Today In NHL History - Shorthouse's First Game

On March 24th in 1998, John Shorthouse called his first NHL game as a paid play-by-play announcer for the Vancouver Canucks filling in for Hall of Famer Jim Robson and working alongside Tom Larscheid. Eighteen months later he inherited the full-time role and his mug has remained behind the microphone ever since.

Shorthouse's debut saw the return of recently traded fan favorites Trevor Linden and Gino Odjick as New York Islanders, facing the team that drafted them for the first time. Highlights included Odjick's first period pounding of trade counterpart Jason Strudwick.

Mike Keenan's Canucks beat Rick Bowness' Islanders 4-3 that night with goals from Alex Mogilny (2), Pavel Bure and Donald Brashear.

That's today in NHL history.