Bob Cole (announcer)

Bob Cole
Born	1933 (age 78–79) St. John's, Newfoundland
Occupation	sports announcer

Robert Cecil "Bob" Cole (born 1933 in St. John's, Newfoundland) is a Canadian television announcer and former competitive curler.

Cole was the primary play-by-play announcer for Hockey Night in Canada 'HNIC' on CBC, usually for Toronto Maple Leafs games, from 1980 to 2008. Aside from the Leafs broadcasts, he was also a staple for the CBC during the Stanley Cup playoffs. He broadcast at least one game in every Stanley Cup Finals from 1980 until 2008, after which he was replaced by Jim Hughson. Since that time, he has been HNIC's number two play-by-play man, primarily calling Montreal Canadiens games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996 as the recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for broadcasting excellence.

Cole received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's in 2002.

Curling

Cole is also a former curler, playing in the 1971 and 1975 Briers as the skip for the Newfoundland team. He also played in the 1965 and 1973 Canadian mixed championships.

Broadcasting

Cole began broadcasting hockey on CBC Radio in 1969 and moved to television in 1973 when HNIC expanded its coverage.

Catch phrases

Some of his more famous phrases include "Oh baby!" and "Scores!"/"Holy cow" He is known particularly for 'Colisms' (such as "Heavens to Betsy!", "Oh Nelly!", and the trademark "What a dandy!" used to describe a great game) as well as for slowly emphasizing each word when an exciting play has happened ("Can he do it again? Scores! Pec–a– does– it– a–gain!"). Other common phrases made by Cole are: "He's a goalie, yes sir, and a good one at that!" after a great save, "He was nailed" after a great hit, and "Alexei Ponikarovsky takes a soft dump in the corner!" after a player would deftly and gently dump the puck in the corner behind the goalie.

Some notable stylistic traits of Cole's calls include both a trademark cadence that trots and gallops independent of the pace of play, as well as a general ambiguity towards puck location and its possessors: "They. are. doing it folks. they. are. doing it now!" "He. tried to. GO IN THERE!" "There's a drive. ANOTHER ONE!" Bob also has a proclivity for referring to the game itself as "this baby." "Pittsburgh better get a quick one here. or this baby's gonna be Over!" or "Scores! And this baby is tied."

In describing a great play, he would use the term: "Now THAT...(pause)... was a piece of hockey!"

Olympics

Cole's work during CBC's broadcasts of the Olympic games have also become memorable among legions of Canadians. His call on the final shot of the shootout in the semi-final game of the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano between Canada and the Czech Republic represented Canada's failure at the games and haunted fans for years. With Canada scoreless in the shootout and Brendan Shanahan representing their last chance, Cole said in a panicked voice as Shanahan skated in towards Czech goalie Dominik Hasek, "He's gotta score, that's all!" But Shanahan was stopped by Hasek, prompting Cole to dejectedly say "No, he can't do it."

At the gold medal game of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City between Canada and the United States, Cole's animated call of Joe Sakic's second goal of the game is also one of his more memorable moments. Also, on the fourth Canada goal of the game, with four minutes remaining in the third period, Cole was so excited when the goal was scored he yelled out "GORE!" (a hybrid of "goal" and "score"), and then proceeded to call out "Goal, Canada! Goal! Wow! [...] The place goes crazy here in Salt Lake City, and I guess coast to coast in Canada, and all around the world!" When Sakic scored Canada's fifth goal with one minute and twenty seconds remaining, Cole yelled out "SCORES! JOE-SAKIC-SCORES! And that makes it 5-2 Canada! Surely, that's gotta be it!" As the final seconds of the game ticked away, and as the crowd broke out in perfect unison singing O Canada, Cole said, "Now after 50 years, it's time for Canada to stand up and cheer. Stand up and cheer everybody! The Olympics Salt Lake City, 2002, men's ice hockey, gold medal: Canada!"

With an average Canadian audience of 10.6 million viewers, that game was the most-watched CBC Sports program, beating the previous record of 4.957 million viewers for Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals in which the New York Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, beating the Vancouver Canucks, another moment Cole himself called: "The New York Rangers have done it here on a hot June night in New York! The Rangers are Stanley Cup Champions!"

Colour commentators

Cole's long time colour commentator on HNIC was Harry Neale. They were first teamed up in the 1986–87 season. From 1987 to 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, they broadcast 20 Stanley Cup Finals together. Prior to that, his usual partners included Gary Dornhoefer, Mickey Redmond, or John Davidson. Dick Irvin, Jr. also often joined his broadcast team as a third man in the booth for big games. From 2007 to 2010, his most frequent partner was Greg Millen and now he is usually paired with Garry Galley.

In 2007 Cole captured his first Gemini Award in the area of Sports Play-by Play.

External links

• Bob Cole at IMDb
• CBC.ca Sports: Bob Cole biography
• Newfoundland & Labrador Hockey Hall of Fame page