Legendary Canadian sports commentator Bob Cole has died at the age of 90.
Cole’s favorite expression — “Oh, baby! » — was one of the many he used to describe hockey games, and which won him the love of hockey fans, and even that of players.
“For as long as I can remember, he said it all the time around the house,” his daughter, Megan Cole, recalled in Cole’s 2016 autobiography, ‘Now I’m Catching On. My Life On and Off the Air‘.
Cole died Wednesday evening in St. John’s, N.L., surrounded by his loved ones, his daughter Megan told the CBC.
“Thank you for decades of unconditional love for his work, his love for Newfoundland and the game of hockey,” Megan Cole told the CBC on Thursday.
Cole said his father was healthy “until the very end.”
Cole remembers using his famous expression to describe Pittsburgh Penguins forward Mario Lemieux’s puck-handling in Game 2 of the 1991 Stanley Cup Final series against the Minnesota North Stars.
“Look at Lemieux. Oh my heavens. What a goal. What a move. The best. Oh baby,” Cole said after Lemieux crossed the ice, before skillfully beating North Stars defenders Shawn Chambers and Neil Wilkinson and deceiving goaltender Jon Casey.
Cole assured in his autobiography that he never planned his flights, that they always came to him spontaneously.
Among the other legendary moments that marked Cole’s career is the one where he said: “Desjardins! And the Canadian won in overtime!”, in the Stanley Cup final in 1993.
“Guys in the locker rooms of NHL teams would come up to me and say: ‘Give us the Desjardins goal! Come on, Bob!’ “, Cole recalled.
‘Hockey Night in Canada’ host Ron MacLean described Cole’s style of portrayal as “a smokescreen coming off a campfire.”
Fellow commentator Greg Millen, a former NHL goaltender, said Cole’s voice “almost sounded like a symphony.”
Cole, whose voice and colorful language marked the English-language broadcast of Saturday night NHL games in Canada, enjoyed a career spanning more than 50 years in the media world. Because his career was not limited to hockey.
He portrayed Bob Beamon’s world long jump record at the 1968 Olympics, competed in the Canadian men’s curling championship (the Brier), hosted a quiz show called “Reach for the Top” and worked in the Newfoundland government.
Cole described his last match for ‘Hockey Night in Canada‘ on April 6, 2019, during the last regular season game between the Canadian and the Toronto Maple Leafs, in Montreal.
Cole was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996, after winning the Foster Hewitt Memorial Trophy, which is awarded for his extraordinary contributions as a hockey commentator. In 2016, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
