Bill Clement

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Bill Clement bigraphy, stories - Canadian ice hockey player

Bill Clement : biography

December 20, 1950 –

William H. Clement (born December 20, 1950) is a 2-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Philadelphia Flyers and critically acclaimed author, speaker (), actor, entrepreneur and broadcaster. He recently authored with foreword by Wayne Gretzky.

Bill has broadcast five different Olympic Games and has worked for ESPN, NBC, ABC, Versus, Comcast SportsNet and TNT in the U.S., and CTV, CBC, Rogers Sportsnet and Sirius-XM Radio in Canada.

As an 11 year NHL center, he played in two All–Star games, captained an NHL team and won two Stanley Cup Championships with the Philadelphia Flyers, aka the Broad Street Bullies. Bill also later played for the Washington Capitals and the Flames, both in Atlanta and Calgary.

His acting credits include work on the ABC daytime drama All My Children and more than 300 television ads for clients such as Chevrolet, Bud Light and Deepwoods Off. He is also one of the voices on EA Sports’ NHL video games.

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 until he worked for SportsChannel America, providing color 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, NHL 10, NHL 11, NHL 12 and NHL 13 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 ECHL’s Trenton Devils. He also continues to provide color commentary, working several local Flyers broadcasts for Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia in the 2008 regular season and playoffs.