Dan Rusanowsky

Dan Rusanowsky (born December 31, 1960 in Milford, Connecticut) is an American sports broadcaster, best known being for the radio play-by-play announcer for the San Jose Sharks since the team's inaugural season in 1991–92. His tenure with the team has earned him the title as the Voice of the San Jose Sharks.

Early life

Before arriving in the Bay Area, Rusanowsky provided the radio play-by-play call for the American Hockey League’s New Haven Nighthawks and was the voice of St. Lawrence University's NCAA Division I hockey program from 1979–86. He received a bachelor’s degree at St. Lawrence and subsequently earned his M.B.A. at Clarkson University.

San Jose Sharks

He is responsible for producing all of the broadcasts, except for 27 games in 2000, and has worked with a variety of color commentators over his 28 seasons with the Sharks. Currently, his broadcast partner is typically either Bret Hedican (most home games) or Jamie Baker (most road games) when the other is on assignment for NBC Sports California, or even Mark Smith, when both Baker and Hedican is on assignment for NBC Sports California. For some games and all Sharks home playoff games, both Mark Smith join Rusanowsky on radio. Rusanowsky also operates and administrates the San Jose Sharks Radio Network, which began in 1991 and brings Sharks broadcasts to Northern California. Additionally, Rusanowsky is one of a select few play-by-play announcers who have called the NHL Game of the Week on Westwood One Radio Network..

Until 2000, Rusanowsky had been the only broadcaster who had called all San Jose Sharks regular season and playoff games in franchise history. This came to an end when he was injured in a serious automobile accident on November 25, 2000, ending a continuous broadcast streak of Sharks games at 774. Rusanowsky called his historic 1,000th Sharks regular season game on March 21, 2004 vs. Edmonton. On January 29, 2009, he was on the air with his 1,300th Sharks regular season game vs. Phoenix. Dan called his 2000th Sharks regular season game on January 16, 2018 vs. Phoenix.

Other broadcasting duties

Rusanowsky stays active in the Bay Area broadcasting community year-round, and has delivered play-by-play calls of other sports. He has hosted two baseball-oriented radio segments - Dan's Dugout, which aired on Oakland Athletics radio broadcasts, and Dan's Diamond Notes for Bay Area radio station KFOX. Rusanowsky has also called games for RHI's Oakland Skates and San Jose Rhinos, the San Jose Grizzlies of the CISL, and served as a closed-circuit television broadcaster for the San Jose Grand Prix. He also contributes to Comcast SportsNet Bay Area's "Race Week" program on both Indy Car and Formula One series.

The NHL Network featured Rusanowsky on its program, "Voices," on December 25, 2008.