Ashbridge will return

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Ashbridge will return

Postby Jack Bennest » Sun Apr 03, 2011 5:13 pm

Vancouver Canucks without stadium announcer John Ashbridge for two games due to heart problem

Image

In his words:

Following his lead of last weekend, I have just returned from two nights on the Frosty's Old Farts Cardiac Care Ward (2-North) at RCH, emerging with a brand-new pacemaker. I didn't work the Canucks game on Saturday and won't be there this Thursday. I fully intend to be back for Round One/Game One of the playoffs, about a week later.


Friday: With less than five seconds warning of a massive, building constriction in my chest, I blacked out and took a header at home while having dinner with my long-suffering bride. Ten second later, I regain my (limited) senses to find I am sideways on the floor and that Yvonne is on the phone, giving ambulance people the instructions on where to find me ... and getting instructions from them on what to do to keep me alive in the interim.


Saturday: No, it wasn't a heart attack. It has been described as a third-degree heart blockage, brought on by the failure of the 'electrical system' that regulates the heartbeat. Happily, Royal Columbian's regional cardiac care centre is just three blocks from home, where I was fitted with a state-of-the-art medical timepiece, causing my pulse rate to jump from a dangerous 30-or-so to a far more-normal 60+. I now have colour in my cheeks. I am now home as of Sunday afternoon, sore but well and under orders to take the week off.

Sunday: Back at home.

John Ashbridge

THE VOICE (March 26, 2011 Vancouver Sun)

John Ashbridge's voice, with its perfect blend of firmness and friendliness, booms out over the loudspeaker system at Rogers Arena as he announces goals, penalties and other in-game events.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your Vancouver Canucks!"

"Please rise and remove your hats."

"Please refrain from leaning on the railings."

From gentle chiding to refrained cheerleading, through that signature voice of his, Ashbridge has carved his way into team history.

Having taken the job in 1987, there are few who have been around as long as he has.

He normally arrives at the arena two hours before a game to avoid last-minute snafus, but he has already done some work at home, visiting the NHL web-site, downloading the lineup and accessing the script that sets out the details and timing of all the planned events that happen before the game and during stoppages in play.

Ever the gentleman, from his perch five floors up from all the action, he takes time to go downstairs and say hello to the referees and linesmen before the game starts. A stickler for accuracy, it's partly out of courtesy but partly because he wants to make sure the names on the game plan are the actual guys who show up.

He has been doing the job so long, he doesn't find it to be too much of a challenge anymore.

His biggest hurdle is pronouncing the players' names correctly. Fortunately, he gets a lot of help from the NHL on that score.

Another hurdle is making sure his time counts are correct. "You are always calculating time in reverse from a 20-minute countdown clock."

Then, just like everyone else who is part of the game action, he tries to stay one step ahead of it.

The veteran public address announcer admits that, yes, even he makes the odd blooper, like blowing the horn when no goal has been scored. "I'm allowed one of those per season."

He might be forgiven, too, for "having a senior blond moment over a name that one should know and not being able to remember the correct pronunciation." Oh, yes, it happens. Fortunately, not often.

Ashbridge came into the job almost by accident.

He spent almost 40 years in broadcasting, most of it at CKNW. For most of those years, the station was the rights holder for the Vancouver Canucks. Ashbridge served as a backup to a colleague who announced the games.

When the regular announcer moved to a night shift, he was offered the job.

Ashbridge doesn't know how much longer he will be doing it. "Until I get it right so I may have work for life," he says with his trademark deadpan wit.

Despite his disarming humility, Ashbridge is in huge demand. He does the Giants games as well. This was one of the rare nights when the two home teams' schedules overlapped so Ashbridge's backup was on duty with the Giants.

He has been thinking of reducing his involvement, but he is holding out for that holy grail of hockey, a Stanley Cup win. "I have been to a Stanley Cup final before in 1994. It would be nice to do the same thing again with a different outcome."

Not that he hasn't had plenty of excitement on the job.

Seeing the Canucks almost win a Stanley Cup in 1994 was certainly part of that. So was the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championships and the 2007 Memorial Cup tournament.

Perhaps nothing so far can match the 2010 Winter Olympics when Canada took the gold. "It was right here three feet in front of us when the golden goal was scored and I was the English announcer of record that night."

Still, he holds out for the Stanley Cup.

Could this be the year? He hopes so.

"I can't keep doing this forever." And there it is, that deadpan humour, that equanimity, that timbre in a voice that gets it right almost all the time, night after night.



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Show ... z1IVYsiMRX
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Re: Ashbridge will return

Postby Russ_Byth » Sun Apr 03, 2011 5:19 pm

Good to hear Ash is fine!
Having spent the better part of the past 6 weeks with my dad on the cardiac floor at RCH, I can vouch that the care is second to none.
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Re: Ashbridge will return

Postby Steve Sanderson » Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:30 pm

Welcome back Ash!
The number of heart problems lately....O.K. Who's next??!!
:phew:
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Re: Ashbridge will return

Postby Mike Cleaver » Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:34 pm

Super happy to hear you're OK, Ash.
We old guys have to be on our guard.
I have a hospital date in two weeks.
Hopefully, two weeks after that, I'll be 100 per cent again.
Again, glad you're good to go with a new part!
Mike Cleaver Broadcast Services
Engineering, News, Voice work and Consulting
Vancouver, BC, Canada

54 years experience at some of Canada's Premier Broadcasting Stations
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Re: Ashbridge will return

Postby johnsykes » Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:38 pm

Great to hear you are on the mend and almost ready to return to action at Rogers Garage. Your dulcet tones were sorely missed Saturday night.
Best regards,

John Sykes
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Re: Ashbridge will return

Postby Russ_Byth » Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:52 pm

Bumped into.... OK, tracked down, Yvonne at RCH today when I got word that John was back in the hospital.
Its just for a pacemaker 'tweaking' and he expects to be back at the 'Nucks games very soon.
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Re: Ashbridge will return

Postby hagopian » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:48 pm

That's it = get back in there!!!!

Glad you are ok, Ash, and delighted that the Docs are so skilled and your wife kept her cool.

Cheers!!!
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