At the most recent BCHL Annual General Meeting, the Board of Governors unanimously voted in favour of updating the names of several year-end awards, as well as adding a pair of new trophies. Over the coming weeks, the league will unveil these changes.
The next award to have its name changed is the BCHL’s Broadcaster of the Year award, which will now be known as the Jim Hughson Award, named after the longtime NHL broadcaster who started out calling games for the Penticton Vees and the Kelowna Buckaroos of the BCJHL in the 1970s.
“This is incredibly flattering, humbling and, I hope for some young broadcasters, it’s inspiring,” said Hughson. “I hope that, in time, for those broadcasters, I can be an inspiration to them. [The BCHL] was my training ground. It’s where I learned to broadcast a game. It’s where I learned to love the game even more than I had as a kid and as a player. It’s just a fantastic experience. It’s a very humbling honour.”
Hughson, from Fort St. John, B.C., is well known throughout the province as the voice of the Vancouver Canucks on the radio from 1990 to 1998 and on television from 1999 to 2007. During that time, he also became a national commentator for Hockey Night in Canada from 2005 to 2021, including 11 years as their lead broadcaster.
The 65-year-old called 12 Stanley Cup Finals, as well as the men’s hockey tournament at the 2006 and 2014 Winter Olympics. He retired in 2021 after a 42-year broadcasting career.
In 2019, the Hockey Hall of Fame awarded Hughson the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster.
Since retiring from play-by-play, he is now the Chairman of the Board for the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in Penticton.
