Rick Ball is a Canadian sportscaster who currently works as a hockey play-by-play announcer on Chicago Sports Network's Chicago Blackhawks broadcasts. Ball worked the Stanley Cup Playoffs for TNT in 2023.
Rick Ball | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | British Columbia Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
A British Columbia Institute of Technology graduate, Ball began his radio career in 1993 in his native Kelowna.[1][2] From 1995 to 2000 he was the play-by-play announcer for the Kelowna Rockets.[3] He then worked for CFAX in Victoria, British Columbia.[1] In 2001 he filled in for Jim Hughson on ten of VTV’s Vancouver Canucks broadcasts.[3] That same year he joined The Team 1040 in Vancouver, where he hosted the noon-to-3 p.m. show.[1][4] In 2004, The Team acquired the rights to the BC Lions and Ball was named the new play-by-play voice.[2] In 2008, Ball and Joe Kenward were chosen as fill-in voices for lead Canucks announcer John Shorthouse.[4] In 2011, the CBC chose Ball to call Winnipeg Jets games for Hockey Night In Canada.[5] In 2013 he became the main western play-by-play voice for Hockey Night in Canada.[1] In 2014, Ball left Vancouver to become Sportsnet's regional television announcer for the Calgary Flames.[6] Ball will join Chicago Sports Network as the television play-by-play broadcaster of the Chicago Blackhawks in October 2024.[7]