Toronto Maple Leafs honour longtime game caller Joe Bowen with ‘Holy Mackinaw’ night

Joe Bowen has been the Leafs announcer for 44 seasons, broadcasting over 3,000 games, and he will be honoured at the Scotiabank Arena. Sean Leathong reports.

The man known as the voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs is being honoured after more than four decades with the team.

Longtime play-by-play broadcaster, Joe Bowen, will retire at the end of the 2025-26 season following 44 years and over 3,000 games. That’s the most by any broadcaster in franchise history, according to the Leafs.

“Over the many years I have become huge fans of a number of sports teams: the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, the Toronto Argos and the Green Bay Packers, of which I am an owner,” Bowen said in a release last week. “But there is only one team that I love, and that has always been the Toronto Maple Leafs. First as a fan and fortunately over the last 44 years as a broadcaster.”

Toronto hosted “Holy Mackinaw Night” at their Dec. 16 game against the Chicago Blackhawks, which included pre-game tributes, a ceremonial puck drop with 74-year-old Bowen, and in-game moments commemorating his time on the air.

Bowen was emotional during most of the pre-game tribute, which included the presentation of a special, commemorative, golden microphone, and the team announced that next season, following Bowen’s retirement, the radio booth inside the media gondola at Scotiabank Arena will be known as “Bowen’s Booth.”

Fans in attendance were also treated to tribute T-shirts and be able to meet Bowen before the game.

“Nobody represents the passion of Leafs Nation better than Joe Bowen, and his signature voice has been the soundtrack for so many iconic moments for the team over the past 44 years,” Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving said in a release.

Earlier on Tuesday, the team held a ceremony in their dressing room with Bowen, and he was gifted a family vacation to see a future Notre Dame football game.

Ahead of the game, players told CTV News Toronto they grew up listening to Bowen’s voice on the radio and TV, and were excited to give him his flowers.

“Just driving to and from the rink from hockey practice when I was a young guy and we couldn’t watch the Leafs game, my dad would throw it on the radio and (Bowen) just really brought the game to life,” said Leafs centre Bobby McMann. “It made memories with my dad and me in the car just that much more special.”

“This is a memory that I’m going to keep forever,” McMann said of his “Holy Mackinaw” T-shirt, the same one fans received at the game. “I’ll be able to hold onto this thing and tell my kids that I got to listen to Joe Bowen and he got to say my name when I scored a goal... it’s pretty cool.”

“When Mats (Sundin) scored against Carolina... that (call) right there gives me goosebumps watching it every time still,” forward Max Domi said, referring to a famous call Bowen made when his father, Tie Domi, was playing with the Leafs.

In 2018, Bowen was awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to broadcast.

Speaking to CTV News Toronto in October ahead of his final season, Bowen said his famous phrase—“Holy Mackinaw”—was inspired by nights spent watching hockey with his dad, who used the saying whenever former Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower made a big save.

The reason Tuesday’s game against the Blackhawks was chosen to honour the longtime Leafs announcer was because the first ever game he called for Toronto was against Chicago in October of 1982, according to Treliving.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Sean Leathong