Harnarayan Singh (born December 21, 1984) is a Canadian

sports announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...

and journalist. He became known for announcing the Punjabi-language broadcasts of ''

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

,'' and currently calls games in English for

Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...

and ''Hockey Night in Canada''.

Early life

Singh was born on December 21, 1984, in

Brooks, Alberta Brooks is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada in the County of Newell. It is on Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) and the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway, approximately southeast of Calgary, and northwest of Medicine Hat. The city has an e ...

. His parents immigrated to Canada in the 1960s from India. Singh was an avid hockey fan as a child; he and his siblings were fans of

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

and the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

, and would do mock announcing using toy microphones. He studied broadcasting at

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

in Calgary, where he hosted a hockey talk show on the student radio station. Singh was accepted into an internship at the TSN sports television network in 2004.

Broadcasting career

After leaving TSN, Singh worked as a reporter for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

's news service in Calgary. Singh came to the attention of fellow CBC employee, former NHL goalie, and announcer

Kelly Hrudey Kelly Hrudey (; born January 13, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who is a broadcaster with Sportsnet as a studio analyst for ''Hockey Night in Canada'' and colour commentator for Calgary Flames regional broadcasts. D ...

; Hrudey recommended Singh to the network as a possible new announcer. Joel Darling, the executive producer of ''

'', then approached Singh about calling a hockey game in Punjabi, which Darling believed fit the public broadcaster's goal to "attract new Canadians and people who normally wouldn’t watch the sport of hockey". In 2009, Singh began announcing

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

games in the Punjabi language for ''Hockey Night in Canada''. He continued his work at CBC Calgary to pay for his weekly flights to Toronto'','' but the CBC eventually found out and paid for his travel. Singh had one of his games turn into a

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

in 2016 when he made an energetic call of goal-scorer

Nick Bonino Nicholas Bonino (born April 20, 1988) is an American former professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), center. He played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Anaheim Ducks, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Nashville P ...

's name. He was the first person to announce an NHL game in Punjabi for television, and, in 2016, became the first Sikh Canadian to broadcast an NHL game in English. He also hosts a weekly online segment for the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The ...

organization. In September 2020, Singh published a memoir, titled ''One Game at a Time,'' which details his early life and broadcasting career. On January 13, 2021, Singh made his English play-by-play debut, calling a regular season game between the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

and

for

. At the

9th Canadian Screen Awards The 9th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 17–20 May 2021 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020. The presentations were held as a seri ...

in 2021, Singh won the award for Best Sports Play-by-Play.

Personal life

On June 1, 2022, Singh was given an honorary

Doctorate of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

by his alma mater

. He resides in Calgary and is married with two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Harnarayan Living people Canadian television sportscasters People from Brooks, Alberta 1984 births Canadian people of Punjabi descent Canadian Screen Award winning sportscasters Canadian Sikhs