Alex Trebek floats Northeastern alum, LA Kings announcer to be his Jeopardy! replacement

Alex Faust is the youngest play-by-play announcer in the NHL. Photo by: LA Kings / Juan Ocampo

Alex Faust narrates hockey games for a living, but as far as Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek is concerned, he’d be perfect for trivia games too.

Trebek, who has hosted the popular game show since 1984 and plans to retire soon, said in an interview with TMZ Monday that Faust would make a good successor.

Faust, who graduated from Northeastern in 2012, is the Los Angeles Kings’ play-by-play telecaster for Fox Sports West, a job he landed in 2017 when he was just 28 years old.

He seemed surprised but appreciative of Trebek’s suggestion. “I guess there are worse ways to randomly see your name show up on TMZ!” he tweeted. “I’m flattered by Mr. Trebek’s kind words and delighted to hear he’s a big LA Kings fan!”

Trebek’s unofficial nominations to succeed him as host of Jeopardy!—he floated another name Monday as well—might seem random, but sports commentators and game show hosts actually have a lot in common. Both need to be quick-witted and have an impromptu kind of confidence, characteristics Trebek and Faust share.

“I don’t do shtick, I don’t do anything pre-planned,” Faust said of his announcing style. “I like to call plays somewhat off the cuff.”

For now, though, Faust will continue to pursue sportscasting, a passion he discovered during his time at Northeastern. Faust called men’s hockey games for WRBB and even won the Jim Nantz Award, an honor bestowed upon the nation’s best collegiate sports broadcaster.

According to Faust, calling games in Matthews Arena, home of Northeastern hockey and basketball, helped him reach the pinnacle of sports telecasting. “Northeastern athletics is a large part of who I am and where I am today,” said Faust, who will travel to Cape Cod this summer to participate in a Q&A about the recent success of the Howlin’ Huskies.