A St. John’s teenager is set to become one of the youngest to enter into a Canadian Hockey League commentary booth when action returns to the ice in September. Seth Hyde, 17, has been hired as the full-time play-by-play announcer for the Newfoundland Regiment, the newest team in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Team staff believe the 17-year-old will set a record as the youngest full-time announcer in league history. “It’s going to be surreal,” Hyde said from an interview in the broadcast booth, where he and his new coworker Brian Rogers will soon become regular fixtures. “All the proud fans, the players on the ice, the talent on the ice, I mean it’s going to be amazing and I’m so, so honoured to be able to call such high-level hockey.” Hyde has been working in the province as a play-by-play announcer for some time, starting at just 12 years old. His breakout came during the midst of a COVID-19 wave in Newfoundland and Labrador, which collided with an injury that kept him out of his team’s playoff games. As a mere spectator, he wouldn’t have even been allowed to watch in the stands — but he and his mom, Jackie Hyde, found a work-around. They phoned a league director and asked to commentate the game onto Facebook, where other parents and spectators could watch. The rest, Jackie Hyde said, was history. The league office called again within minutes, “and said, ‘Jackie, he can do all the playoffs, he can do every game, I want him sat, we want him calling these games,’” she said. Seth spent the next five years developing his skills with various other minor and junior hockey programs. But his interest in sports media went even further back: Seth won a contest to be the “junior reporter” for a day with the St. John’s IceCaps, a now-defunct AHL team that occupied the same arena he will soon work in. “I remember Seth being so excited, such a handsome little bright-eyed guy,” said Rogers, who met Seth during that contest. “It warms my heart, because there’s not that many that want to do what we do.” Rogers says he can’t remember the game or even what team the IceCaps were playing, but Seth stood out. In December, the teen met with some staff from the Newfoundland Regiment, who are working quickly to complete their franchise’s move from Bathurst, N.B., to the Mary Brown’s Centre in downtown St. John’s. Seth says his mom was trying her best to temper expectations, to make sure he wasn’t disappointed after the meeting. She figured a full-time job offer was at least a few years away. But that’s exactly what came. “Mom started bawling, you know, big scene in Starbucks,” Seth said. “It still feels like a dream. I can’t even describe how I felt in that moment.” There have been other teenagers involved with play by play at the Canadian Hockey League. Joey Battaino was just 18 when he started working in broadcast for the Flint Generals. Hyde will spend the next year finishing classes at Gonzaga High School in St. John’s. Some of the players on the Newfoundland Regiment may well be in his classes. “I’d like to start a wave of teenagers getting involved in this league. I want people to know that hockey isn’t just for the players,” he said. “There’s so many talents that help hockey teams get to where they are.”
