so close to his age and someone who enjoys beer as much as he does.

A resident of East Amherst, N.Y., Neale is well known to Sabres fans across Western New York and Southern Ontario for his work on Hockey Night in Canada. Neale joined CBC in 1986 following eight years as an NHL coach and general manager with Vancouver and Detroit. Paired with play-by-play voice Bob Cole, the duo have called 20 Stanley Cup Finals together for HNIC. Neale has also spent the past 21 seasons working alongside Joe Bowen as an analyst on regional coverage of Toronto Maple Leafs games.

In addition to his NHL work, Neale was the hockey analyst for CBC’s coverage of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano.

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