Schwartz: Meet Brendan Burke, The New TV Voice For The Islanders

By Peter Schwartz
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Dreams do come true, but sometimes achieving them takes a little longer than anticipated.

Throughout his 10-year career calling minor league hockey games, Brendan Burke was on a quest to get a job in the National Hockey League. During his time in the minors, Burke had positioned himself to be in the discussion when jobs opened up, but things didn't go as planned.

"I hadn't necessarily gotten as far along with some of the other openings in the past as I would have liked," Burke said.

That is until this year.

On May 18, Howie Rose stepped down as the television voice of the Islanders on MSG + and Burke threw his hat into the ring. This time, he made his way to the finish line. He worked his way through the process and found himself sitting in a studio auditioning with analyst and Islanders legend Butch Goring, calling a game off of a monitor.

"In that 15 minutes that I got to work with him, I felt really good about it," said Burke, who had been the voice of the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, since 2013.

MORE: Schwartz: Not All Islanders Fans Will Admit It, But They'll Miss Howie Rose

Burke's run through the process would go even further as he would sit down with new Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky on Aug. 1. After the meeting, Burke was feeling really good about his chances, but there was no call on Tuesday and then Wednesday went by without any news.

At that point, Burke wasn't sure what was going to happen.

"Now I'm starting to get nervous and wondering that maybe the phone is going to ring with bad news," Burke said.

On Aug. 4, Burke's cellphone rang at around 1:30 p.m. and it was his agent with some good news.  MSG offered Burke the job and he was set to become the new television voice of the Islanders.  He'll make his debut on Oct. 13 when the Isles open the regular season against the rival Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

After a decade of waiting, Burke had his dream job.

"I couldn't believe it," Burke said. "I was in shock. I didn't have anything to say. I didn't know what to do."

Burke said he didn't tell or call anybody, so at that point the only people who knew about his new gig was Brendan, his agent, MSG, and the Islanders. An official announcement wasn't coming for another week, so it wasn't like Burke could pick up his phone and start shouting it out to the world.

Well, he did tell a couple of people.

After he got off the phone with his agent, Burke drove to see his wife, Mary, who is a nurse in Utica. Burke walked into the office and there was his wife who looked over at him.

"She said 'did you get it?'" Burke said. "I just smiled. I couldn't say anything and she just came running over and she was crying and gave me a big hug. It was a surreal moment."

Brendan, his wife, and their 2-year-old daughter, Quinn, are now on their way to Islanders Country.

A short time later, Burke called his father, Don, who spent 18 years as a sports writer at the Star-Ledger covering the Yankees, Mets and Nets. Now a sports copy editor at the New York Post, Don Burke almost didn't pick up the phone in time.

"I didn't hear my phone ring or feel it vibrate until what must have been the last second," he said. "It would have been a shame to miss that call. So glad I didn't. It's one of those special calls I'll remember for the rest of my life, like when our grandchildren were born."

Don Burke said he knew his son had a gift from a very young age.

At 9 years old, Brendan borrowed a micro-cassette recorder from his dad at the 1993 MLB All-Star Game in Baltimore and went to the last row of the upper deck in left field to call part of the game.  He would spend time with his dad on road trips in the Yankees radio booth, so there was no question that Brendan had a strong interest in being a play-by-play announcer.

"I'm extremely proud of him," Don Burke said. "I have seen how hard he has worked to reach this point. Ten years in the minors is a long time."

Once the announcement was made official, Brendan's phone blew up with calls from just about everyone he knew and one person that he didn't know. That one person was Islanders Hall of Fame announcer Jiggs McDonald, who called to send along congratulations.

"He left me a really nice voicemail and I've gotten a chance to speak with him," Burke said. "To think that there have been two guys and now three in that booth for 35 years and I'm one of them is an unbelievable honor."

There probably aren't many Islanders fans that have heard Burke's work, but there's no question that they're going to love him. He brings a lot of passion to his broadcasts as you can tell in this highlight reel from Utica.

Burke brings a great deal of energy to the table during the course of a game. He's not a screamer, but the inflection in his voice is a good indication of what's happening in a game and just how close the puck is to the net.

"I like to think that if you were somebody that was walking in and out of the room, you're going to be able to tell pretty quickly that you need to hurry back in and close the refrigerator," said Burke, a graduate of Ithaca College.

Burke should be really busy calling a ton of exciting moments with the Islanders, who reached the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. With a superstar captain, a strong nucleus, and an impressive crop of young players, calling Isles games should be a pretty good first NHL job.

"When you've got a guy like John Tavares, who's one of the best players in the world, there's always going to be some excitement when he's on the ice," Burke said. "They're right where they should be and that's headed towards the Stanley Cup Playoffs and a deep run."

When Brendan Burke makes his Islanders debut on Oct. 13, there will be 18,006 fans in attendance at Madison Square Garden. Don Burke will not be among them. In fact, you probably won't see him very often for home games at Barclays Center.

Why?

"It's funny," Don Burke said. "People now ask me if I'm going to go to a lot of Islanders games. But why would I go? I'll stay home and listen to and watch my son."

Dreams do come true. After years in the minors, Brendan Burke is proof.

Don't forget to follow Peter on Twitter @pschwartzcbsfan. You can also follow @brendanmburke, @MSGNetwork, and @NYIslanders