American FOX broadcast horribly botches pronouncing "Canucks"

FOX 5 DC

Look, we get it, not everyone is a Vancouver Canucks fan these days.

It’s been a full-season-long media circus in Vancouver for the NHL team in town.

The Canucks have been vastly underperforming its preseason expectations, seeing what seems like half the roster in trade rumours, and to top it off, a long-drawn-out saga about a coaching change that seems to have ignited much of the fanbase in a full-out revolt against the team’s management and ownership group.

But that’s no excuse for how poorly a news broadcast of local Washington DC affiliate FOX 5 botched the pronunciation of all of “Vancouver Canucks,” “Bruce Boudreau,” and “Rick Tocchet” on a recent television hit.

Explaining the firing of Boudreau (who used to coach the Washington Capitals from 2007-2011) to their local audience, a FOX 5 anchor referred to Vancouver’s hockey team as the “Can-nukes,” stumbling their way through the pronunciation of a team that’s existed in North American professional sports since 1970.

Boudreau was officially let go on Sunday after about 13 months in charge of the team, with Tocchet coming in as his replacement after a week or so of speculation about him taking the job.

Sports broadcasting watchdog Awful Announcing offered up a clip of the series of slip-ups:

According to Fox 5 DC, the Vancouver "Can-nukes" made a coaching change Sunday. Have to watch out for those Canadian nukes, whether under control of Bruce "Bow-dreau" or Rick "Tew-ket." pic.twitter.com/A6AJAHXJSJ

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 23, 2023

The broadcaster also made reference to “Bruce Bow-dreau” and his replacement, “Rick Tew-ket.”

Now, we understand that Vancouver hockey drama might not be at the front of everyone’s mind, no less a local news team on the other side of the continent. And it has been over a decade since Boudreau was relevant in Washington, so we understand that everyone might not be up to speed on his name, either.

But surely there’s a better method of preparation than simply hoping the poor news anchor will be able to read the words off the teleprompter without a briefing beforehand.

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