Penguins broadcaster Josh Getzoff scheduled to return to television booth

Tuesday was fairly quotidian for Josh Getzoff.

After dropping his kids off at day care in the morning, he trekked to UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry to do his customary preparation as the play-by-play voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins on SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcasts.

He updated his “boards,” which are documents with the lineups from both teams, including basic information such as jersey numbers, heights and weights, or more intricate tidbits such as statistics over a player’s past handful of games or where they played junior hockey.

He watched the morning skate, conversed with color commentator Colby Armstrong and producer Matt Aaron before chatting with Penguins coach Dan Muse for some additional insight he could sprinkle into that night’s broadcast of a home game against the Vancouver Canucks at PPG Paints Arena.

With that fastidious approach to his vocation, Getzoff is nothing short of a complete professional as a broadcaster.

But he’s also human. And he had a very inconvenient human moment last week.

During the second intermission of the Penguins’ road game against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 14, Getzoff fainted in the press box of the Honda Center and required medical attention.

The cause of the episode was Vasovagal Syncope, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, causes “heart rate and blood pressure to drop suddenly” when the “body overreacts to certain triggers.”

The 37-year-old Getzoff — who is in fine shape and regularly bikes lengthy distances — is uncertain what prompted him to faint.

“There’s a few different things that can bring it on,” Getzoff said following Tuesday’s morning skate. “I’m not exactly sure which it was for me, but that’s what my doctor said.

“Kind of came out of nowhere. Fainted. Was really lucky that I was where I was and there was a lot of people around. Got tended to pretty quickly. Was under care right away.”

I want to thank everyone for reaching out after what happened on Tuesday night. My family & I are overwhelmed by your support and so appreciative of your kind words. Big thanks to the first responders at Honda Center & the great doctors & nurses at UCI. I am feeling good, & am…

— Josh Getzoff (@JG_PxP) October 16, 2025

First responders at the Honda Center saw to Getzoff before he stayed at UCI Family Health Center in Anaheim, Calif., overnight as a precaution. He was released the next day and traveled with the team for the remainder of its West Coast road trip, which included games against the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.

But he was sidelined, so to speak, for the remainder of the excursion and that led to a chain reaction in the team’s broadcast booths, beginning with the third period of the game against the Ducks.

Joe Brand, typically the radio play-by-play voice, moved to the same role on television while radio color commentator Phil Bourque replaced Brand in handling the play-by-play duties. Director of team operations Jason Seidling, a North Huntingdon native who previously has written for the team’s website and worked in a media relations capacity, supplanted Bourque as radio color commentator.

The broadcast “depth chart” will return to normal Tuesday after Getzoff was given clearance by his doctor in Pittsburgh to resume his typical activities.

“It’s hard because I felt fine,” Getzoff said. “But I was just doing what I was told to take it easy and rest. I always knew that when I came back to Pittsburgh, I would have to follow up. That’s the protocol, just in general. It was just part of the process. Glad it’s past me.”

On Tuesday, Getzoff was back doing what he usually does on a game day.

“Honestly, it feels very normal,” Getzoff said. “In a refreshing way.”