Fox Sports North names Anthony LaPanta television play-by-play announcer for the Wild

Here is the official releast for the hiring of Anthony LaPanta to do the play-by-play for the Minnesota Wild.

Chime in – how do you feel about the move?

FOX Sports North: the Exclusive Local Television Home for the 2012-13 Minnesota Wild Season.

The National Hockey League’s (NHL) Minnesota Wild today named Anthony LaPanta television play-by-play announcer.

LaPanta, a graduate of Totino-Grace High School and St. John’s University (Collegeville, Minn.), has covered the Twin Cities sports scene since 1991. The New Brighton, Minn., native has hosted the pregame and postgame shows on FOX Sports North for the Twins, Wild and Timberwolves nightly since 2004 and served as the television play-by-play announcer for the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team the past two seasons. LaPanta has also served as a play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Timberwolves on a fill in basis.

“I have dreamed of doing NHL play-by-play since I was very young,” said LaPanta. “To have this opportunity in my hometown is truly special. I am a lifelong resident of the State of Hockey, and hockey is in my blood. From my work covering the Minnesota Wild for the last eight years, to calling games at the high school and college level, to spending as much of my free time as possible as a youth hockey dad, the game has been a huge part of my life. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for me.”

Before joining FOX Sports North, LaPanta was the television voice of the St. Paul Saints for ten seasons and was the radio play-by-play announcer for the Twins in 1999. He has won four regional Emmy Awards (two for play-by-play and two for anchor/host) and was involved with the development of the Hockey Day Minnesota concept. LaPanta and his wife, Margo, have four children, and reside in Shoreview, Minn., where he is active in the hockey community.

LaPanta will team with television analyst Mike Greenlay on FOX Sports North, the exclusive local television home for Wild hockey. Greenlay enters his 11th year as the Wild’s television analyst since being assigned to the post on Aug. 13, 2002. The former goaltender previously served as the radio analyst for the Anaheim Ducks (1999-2001) and the Nashville Predators (1998-99) and also worked as a television analyst on several networks.

“This is a great opportunity for Anthony, we’re enthusiastic about his new role in our Wild telecasts,” said Mike Dimond, Senior Vice President and General Manager for FOX Sports North. “Anthony has worked long and hard as the face of our network. We’ll miss him in that capacity, but thankful he’ll still be part of our network moving forward

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Anthony LaPanta is going to be the play-by-play for the Wild

I posted on the on Sunday, that Michael Russo of the Star and Tribune was reporting on Russo's Rants  that Anthony LaPanta was going to be selected to be the play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Wild on FSN. This story kind of went viral - Minnesota Wild fans are not happy with the selection of LaPanta. In fact, it's getting down right ugly and here is a sample of a few of the recent tweets that I found. You can also see some of the comments here at the Star and Tribune site.

While I am not really a fan of LaPanta per se - I am not a hater of LaPanta either. So I guess I don't know what all of the furor is about either, who did the fans think that FSN was going to hire, they already have a person on payroll so they don't really have to bring anyone else in it makes sense from a business stand point.

While there probably are better choices than LaPanta - is this really an issue that Wild fans need to get totally bent out of shape about? I have listened to LaPanta a lot while he was the play-by-play for the Minnesota Gopher broadcasts on FSN, I don't think he did that bad of a job. 

LaPanta to be play-by-play for Wild

There are going to be a lot of people that aren't going to be very happy with this move if Anthony LaPanta becomes the voice of the Minnesota Wild - LaPanta did play-by-play for the Gopher this past season and there are a lot of Gopher fans that aren't very fond of his work either. I don't think that LaPanta is a bad announcer per se, but I think the Wild could do better in selecting a personality that the fans could get behind.

Personally, I liked Dan Terhaar and thought he did a good job with the Wild. Terhaar also called hockey games for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

Michael Russo, Russo's Rants --- It's looking more and more like Anthony LaPanta, the man with the most famous hair in the Twin Cities and Fox Sports North's longtime studio host for pre- and post-games for the Wild, Twins and Wolves, will be the Wild's next television play-by-play man.

If officially hired, he'll replace Dan Terhaar, whose contract was not renewed last month after seven seasons at the microphone. That move could happen as early as Monday. The Wild last week ironed out new deals with TV color man Mike Greenlay and the radio team of Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid.