Hall of Fame hockey broadcaster Mike “Doc” Emrick’s recently published book – “Off Mike: How a Kid from Basketball-Crazy Indiana Became America’s NHL Voice” – should score big with hockey enthusiasts, especially fans of the original Maine Mariners.

Doc affectionately makes the call on his 47-year career in an easy-to-read autobiography. It was 10 years in the making, with a big assist going to USA Today hockey writer Kevin Allen, and was published in October, a day after he announced his retirement from broadcasting.

Maine Mariners fans will find many references to the American Hockey League franchise that won the Calder Cup in 1978 and 1979 in their first two years of operation. Becoming the original voice of the Mariners was pivotal to Emrick’s career. He spent three seasons in Maine, and eventually was hired to broadcast games for the New Jersey Devils after the franchise was relocated from Colorado in 1982.

Doc writes eloquently about his values, and the people and events that contributed to a career that began in Port Huron, Michigan, in 1973. As an International Hockey League broadcaster, he earned $8,300 a year, plus $7 a day in meal money for trips over 200 miles – a far cry from the $500,000 a year he reportedly earned at the pinnacle of his career.

Known for preparation and attention to detail, Doc has kept 47 years of media credentials. Emrick recalls attending his very first hockey game on December 10, 1960, to see the Fort Wayne Komets. Later, as an aspiring broadcaster, he would speak into a tape recorder to master his craft. He still has a few of those practice tapes.

Emrick mentions writing a letter seeking advice from Detroit Tigers play-by-play announcer Ernie Harwell in 1974, and getting a prompt reply. He still has the letter, in an envelope with a Detroit Tigers logo.

Doc credits Maine Mariners coach Bob McCammon for teaching him the most about the game, both in Port Huron and Portland. McCammon’s wife, Marie, introduced Doc to his wife, Joyce.

Longtime NHL coach and executive Pat Quinn, who became coach of the Mariners in 1979, stressed to Emrick the importance of financial planning. But Quinn’s cigar smoking was sometimes unbearable on those long bus rides. Emrick says he still exchanges letters with 92-year-old Gil Stein, who was the first president of the Mariners.

Mariner staffers Frank Gilbert, Kara Dunn are recalled fondly, as is business manager and later team president Ed Anderson. When the Emricks got married, they received a Paris honeymoon from the Mariners and the Philadelphia Flyers – Maine’s NHL parent team.

More Mariners come up in the Emmy Award broadcaster’s story. Archie Henderson, Dave Honda, Jim Cunningham, Glen Cochrane and John Paddock were memorable brawlers in an era when fighting was more prevalent. Emrick confesses that hockey fights attracted him to the game as a youngster. One IHL bench-clearing brawl featured future Mariner Frank Bathe. The fisticuffs carried over from the ice into the penalty boxes, and then all the way into the lobby area.

Mariners players Dennis Patterson, Blake Wesley, Yves Preston, M.F. Schurman, Al Hill, Blake Dunlop, Steve Coates, Pete Peeters and Rick St. Croix get a mention, along with mainstays Paul Evans, Terry Murray and trainer Dave “Sudsy” Settlemyre.

Emrick devotes a great deal of the book to minor league hockey, because “that’s where the colorful characters were and that’s how small town fans are introduced to the game.” Morris Snider, the GM in Port Huron, was tight on salary but long on encouragement and worldly advice. War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where the cult classic “Slap Shot” was filmed, is one of Doc’s favorites arenas. Lines from the movie often came up in broadcasts.

Of course, Doc describes the thrill and good fortune of broadcasting in the NHL and at the Olympics. Those opportunities provided first-class amenities, production help, and interaction with the game’s greats. But vantage points and arena protocols were tougher. Travel, especially international, was wearisome. In his final season, the pandemic resulted in Doc announcing from a home studio. He wishes, “If I could beam up from Montreal to Anaheim like the Star-Trek characters do, I could broadcast indefinitely.”

Several chapters are about Emrick’s many broadcasting partners, especially his close relationship with analyst Eddie Olczyk, who contributes a heart-felt forward to the book.

Emrick includes the touchy 1988 episode of replacing popular Philadelphia Flyers play-by-play man Gene Hart for TV broadcasts, but they remained friends. He loved being the straight man to comical former players turned analysts, Bill Clement and Bobby Taylor. There are stories of other sidekicks, including Sal Messina, Peter McNab, John Davidson, Chico Resch and Pierre McGuire.

Doc goes into detail describing the 1987 playoff game on Easter Sunday won by New York Islanders over the host Washington Capitals in four overtimes, spanning more than six hours. Emrick offered a classic game wrapup. “There were three National League hockey games tonight, and all three were here.” ESPN president J. Williams Grimes sent a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne to Doc’s home the next day, saluting his yeoman broadcasting effort.

Emrick cherishes a 2017 All-Star roundtable discussion with Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews. But Mike’s “Iron Five” in his life are his wife, Joyce; his agent, Lou Oppenheimer; Olczyk; NBC boss Sam Flood; and his brother, Dan.

Doc reveals beating prostrate cancer in 1991, aided by the Flyers helping him find the right physician, a New York Rangers fan.

The Emricks live in St. Clair, Michigan, just south of Detroit. Doc made good on a promise to Joyce to live near “the nice water in Michigan” and to own a horse. Now there is a stable of five, plus two Yorkies.

“My goodness,” Doc often remarked in making the call in more than 3,750 games, including 22 Stanley Cup finals and 19 outdoor Winter Classics. There’s many more interesting stories as you dig into the corners of this book.

Augie Favazza, former Portland Press Herald sports editor, columnist and sports writer, covered the early years of the Maine Mariners. Doc Emrick wrote the forward to “Mariner Mania” co-authored by Favazza and Steve Buckley in 1983.

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