Gary Thorne still hears the pleas from hockey fans. If they seem him, they'll ask the former ESPN, NHL play-by-play man to return to the sport that he called as a national broadcaster in the mid-90s and early 2000s. “It's every day no matter where I am that I have at least three or four people if not more who I do not know stop me and say something about doing hockey,” Thorne said in a phone interview with Puck Daddy.