Bob Cole conveyed the biggest games in the NHL and hockey to Canadians for 50 years and was the master of his craft, says Adam Proteau.
Mark Messier, Bob Cole and Wayne Gretzky share stories during the closing ceremonies at Rexall Place in Edmonton in 2016.
The hockey world lost one of its most unforgettable voices Wednesday when longtime CBC broadcaster Bob Cole died at age 90, his daughter Megan Cole told CBC News on Thursday.
Like all great play-by-play people, Cole used language and emotion to convey the thrills of the sport at its highest levels. Over the course of his Hockey Hall of Fame career – which began on CBC radio in 1969 and continued until his retirement in 2019 – Cole was famous for his colorful turns of phrase and obvious affection for the sport.
The best hockey broadcasters often let the game speak for itself. Cole was the master of his craft, always sensing the right time to pause and the right time to speak up and capture the moment with a memorable phrase.
One of his best-remembered moments was the regular use of the phrase “oh, baby!” – a simple enough communication that perfectly conveyed the drama of hockey games at their best. When the emotion of the moment ratcheted up, Cole expertly caught it and passed it along to viewers and listeners. He knew what his role was and excelled at it.
Cole spent most of his career as the lead play-by-play man for Hockey Night In Canada, and he continued to perform on the show – as well as during the Olympics and World Cups of Hockey – until he was 85 years old.
Most people remember Cole for his broadcasting prowess, but he was also a competitive curler who represented his hometown province of Newfoundland in the 1971 and 1975 Briars. Yet he was world-famous for his talents in describing the ups and downs of hockey.
Along with longtime color analyst partner Harry Neale, Cole was front and center for scores of Stanley Cup playoff games, as well as each and every NHL regular season for half a century. Another classic Cole moment took place in the 1972 Summit Series, where he deftly captured the passion of the moment during Paul Henderson’s series-winning goal.
Cole’s cadence and feel for the game was what separated him from most of his peers, and he was a staple at Maple Leaf Gardens, Scotiabank Arena and scores of other hockey buildings across Canada. Indeed, over the years, Cole became a Canadian icon in his own right, with many impersonators paying homage to his singular style. Nobody did it the way Cole did, and the hockey world is poorer for his loss.
Megan Cole told CBC News Thursday her father was healthy “up until the very end.” And while it’s a sad day for hockey in Canada and around the world, there is some consolation in knowing that Cole’s voice and legacy will resonate across the generations for years to come. Nobody was better at creating drama with only their voice, and Cole – who was honored by the Hall of Fame in 1996 as a recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for broadcasting excellence – earned every laurel he received. He also won a Gemini Award for sports play-by-play, and in 2022, he was honored by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television with their lifetime achievement award.
“I get a great charge out of making exciting sound, if you want to call it that,” Cole told The Canadian Press in 2022. “It’s the feel of the game that got me started and I managed to hang onto that, I think, or tried to for so long.”
There was nobody quite like Cole, and there won’t soon come another of his ilk. He wore his love for hockey on his sleeve, and the game – and its fans and players – loved him back just as much. The Hockey News offers its condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
