Michael James Milbury (born June 17, 1952) is an American former professional ice hockey player and current sports announcer.

[1] Immediately after the conclusion of his college hockey career, Milbury played in five games with the Boston Braves, the Bruins' top farm team, in 1974.

[2] In his first three full years with the Bruins, his heavily aggressive style of play was a perfect fit for the overachieving team coached by Don Cherry and featuring similar tough players such as Terry O'Reilly, John Wensink and Stan Jonathan.

Milbury helped his team reach consecutive Stanley Cup Finals in 1977 and 1978, with Boston losing both times to the Montreal Canadiens in four and six games respectively.

During an on-ice fray between the players from both sides, a Rangers fan cut Stan Jonathan's face with a rolled-up program and grabbed his hockey stick.

[5] Milbury became head coach of the Boston Bruins in the 1989–90 season, leading the team to the Presidents' Trophy and an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

He was the head coach of the Wales Conference team at the 1991 All-Star Game, where he generated some controversy by including enforcer Chris Nilan and checker Brian Skrudland ahead of players such as Kirk Muller and Guy Lafleur.

As a result of Milbury's controversial roster picks, the league's board of governors changed their policy so that future teams would be chosen by committee.

[6] On March 30, 1994, Boston College Eagles announced that Mike Milbury would become the head coach of the hockey team, replacing Steve Cedorchuk.

[7] However, Milbury abruptly left before coaching a game, citing "philosophical differences" with the school's athletics department in a press conference held on June 2, 1994.

In June 2006, Milbury stepped down as Islanders GM to accept a position as senior vice president of Charles Wang's sports holdings.

In May 2007, Milbury resigned his position with Wang, saying that he missed making hockey-related decisions and would be open to a hockey operations job in another organization.

[11] He also served as the studio analyst and color commentator for games involving the Boston Bruins,[12][13] and for the past two years, he has participated in the broadcast of the Winter Classic.

[20] In August 2020, Milbury made more disparaging comments about women during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs (see section below), which ultimately led to his firing by NBC.

[24] During the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, Milbury made a series of controversial comments that attracted a wide range of responses, from mockery to calls for him to lose his job with NBC.

[27] On August 20, while calling a game between the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders, Milbury praised the bubble system designed to isolate teams during the COVID-19 pandemic because there were "not even any women here to disrupt your concentration.

Milbury expressed gratitude for the court's findings, and affirmed that he believed he acted responsibly as a "supervisor" of the ice (and claimed the referee had already left the rink), and said he would do the same thing if the situation arose in the future.