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Jeanneret told the gathering being at the podium "is a bit surreal, standing around the iconic voices of hockey. It's the honor of a lifetime." He recalled wanting to be a broadcaster, but his first goal was to be a rock and roll DJ. "Am I glad that didn't pan out," quipped RJ.
Jeanneret recalled seeing one of his hockey broadcasting idols, Danny Gallivan, sitting a few seats away at the Montreal Forum as he called one of his first Sabres games, calling that an "overwhelming experience for a young man who grew up on the shores of Lake Superior."
He says he's happy he was allowed to do his own thing as the play-by-play announcer, with one notable exception. "I said something like, 'and Perreault deked him out of his jockstrap,' and the next day, my mail slot held a note from Northrup Knox, co-owner of the team, wrote 'While personally finding it hilarious, let's remember in our audience there are many women and children,;" recalled Jeanneret.
He said it was quite a trek from Terrace Bay to Niagara Falls, Ontario and called his experience "fun, educational, and fulfilling. The destination: flat out exotic. Was it all worth it? You're damn right it was worth it."