NESN announced on Friday that Jack Edwards — who once upon a time, closely resembled a young Wally George — will become the full time play by play mouthpiece of the Boston Bruins next Autumn, kicking longtime home game fixture Dale Arnold to the curb.

Arnold (above, right), doing his best Curt Schilling impression, responded thusly today at HF Boards :

Just for the record — and you’ll note I have note said a single word about this since it first came up — my work at WEEI had nothing to do with this decision by NESN, despite what they have said to make it seem inevitable. They first approached me, and said they wanted a single play-by-play announcer, and would I accept the Eric Frede role as host for all telecasts. I said that even if I could accept the demotion — and that is how I looked at it — I couldn’t possibly work that many nights. They then asked if I would serve as host for the home telecasts. I again reiterated that I considered myself a play-by-play announcer, not a studio host. In possibly the most painful moment of my professional life, I told NESN that if I could not continue as play-by-play announcer then I could no longer be a part of their telecasts. I feel that the advantage of having one of two Bruins’ announcers also serve as a talkshow host on the highest rated sportsradio station in America outweighs the perceived advantage of a single play-by-play announcer. NESN disagrees. This has been brought up as a possibility in the past and the Bruins have come to my defense in the past. I guess all dreams must come to an end, and this puts an end to mine. All I ever wanted was to be the play-by-play announcer for the Boston Bruins. I always joked that they had to pay me for the day job, but that I would do the night job for free. Now I can’t even do it for that.

For David Scott of Scott’s Shots, this is all a little too much.

There should be no one who sheds a tear for the amply compensated Entercom Employee. Yes, it may have been Dale’s boyhood dream and he got to live that dream. He also gets to steal money for the bulk of his work at 850, where he his mis-matched with the radio riser, Michael Holley.

This sets up an interesting future for Dale and ‘EEi vs. the Bs, as he was most often the biggest Bruins’ apologist on the Talk Leader’s payroll. If Dale is NESN-bashing on a regular basis, the Red Sox are not going to look favorably upon that kind of treatment to THEIR newtork.