Elliotte Friedman (born September 27, 1970) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

. He currently serves as a hockey reporter for

Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then was r ...

and as an insider for the NHL Network. He is a regular panelist on CBC's

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its his ...

Early life and education

Friedman attended the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames Ri ...

and worked at the student newspaper ''The Gazette'' as a sports editor and eventually served as editor-in-chief in 1992–93. Friedman was born and raised in a middle-class

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

home.

Career

Friedman began his broadcast career for Toronto sports radio station The Fan 590 in 1994. He did

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present In linguis ...

for

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Atlantic Division (NBA) ...

games on both radio and television and reported on

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

games in 1998. He also did freelance work for the ''

London Free Press ''The London Free Press'' is a daily newspaper based in London, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Southwestern Ontario. History ''The London Free Press'' began as the ''Canadian Free Press'', founded by Willi ...

'' and the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

''. Friedman was awarded the

Telemedia Telemedia was a Canadian media company, which had holdings in radio, television and magazine publishing. The company was launched in 1968 by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, when he purchased CKAC in Montreal from Power Corporation of Canada. CK ...

Reporter of the Year award in 1996. Friedman then worked for The Score network before joining

CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...

in 2003. At CBC, Friedman was a reporter for ''

''; the studio host for the final two seasons of the '' CFL on CBC'' and for some Toronto Raptors games; and participated in the CBC's

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

coverage. Friedman began reporting on the CFL in 2006, after

Brian Williams Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American retired journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for '' NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004. ...

moved to CTV/TSN. In 2011, Friedman received the Best Sports Reporting

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United State ...

for his efforts on Hockey Night in Canada's Heritage Classic. He also continued to appear regularly on The Fan 590 (now Sportsnet 590). After

Rogers Media Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsne ...

acquired exclusive national media rights to the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and began producing ''Hockey Night'' for CBC, Friedman was hired by

to continue his role. In 2016, Friedman participated as a commentator during CBC's coverage of diving and swimming events at the 2016 Summer Olympics to replace Steve Armitage (who was unable to attend the Games due to his diagnosis with chronic heart failure). On August 11, 2016, Friedman received international attention after making a mistake in his commentary of the Men's 200 metre individual medley final; Friedman declared that U.S. swimmer

Ryan Lochte Ryan Steven Lochte ( ; born August 3, 1984) is an American professional swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. Along with Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres, and Jenny Thompson, he is the second-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured ...

was leading and had won the race, when it was actually won by his rival,

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold med ...

Personal life

Friedman is married to a former television producer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Elliotte 1970 births Living people Canadian Football League announcers Jewish Canadian journalists Canadian radio sportscasters Canadian television sportscasters Journalists from Toronto Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Hockey League broadcasters Toronto Blue Jays announcers Olympic Games broadcasters Toronto Raptors announcers University of Western Ontario alumni American Hockey League broadcasters Swimming commentators 20th-century Canadian people 21st-century Canadian people