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New NHL bubble hockey tables feature John Walton on play-by-play and Bob McDonald singing the anthem

By Ian Oland

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September 9, 2019 3:38 pm

John Walton and his silky voice are coming to bubble hockey.

Tuesday, Super Chexx Bubble Hockey announced that the radio voice of the Washington Capitals is now an option on their new tables. In another coup for Caps fans, Bob McDonald sings the US and Canadian national anthems.

The bubble hockey tables are similar to foosball tables and feature an unbreakable dome, a jumbotron with an LCD scoreboard, and live-action game calls.

Screenshot: bringhomethedome.com

“I’ve been playing bubble hockey since I was 12, but I never thought the voice that comes out of it could ever be mine,” a humbled Walton said in an interview with RMNB. “I’m honored to work with them on this project, and equally glad now to have a game at home I can play whenever I want!

“There’s a lot of stuff that I say on the air that made it into the game,” Walton added. “I’m especially pleased that ‘it’s okay to believe’ and ‘good morning, good afternoon, and good night’ made it in.”

McDonald told RMNB that he was added to the game after John pitched the idea to the Super Chexx team.

“I recalled to John an old NHL video game that had the end of the anthem sung by one of the anthem legends just before the game started,” McDonald said. “I was surprised the game company said ‘sure!’ I gave them live recordings of me singing both anthems from last season.

“It’s such a huge honor,” he added. “It’s always amazing to sing the anthem but extra cool to have it memorialized forever in a game. And then to have the legend John Walton making the calls? How flipping cool is that?”

Walton was equally as excited to partner with Bob. “He’s been such an important voice for this franchise for so long, hearing his voice to start every game is just perfect.” (The Capitals’ other regular anthem singer, Caleb Green, has spent most of the summer featured on America’s Got Talent, the biggest live TV show on network television.)

In August, Walton and his new beard quietly trekked up to Buffalo to retrieve one of the new bubble hockey tables for his own DC-area home. And the details are incredible.

“On mine, I chose the Caps as the home team of course, and the Minnesota North Stars as the visitors,” Walton said, noting that his choice of the North Stars is a nod to his hometown team growing up in Minnesota. “Even the Stars have number 33 in goal, Don Beaupre. I shared that bit of news with Don’s son Connor recently. Don has a bubble hockey game at his place in Minnesota and still plays it to this day.”

Meanwhile, for Walton’s Washington team, red-clad figurines featuring the numbers 8, 19, 43, 74, and 70 take the ice for the Capitals. The Capital One Arena goal horn blares when the Capitals score. Walton set it up in front of a stunning Taylor Kampa Olson painting he had custom-made after the Capitals won the Stanley Cup.

“I hope fans love the local touch to a classic game,” Walton said. “I think a lot of us grew up with bubble hockey. I hope we see a bunch of them around town at bars and restaurants. If you let me know you bought one, I’ll make sure Caps fans know where to find you.”

Hockey Hall of Famer and Sabres’ play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret is the original voice of the game and is still featured in games, but Walton’s soundtrack can be requested either on a Caps-themed table or with whatever other teams you choose. Existing bubble hockey table customers can receive the voiceover upgrade for $25 or they can send the company their SD cards and the company will program it in for free.

Walton is believed to be the first option for bubble hockey fans other than Jeanneret. It’s another feather in the cap for the former Hershey Bears’ radio voice who did the play-by-play for women’s hockey at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics and has worked as a TV announcer for select NHL games on NBC.

“It’s been an incredible couple of seasons, the Cup, going to the Olympics, now this,” Walton said. “I’ll never take it for granted. But it’s been a hell of a ride.”

Headline photo: @ICESuperChexx

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