Jeff Rimer (born July 18, 1951) is a Canadian-born American broadcaster who serves the television play-by-play announcer for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League. Rimer began his broadcasting career in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

with Cable 10 and CFAC Radio. While at CFAC, he served as the play-by-play man for the

Calgary Centennials The Calgary Centennials were a junior ice hockey team that played in the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) from 1966–1977. They played in Calgary, Alberta, Canada at the Stampede Corral. History A charter member of the Canadian Major Junio ...

of the Western Hockey League. After a stint in

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

, Rimer worked for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in Edmonton under veteran sportscaster

Ernie Afaganis Ernie Afaganis (born ) is a Canadian sports broadcaster, known for his work at CBC Sports. He was born in Lethbridge, Alberta. Career After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Eastern Washington University, Afaganis returned to Alberta where i ...

. He then worked for CFCF Radio, where he was the pre- and post-game show host for the Montreal Canadiens. He was also CBC's gymnastics commentator during the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

in Montreal. In 1984 he was involved in a scuffle with Pete Rose over something Rose contended Rimer said about him on his radio program. In 1984, Rimer moved to WBAL radio in Baltimore, where he served as sports director and host of Orioles' pre and postgame reports. In 1990 he became the television play-by-play announcer for the Washington Capitals. In 1992, Rimer was replaced on the Capitals' cable broadcasts by Kenny Albert, but continued to call the team's games on

WDCA-TV WDCA (channel 20), branded on-air as Fox 5 Plus, is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from MyNetworkTV. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox Broadcasting Company ...

. In 1993, Rimer began calling games for the expansion

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. During the 1993–94 season he called 33 games for the Panthers and 20 Capitals road games while still working at WBAL. In 1994 he left Baltimore to cover the Panthers full time. He remained with the Panthers until 2004, when former Panther coach and the Columbus Blue Jackets' president and general manager Doug MacLean hired for the same job in Columbus. In 2017 he called his 2,000th NHL game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rimer, Jeff Living people 1951 births Baltimore Orioles announcers Canadian television sportscasters Columbus Blue Jackets announcers Florida Panthers announcers Montreal Canadiens announcers Washington Capitals announcers