William H. "Bill" Clement (born
December 20, 1950 in Buckingham
, Quebec
) is a
retired professional ice hockey player
and a broadcaster for Versus and
NBC. Bill worked as a studio host for
The NHL on NBC partnered with
Ray Ferraro and
Brett Hull, as well as covering men's ice hockey
during the
2006 Winter
Olympics, and
The NHL on Versus Post Game
Report with
Keith
Jones and
Brian Engblom. He was
partnered with
Cammi Granato in
coverage of the women's games at the Olympics. He also hosts the
NHL on NBC Faceoff on NBCSports.com. Bill is also a daily
contributor to
In the Slot,
NHL
Home Ice's afternoon show on
XM Satellite Radio.
Biography
Playing career
Prior to his career as a broadcaster, Clement was an NHL hockey
player.
As
a native of Buckingham, he played in nearby Thurso
with Guy Lafleur.
He played Junior Hockey with the
Ottawa
67s of the
O.H.A., in
their first three seasons.
Originally selected 18th (Second Round) of the
1970 NHL Entry Draft by the
Philadelphia Flyers (first pick by the
Flyers), he played four seasons with the Flyers (as well as in
minor league teams at
Quebec City and
Richmond, VA) , and was part of the
Stanley Cup-winning Flyers teams of
1973–74 and
1974–75 as the 4th line Center.
Prior to the
1975 NHL Amateur
Draft, he was traded to the
Washington Capitals for their right to
draft
Mel Bridgman, as the first
overall draft pick that year. After playing just forty-six games
with the Capitals (and serving as Captain) in the
1975–76 season, he was then
traded to the
Atlanta Flames for
Gerry Meehan. He would play with the
Flames organization in both Atlanta and
Calgary, until his retirement following the
1981–82 NHL season. He
played in two
National Hockey League
All-Star Games, in 1976 and 1978. In 719 regular season games,
he scored 148 Goals, earned 206 Assists, and 383 Penalty Minutes.
In 50 playoff games, 5 goals and three assists.
Clement was known for a calm and consistent passing game, leading
to the rhyme "Clement, Clement, Hands of Cement." Bud Light
referenced the old taunt in one of their popular "Hockey Falls"
commercials.
Post-playing career
After retiring from hockey, Clement worked for many years as a
color commentator at
ESPN for their skydiving and
hockey coverage. From
1988 until
1992 he worked for
SportsChannel America,
providing colour commentary on the network's national telecasts as
well as regional
Philadelphia
Flyers games.
Clement
worked alongside Jim Lampley as a studio
analyst for NBC during their coverage of both
the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
. He worked as the
play-by-play announcer for
table tennis,
pentathlon events, and
badminton tournaments for the
2004 and
2008 Summer Olympics for NBC. Clement
won province championships playing badminton in high school. He
also worked as an analyst in ESPN's
Great Outdoor Games for several
years.
Clement has lent his voice for commentary for the next-gen versions
of the video games
NHL 07,
NHL 08,
NHL 09 and
NHL 10 by
EA
Sports along with
Gary Thorne. The
duo previously voiced 2K Sports' NHL series when that company had
the ESPN license. He also did color commentary for the EA Sports
franchise's
NHL 2000 and
NHL 2001 with
Jim
Hughson.
Clement is
also host of a Flyers-based radio talk
show on WBCB 1490 AM in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
. The show includes current and former
players and coaches, as well as players from the
AHL's
Philadelphia Phantoms and
ECHL's
Trenton Titans. He
will be entering his 6th season as host of the show, taking over
for
Gene Hart. He also continues to
provide color commentary, working several local Flyers broadcasts
for
Comcast SportsNet in
Philadelphia in the 2008 regular season and playoffs.
From
1986–
2004, Clement broadcast at least one
game of every
Stanley Cup
Finals series. After a lockout canceled the 2005 Finals, he
worked the
2006 and
2007 Finals as the studio host for
OLN and
NBC. He continued his streak in
2008 as a colour commentator for
NHL Radio on
Westwood One.
After
retirement from hockey, he married and had two children, and
resides in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania
. His daughter Savannah graduated from Hun
School in 2007 while his son Chase graduated from New Hope Solebury
High school in 2008. He is a dedicated father and husband and
spends a majority of his time around family.
See also
References
External links
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