The Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967. Joe began broadcasting Toronto games in 1982. In the ensuing time, he never once even got to call a Maple Leafs game in a Cup Final. Because, in his entire tenure, the team never got that far.
There is still one more game to call. The Maple Leafs’ visit to the nation’s capital to face the Ottawa Senators Wednesday will be his finale. Only he’ll call that one remotely, not from the rink.
On this night, he packed up his things and wandered out of the booth which, starting next season, will be known as the “Joe Bowen broadcast booth.” In an interesting twist, his son David, play-by-play voice of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves who was on hand for his dad’s special night, is among the candidates who could replace him.
Then again, after such a distinguished Hall of Fame career, can Joe Bowen, the man who made “Holy Mackinaw” a common phrase in this city, really be replaced?
Not to those players and fans who bid adieu to him on Monday.