Stanley Cup FINALS : Nostalgic Time for Engblom

A few weeks ago, friends started asking Brian Engblom what he thought about the possibility of the Montreal Canadiens and the Kings meeting in the Stanley Cup finals.

“I didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t want to even think about it,” said Engblom, the Kings’ radio commentator.

Now that it has happened, Engblom, a former NHL defenseman who spent seven seasons with the Canadiens and three with the Kings, says: “This is a good as it gets.”

For Engblom, who was involved in three of the Canadiens’ Stanley Cup championships, beginning when he was a rookie called up from Nova Scotia in 1977, returning to the Forum in Montreal has been nostalgic.

“This has just been wonderful for me,” he said. “But I am not partial to the Canadiens in any way. None of the players I played with are still playing, so there are no ties. I now work for the Kings, and I take that association very seriously.”

Engblom became the Kings’ radio commentator for the 1991 playoffs when Tom Laidlaw left the team in a financial dispute.

Said Nick Nickson, who does play-by-play with Engblom on XTRA: “There may not be a commentator in the league, television or radio, who does as good a job getting in short, concise, meaningful comments at just the right time.”