Bowen discusses final season as Maple Leafs broadcaster in Q&A with NHL.com

In NHL.com's Q&A feature called "Sitting Down with …" we talk to key figures in the game, gaining insight into their lives on and off the ice. In this edition, we feature Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster Joe Bowen.

TORONTO -- Joe Bowen is a Hall of Fame play-by-play man, best known as the longtime voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and has been one of the most colorful characters in the game for more than four decades.

Ask him which role he cherishes the most, however, and it's none of those things.

"Nope," he says. "It's being a dad to my four boys."

Which is why the Maple Leafs' game against the Chicago Blackhawks at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday (7p.m. ET; TSN4, CHSN) is going to be so special.

During the night, the Maple Leafs will pay tribute to Bowen, who has announced this will be his final season behind the mic for their games, ending a run that started Oct. 6, 1982, with a game against the Chicago Black Hawks at Chicago Stadium.

And the icing on his retirement cake is the fact that his son, David, will handle the play-by-play duties for the entire game while his proud poppa will be honored by the team and its fans, a celebration that will feature a pregame ceremony on the ice. David, who calls games for Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League, called a period with his dad during a game against the Winnipeg Jets last season, but this will be his first time doing the complete Maple Leafs broadcast.

"It's kind of fitting, isn't it?" Joe Bowen said. "A Bowen doing the play-by-play on the night they're paying tribute to me. I'm so proud of him, like I am of all my boys.

"I don't need to coach him. He knows what to do. To him, I'm not Joe Bowen the Hall of Famer. I'm just Dad.

"I'm grateful for all of it. All the years. All the memories. All the fun. But it's time."

In advance of his special evening, Bowen sat with NHL.com to discuss his legendary career and the franchise he's become synonymous with.

First off, Joe, why now? Why call it a career at the end of this particular season?

"As I've said many times, when the time came, I'd know. And right now, I know. I know I'm not as good. I know I make mistakes. I make mistakes now that I wish I wouldn't. And I don't want to be the guy that's sitting there that someone has to come and tap on the shoulder and say, 'All right, enough's enough.' So I think this is time. The job has changed. The whole mosaic of what we do has changed dramatically, really. It's not what I signed up for. So I think it's time here."

That being the case, when you look back at your illustrious body of work, how surreal is it to be known as the voice of the Maple Leafs, one of the NHL's Original Six teams?

"Every time I walk into this press box and see all of these wonderful photos of one of my idols, the great Foster Hewitt, I kind of pinch myself. I mean, here's what I have to wrap my head around. I've done more seasons than he did. I've done a lot more games than he did, because they didn't broadcast all of them, and there were only six teams then. And I kind of go, 'How did you manage to do that?' And I guess the bottom line is, I have."

What do you remember about your first broadcast 43 years ago at Chicago Stadium?

"Ah, the 'Madhouse on Madison.' I was nervous as could be. I got in a cab with the biggest man I have ever seen in my life, and we started down West Madison Street, which was not a very good area at the time. And I thought he was taking me on my last ride before I even got to start my career. And then the Stadium came into sight. And when I got there, I was nervous, obviously. I had something prepared. I had written it all out. And then the engineer at the Stadium couldn't get us on the air, and we were trying to get on a telephone line and everything. In those days, the technology was a little different. And literally, when the guy dropped the puck at center ice, the engineer pointed at me to go. We finally got on the air at that exact moment, so I just started into the game. I never got to introduce myself or do anything like that."

You're known for your signature phrase "Holy Mackinaw!" There actually are T-shirts with that slogan on the front. The Maple Leafs players are wearing them. What was the origin of that call?

"It was something my dad would say. Sometimes you'd hear him say it when we were watching the great Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower. The first time we used it on the air ever was about five years into my career. Felix Potvin made a huge save in Chicago Stadium, ironically. I just blared out 'Holy Mackinaw!' I wouldn't have used it again, except Bill Watters, who was doing the color commentary with me, fell off his chair laughing. I don't know why it came out of the recesses of my mind then, but through seven years of junior hockey and three years in the American Hockey League, I never used it. But it's stuck all these years since then."

You were close with the late Rick Jeanneret and the late Mike Lange, two Hall of Fame broadcasters like yourself. Jeanneret was the long-time voice of the Buffalo Sabres, Lange the same with the Pittsburgh Penguins. All three of you were known -- and in your case, still are -- for your colorful calls and catchphrases. Why do you think you don't hear things like that with play-by-play people anymore? Why do they not let their personalities come out like they did -- and have -- with the three of you?

"Yeah, for the lack of a better term, they're cookie cutter. And maybe we see that a lot with American football or whatever. There doesn't seem to be a lot of personality. It's all very cut and dry. I always thought that I wanted to be sort of the guy sitting at the end of the bar at the Unionville Arms in the town where I live, and there’s a bunch of people standing around, and I'm talking hockey with them. And I just happen to know a little bit more. And I do the play by play so that you don't miss a goal. I just think that you have to have fun. Everybody has a personality, and everybody does things differently. But I think it's wrong not to inject your personality into what you're trying to do. Can there be too much of that? Maybe. I don't know. But I always enjoyed Rick and Mike. They were two guys that you wanted to sit down at the barn with and watch a hockey game with. I've often said, they're not all Rembrandts. And you better entertain people and at least keep the sponsors happy and keep people listening. You better entertain them."

How many Maple Leafs games have you called over the years? And how many, for that matter, have you missed?

"I'm not sure the exact number but I know I'll get to 3,800 sometime in March. And I think over the 43, 44 years, I've missed maybe a dozen due to illness, young boys being ill, my mother passing, things of that nature."

What do you consider to be your most memorable call?

“Probably Nik Borschevsky's overtime winner in Game 7 of the [Norris] Division Semifinal series against the Detroit Red Wings in 1993. It was a watershed moment for the franchise. Before that, under previous ownership, there was no chance. They weren't going to spend the money, they weren't going to have the resources to give the kids a chance to actually win. But after that goal, that run, things change. Regardless of what you think of management of this team over the years since then, it has not been for the lack of trying, and it has not been for the lack of funds. They changed the rules because of this team to bring in a salary cap, right? So that has never been the issue, But that goal was the watershed mark, and then they went on the wonderful run. And you knew that, OK, the page has been turned."

Finally, have you thought what you might say for your final sign-off?

"No. Whatever it is, it'll be organic. Actually, my intention is that my last call will be of the Stanley Cup parade. Will it happen? Hey, a guy can hope, can't he?"