“I am probably not coaching in this league if it wasn’t for growing up having a passion for this game because of the voice of that man.”
Those are the words of Tampa Bay Lightning head coach and Prince George native Jon Cooper reflecting on the passing of legendary Hockey Night in Canada announcer Bob Cole.
Following the Lightning’s 5-3 Game 3 loss to the Florida Panthers, Cooper took a few minutes to pay tribute to Cole who was one of his idols while growing up in PG.
“He is the Wayne Gretzky of announcers. My passion for this game is built on what Bob Cole said every night watching Hockey Night In Canada. Every night I would turn that thing on at five o’clock just to hear his voice.”
Cooper, a two-time Stanley Cup champion head coach with the Bolts in 2020 and 2021 admitted he doesn’t get star-struck very often – however, following a morning skate in Montreal prior to a Lightning road game in 2018, Cole graciously invited Cooper up to the Bell Centre Broadcast gondola where both basked in each other’s company.
“I was star struck when he came down (to the dressing room to invite me). He was such a wonderful man and in the sacred grounds of the Bell Centre in Montreal after a pre-game skate it was just the two of us and he took me upstairs to the gondola where he broadcasted games.”
“I’m probably not coaching in this league if it wasn’t growing up and having a passion for this game because of the voice of that man.”
Jon Cooper speaks on the passing of Bob Cole. pic.twitter.com/bOVzvZjAqe
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 26, 2024
“I got to put a headset on where he called games and it was one of the coolest moments I have ever been a part of in my life.”
Cole passed away at the age of 90 yesterday (Thursday) surrounded by friends and family in his hometown of St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador.
His final broadcast was in April of 2019, a 6-5 shootout victory for the Montreal Canadians over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Cole was a staple during the Toronto Maple Leafs broadcasts from 1980 to 2008 and also broadcast at least one game of each Stanley Cup Final during that span.
His resume also included a pair of Winter Olympics in 1998 from Nagano Japan and four years later in Salt Lake City, Utah where Canada ended a 50-year Olympic Gold medal drought defeating the United States 5-2.
Prior to his broadcasting days, Cole was a competitive curler skipping Newfoundland in two Briers in 1971 and 1975.
The Lightning trail their best-of-seven series 3-0.