David W. Shea (born ''c''. 1950) is an

Irish-American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

sportscaster, who is best known as the former ice hockey announcer for

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

and the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

and a back-up basketball announcer for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame on November 19, 2008.

Career

He began calling the college game in 1984 and joined the Bruins telecasts on

NESN New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which owns a controlling 80% interest, and is the owner of the Boston ...

as a fill-in play-by-play, a color commentator, and studio host in 1986, joining

Fred Cusick Frederick Michael Cusick (November 7, 1918 – September 15, 2009) was an American ice hockey broadcaster who served as the Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer from 1971 until 1997 on WSBK-TV (Channel 38) in Boston, and from 1984 until 1995 on N ...

and

Derek Sanderson Derek Michael Sanderson (born June 16, 1946), nicknamed "Turk", is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and two-time Stanley Cup champion who helped transform the culture of the professional athlete in the 1970s era. He set up the e ...

, doing so until 1995. This meant that he missed the beginnings and ends of periods as he moved from ice level to the broadcast booth and back. He was also a

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

announcer for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's coverage of the NCAA Hockey Regionals from 1994 to 1997. He was named the road play-by-play announcer for the Bruins (

Dale Arnold Dale Everett Arnold (born March 27, 1956) is a New England sportscaster. He co-hosted talk radio shows on WEEI and WEEI-FM from 1991 until his retirement from radio in March 2021. He has served as the play-by-play announcer for the Boston Bru ...

did home games) in 1997 after hall-of-famer Cusick and former Bruins analyst Sanderson retired. He held that position until the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After the 2004–05 lockout, Shea took a temporary job with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

baseball team as a radio analyst. NESN did not renew his contract, fearing his unavailability for Bruins games in the case of the Nationals qualifying for the playoffs. He was replaced by Jack Edwards, formerly of ESPN.

Additional work

A thirty-plus-year broadcasting veteran, Shea has called hockey, football, soccer and basketball for numerous professional and college teams, including the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (1967), National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League ...

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson is the nickname of the college sports teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate Varsity team, varsity sports teams for women and men at Harva ...

and the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

. He also served as the radio voice of the

Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...

for three summers during the mid-1990s. He had been a co-host briefly on WEEI on '' The Big Show'' with

Glenn Ordway Glenn Ordway (born January 16, 1951) is an American former sports radio and television personality based in the Boston area. He also spent over a decade as a radio sports commentator for Boston Celtics games. Career Ordway began his radio career ...

in its infancy. Shea worked the 2006

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

football season for

CN8 The Comcast Network (TCN) was an American cable television network which was carried mostly on Comcast and Xfinity cable systems in four states and 20 television markets in the Eastern U.S. from New Jersey to Virginia. The main focus of the netwo ...

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

. He has also worked as a car salesman at South Shore Volkswagen (formerly Hanover Volkswagen). Shea is currently the Senior Vice President for the Regional Sports Media Group, which is a subsidiary of BBI Marketing. The company is best known for dealing with

Bob's Stores Bob's Stores was a chain of retail stores in the northeastern United States owned by GoDigital Media Group. Founded as Bob's Surplus in Middletown, Connecticut, by Robert "Bob" Lapidus in 1954, the chain expanded gradually until it was acquired ...

, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA),

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. ( ) is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of October 28, 2022, Lowe's and i ...

Home Improvement Stores, Manulife Financial, and publishes the Hockey Magazine.

Personal

An avid golfer, Shea lives in

Pembroke, Massachusetts Pembroke is an historic town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Pembroke is a South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore suburb of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. The town is located app ...

, with his wife, Pam, sons Brendan, Christopher, Timothy, and Daniel, and daughter Jillian.

References

External links

Old NESN Bio

retrieved August 18, 2007
''Boston Globe'' "Shea lands radio gig with the Nationals"
2–26–05; retrieved August 18, 2007
''Nashua Telegraph'' "Shea enjoying Nationals attention"
Published: Thursday, Jul. 21, 2005, Retrieved August 18, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shea, Dave 1950s births Living people American people of Irish descent American sports radio personalities American television sports announcers Association football commentators Boston Bruins announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers College hockey announcers in the United States Duxbury High School alumni Major League Baseball broadcasters Minnesota Timberwolves announcers Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Hockey League broadcasters NBA broadcasters Pawtucket Red Sox People from Duxbury, Massachusetts People from Pembroke, Massachusetts Television anchors from Boston Washington Nationals announcers Year of birth missing (living people)

Career

Additional work

Personal

See also

References

External links