Nineteen years after taking over as the Everett Silvertips public address announcer, Greg Piland still has the same pregame goal.

“I just pray and say, ‘I ask to sound just like dad,’” Piland said.

The microphone once belonged to his father, David Piland, who served as the team’s original public address announcer before passing away from brain cancer in 2007. What began as a way for Piland to honor his father’s legacy has grown into a nearly two-decade career and made him one of the most important voices in Everett sports.

“When I was a sophomore in high school, my dad was the on-ice voice for the Seattle Thunderbirds when they played at KeyArena,” Piland said.

Piland grew up around hockey because of his father’s work. He attended so many Thunderbirds games that the organization eventually offered him a job of his own.

“I used to go to a lot of games with him when he was doing his on-ice announcing so much that they said, ‘Hey, if you’re coming all the time, why don’t we just give you a job?’”

His first job in the Western Hockey League (WHL) wasn’t behind a microphone, but something way different.

“My first job in the WHL was for the Seattle Thunderbirds as the mascot bodyguard,” Piland said. “I walked around with “Cool Bird” and made sure that people didn’t mess with them and everything.”

When the Everett Silvertips joined the WHL in 2003, Piland’s father became the team’s PA announcer that following season. Still with the Thunderbirds, Piland switched to working behind the scenes in game operations by the end of the season with no plans on becoming an announcer himself.

That all changed after his father was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2007.

While helping organize a golf tournament to support his family before his father’s passing, Piland met with Silvertips Chief Operating Officer Zoran Rajcic and asked if the organization had found someone to replace his father, knowing his health wasn’t going to get better.

“At the end of the meeting I had with Zoran, I said, ‘Hey, you guys figured out who you might have to replace my dad?’” Piland said.

“He goes, ‘You sound a lot like him, would you consider coming in and maybe being the announcer?’”

David Piland passed away later that year.

“That’s when I started my career announcing with the team.”

For Piland, taking the job wasn’t about following a dream career path; stepping behind the microphone was about honoring someone he admired his whole life.

“For me, at the beginning was kind of continue his legacy, I really love that aspect of it,” Piland said.

“He was inspiring. He was the leader of our family and somebody I looked up to as an example. He was my best friend growing up.”

Nineteen seasons later, that remains one of the biggest reasons he continues doing it.

“A lot of it is that legacy of, he was somebody that was very important in my life,” Piland said.

“Seeing how he was able to change and be such an impact in the Everett community, that’s something that I just wanted to be able to continue on and something that I take a lot of pride in.”

While fans see a three-hour hockey game, Piland said the work that goes into each night starts long before the first puck drop.

“My game day starts typically about three hours before the puck drop actually happens.”

Before fans arrive, staff members meet to go over everything planned for that night’s game, including promotions, giveaways and fan activities.

“There is a pre-game meeting that happens that goes over all the things that are new and unique for that game, all the activations that will happen in the stands, or giveaways,” Piland said.

Once the meeting ends, Piland heads to the PA booth to begin preparing for the game.

“Joel (Director of Sales, Corporate Partnerships & Game Night Presentation) and I will go up into the PA booth, and I’ll start working on all of the starters that we have for the game, all the scratches.”

From there, he reviews player information, checks pronunciation and works through his script for the game.

“I have a script that has roughly 80 different reads in it that are different activations throughout the game sponsors and things that I need to do for the crowd engagement,” Piland said.

Something he takes very seriously is making sure every player’s name is pronounced correctly.

“I spend a fair amount of time with opposing play-by-play announcers to understand the pronunciations and in any areas of that name that I need to highlight to make sure that it sounds correct,” Piland said.

Even with all the preparation, mistakes still happen.

“My goal is to never have any mistakes, I probably have a mistake at least every game, if not multiple ones, but I just try to be as prepared as I can be so I don’t make any throughout the course of the game presentation,” Piland said.

When he first took the role, the pressure of speaking to thousands of fans was one of the hardest parts of the job.

“In the very beginning, I would be holding a mic and I would be shaking it, even though nobody’s looking at us, everybody’s looking down at the ice but it’s still the thought of my voice being broadcast over and having 8,249 people in the crowd,” Piland said.

“That was always a bit nerve-wracking, and so I think over the years that’s definitely calmed down a lot.”

Nearly two decades later, experience has helped him become more comfortable behind the microphone, but the job still comes with challenges.

Piland said his announcing style is built around bringing energy to the crowd, especially when the Silvertips are playing well.

“I start to wonder as I get older, the style that I feel like I try and have is a bit more excitement,” he said.

“I try and be more 90% home team, 10% away team, and so with that comes a lot of stress on my voice too.”

Behind his own role, Piland said one of the most surprising parts of game nights is how much work happens behind the scenes.

“I think fans maybe they would, maybe they wouldn’t be shocked, but the amount of hours that the staff there puts into putting on the show that people see for the three hours that we’re there for a Silvertips game is just something I’ve always greatly respected,” he said.

Many staff members work full-time jobs during the week before staying late for games.

“I have my regular job and then compared to the secondary, but they are literally putting 75, 80 hours a week during the regular season to provide customer service,” Piland said.

“Their job kind of never ends when it comes to the season.”

He also said the Silvertips staff often goes unnoticed for how much they do.

“When you look at the Silvertips business ops staff compared to other organizations, we’re usually a little lighter in terms of employees, ” Piland said.

“I’ve always really respected the people on that side. They work 9-to-5 jobs selling tickets, handling customer service and sponsorships, and then every one of them stays and works the entire game. I’m biased, but I think we put on one heck of a show in Everett.”

Even after nearly two decades, Piland still carries both his own voice and the memory of the one that came before him.

“I hope people look at me as the second best PA announcer that Everett’s had,” he said.

And in Everett, the first will always be his father.