As some of you may have heard or read the news, legendary broadcaster Bob Cole passed away yesterday at age 90. For all of the great moments of magic on the ice, there was often this very recognizable voice in the background to describe those moments - the Soundtrack of Hockey. The Newfoundland native began his play-by-play career in the very late 1960s and carried on to the very last day of the 2018-19 season.
Here is Michael Farber telling us what Cole's voice meant for many of us who ever had any contact with Hockey Night in Canada.
He called many great moments in hockey such as Bobby Orr's Cup-winning goal in 1970, The Soviet Red Army leaving the Philadelphia Spectrum's ice in 1976, Patrick Roy's phenomenal performance at Madison Square Garden in 1986, Wayne Gretzky's 500th career goal, Mario Lemieux bursting through the North Stars defense in 1991, Éric Desjardins scoring the overtime/hat-trick goal against Los Angeles in 1993, and many more. But I think his very best call has to be on the moment when Joe Sakic clinched the 2002 Salt Lake City gold medal for Canada and then as the final seconds ran down with the Canadian fans singing Oh Canada loud and proud in the background.
Unlike how I feel by listening Martin Tyler in recent years for football, I don't think I was ever bored at all whenever Bob Cole called a hockey game. Even in his last few years as a broadcaster, I knew he would come up with something funny, enjoyable or even memorable.
