Mike Tirico Hosting NHL Winter Classic on NBC

Sportscasting veteran Mike Tirico will host the NHL Winter Classic this year on NBC.

When the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins battle in this year’s NHL Winter Classic, Mike Tirico will be the guy calling the game. In all his years at NBC Sports and ESPN, Tirico has covered little hockey, with last year’s Stanley Cup Final being his first foray into the sport. This year, however, he’s dipping his foot into the NHL’s pond a little bit deeper.

The 2019 NHL Winter Classic, which will be at Notre Dame on New Year’s Day, will be the first of two major NHL events Tirico is set to broadcast. Later in January, NBC tabbed Tirico to do the NHL’s All-Star Game in San Jose, CA.

Tirico, speaking with USA Today, dreamed of being a hockey broadcaster as a kid. “My goal was to be the voice of the New York Rangers,” Tirico told USA Today. “This is great for me.”

He added that hockey is “still the best in-the-building experience of any of the major sports.”

Per USA Today, Tirico still wants to cross the Indianapolis 500 off his major sports event bucket list.