Bob Cole, pictured here in 2018, died last week in St. John’s. He was 90. (Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
Family, friends and fans from around the hockey world gathered in St. John’s on Friday afternoon for the funeral of broadcasting icon Bob Cole.
Cole, 90, died last week in St. John’s surrounded by his family.
“Everything he did, he did for us. We knew that, and we felt that,” daughter Megan Cole told attendees of St. Thomas Anglican Church in downtown St. John’s — Cole’s family church, where he sang as a choirboy about 80 years earlier.
“It has been a true privilege to share our amazing dad with this province he loved so much. With the country and with the world of hockey. We are heartbroken, and our days without our dad will not be the same.”
Cole was known as the soundtrack to some of hockey’s greatest moments over his 50-year career. His voice often followed the Hockey Night in Canada theme — which was played by the CLB Armory band following the funeral
He worked 34 of those years with broadcaster Ron MacLean, who was asked to deliver the eulogy.
Cole’s daughter, Megan, said the family is privileged to share their father with the world. (St. Thomas Anglican Church/Facebook)
“Bob’s a dear, dear friend who mentored me and was up to lots of mischief with me.… We all know that his voice is legendary and we can hear that, but I’ll always recall the gleam in his eye,” MacLean said Friday, adding he spoke to Cole four days before his death.
“Like the saying goes, the meaning of life is that it ends. The meaning of love is that it doesn’t.”
N.L. was always close to his heart
Former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams said Cole represented the province with pride and grace.
“Bob gave us a special, international reputation. I mean he was highly respected, his voice is iconic,” he said. “He’s our hometown boy, and we took great pride every time he called a game.”
Cole lived in St. John’s throughout his career, and would travel weekly to wherever he was required before returning to Newfoundland.
WATCH | Bob Cole always had a gleam in his eye, says Ron MacLean:
Ron MacLean recalls an N.L. booze cruise with NHL player, ref and Bob Cole — and an ocean dip
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Bob Cole’s funeral in St. John’s was filled with laughs and heartwarming stories about the late NHL announcer. One of the more colourful ones came from his friend and colleague Ron MacLean, who recalled a time when Cole told him a swim in the Atlantic Ocean is refreshing. A bit of hilarity and chaos ensued, which MacLean joked was Cole’s style.
Cole’s son, Robbie, told those in the church that the family lit up whenever he returned, which always came with Sunday dinner.
“We would say, ‘Dad, tell us a story.’ And it was then that he had his most captive audience,” Cole said.
Cole also represented the province in other ways, skipping Newfoundland and Labrador at two Brier curling championships. As a rower, he competed at the Royal St. John’s Regatta.
Hockey commentator and former player Greg Millen told reporters after the service that Cole’s children, and Newfoundland, were always on Cole’s mind.
“There wasn’t a day that went by when I travelled with him that he didn’t talk about his children. Pretty special,” he said. “He loved his home, and he talked about Newfoundland a lot. You know, I had to make sure I pronounced it correctly,” he added with a laugh.
St. John’s hockey fan Evan Purcell met Cole a few years ago when the Toronto Maple Leafs held training camp in Paradise. He came to the funeral wearing a powder-blue Hockey Night in Canada blazer, like the ones Cole would wear on television. (Malone Mullin/CBC)
Fan Evan Purcell came to the funeral wearing a powder-blue Hockey Night in Canada blazer — not unlike the one Cole would have worn for a broadcast.
“The best broadcaster ever. The Wayne Gretzky of commentary,” he said. “He was always so electric, and he always got you on the edge of your seat.”
This time of year is a busy time for Cole’s colleagues at Hockey Night in Canada, who were on TV in Toronto for the NHL playoffs the night before, but reporter and analyst Elliotte Friedman said it was important for the crew to be in St. John’s.
WATCH | They called games with him — and here’s what they will remember about Bob Cole:
Passionate. Family man. Proud Newfoundlander: Big-name broadcasters remember Bob Cole
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They sat next to him in the broadcast booth for some of the biggest NHL games, and they won’t forget those times with Bob Cole. Elliotte Friedman, Glenn Healy and Greg Millen say Cole loved Newfoundland, the fans and his family.
“Everybody who knew Bob and everybody who worked with Bob, you know, we all loved being around him,” said Friedman. “The thing about Bob is I don’t think you can’t be any good in this business if you don’t have passion. And when a game got big or when a moment got big, nobody had the passion of Bob. And we loved being around him.”
He told reporters he was overcome with emotion watching Cole’s children speak at the funeral, and that he admired how the service used the music of Frank Sinatra, one of Cole’s favourite performers.
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MacKenzie Weegar wasn’t bitter or upset as he watched friends live out their dreams.
The Calgary Flames defenceman just hopes to experience the same feeling one day. He also knows the road leading to that moment, if it does arrive, will likely be long and winding — much like his own path.
A seventh-round pick by the Florida Panthers at the 2013 NHL draft, Weegar climbed the ranks to become an important piece of a roster that captured the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season club in 2021-22.
Two months later following a second-round playoff exit, he was traded to the Flames along with Jonathan Huberdeau for Matthew Tkachuk. And less than two years after that, the Panthers were hoisting the Stanley Cup.
“Happy for the city and for the team,” Weegar said of Florida’s June victory over the Edmonton Oilers. “There was no bad taste in my mouth.”
His sole focus, he insists, is squarely on eventually getting the Flames to the same spot. The landscape, however, has changed drastically since Weegar committed to Calgary on an eight-year, US$50-million contract extension in October 2022.
Weegar has watched a list that includes goaltender Jacob Markstrom, defencemen Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Nikita Zadorov and forwards Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane shipped out of town since the start of last season — largely for picks, prospects and young players as part of a rebuild.
Despite that exodus, he remains committed to the Calgary project steered by general manager Craig Conroy.
“It’s easy to get out of all whack when you see guys trying to leave or wanting new contracts,” the 30-year-old from Ottawa said at last week’s NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “I just focus on where I am and where I want to be, and that’s Calgary.
“I believe in this team. The city has taken me in right away. I feel like I owe it to them to stick around and grind through these years and get a Stanley Cup.”
The hard-nosed blueliner certainly knows what it is to grind.
After winning the Memorial Cup alongside Nathan MacKinnon with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2013, Weegar toiled in the ECHL and American Hockey League for three seasons before making his NHL debut late in the 2016-17 campaign with the Panthers.
He would spend the next five years in South Florida as one of the players tasked with shifting an organizational culture that had experienced little success over the previous two decades.
“There’s always going to be a piece of my heart and loyalty to that team,” Weegar said. “But now I’m in a different situation … I compete against all 32 teams, not just Florida. There’s always a chip on my shoulder every single year.”
Weegar set career highs with 20 goals — eight was the most he had ever previously registered — and 52 points in 2023-24 as part of a breakout offensive performance.
“I think my buddies cared a lot more than I did,” he said with a smile. “All I hear is, ‘fantasy, fantasy, fantasy.'”
Weegar was actually more proud of his 200 blocked shots and 194 hits as he looks to help set a new Flames’ standard alongside Huberdeau, captain Mikael Backlund, Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Rasmus Andersson for a franchise expected to have its new arena in time for the 2027-28 season.
“You have to build that culture and that belief in the locker room,” said Weegar, who pointed to 22-year-old centre Connor Zary as a player set to pop. “Those young guys are going to have to come into their own and be consistent every night … they’re the next generation.”
Weegar, however, isn’t punting on 2024-25. He pointed to the NHL’s parity and the fact a couple of teams surprise every season.
It’s the same approach that took him from the ECHL a decade ago to hockey’s premier pre-season event inside a swanky hotel on Sin City’s famed strip, where he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the game’s best.
“From the outside — media and even friends and family — the expectations are probably a bit lower,” Weegar said of Calgary’s outlook. “But there’s no reason to think that we can’t make playoffs and we can’t be a good team (with) that underdog mentality.
“You never know.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept 17, 2024.
Jose Maria Celestino da Costa was named vice-president and head of soccer operations while Marianne Brooks was appointed vice-president of partnerships, Kelly Shouldice as vice-president of brand and content and Joyce Sou as vice-president of finance and business operations.
The new six-team women’s pro league is set to kick off in April.
“Their unique expertise and leadership are crucial as we lay the foundation for not just a successful league in Canada, but one that stands among the top sports leagues in the world,” NSL president Christina Litz said in a statement. “By investing in top-tier talent and infrastructure, the Northern Super League is committed to creating a league that will elevate the game and set new standards for women’s professional soccer globally.”
Da Costa will oversee all on-field matters, including officiating. His resume includes stints with Estoril Praia, a men’s first-division team in Portugal, and the Portuguese Soccer Federation, where he helped develop the Portuguese women’s league.
Brooks spent a decade with Canucks Sports & Entertainment, working in “partnership sales and retention efforts” for the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Warriors, and Rogers Arena. Most recently, she served as senior director of account management at StellarAlgo, a software company that helps pro sports teams connect with their fans
Shouldice has worked for Corus Entertainment, the Canadian Football League, and most recently as vice-president of Content and Communications at True North Sports & Entertainment, where she managed original content as well as business and hockey communications.
Sou, who was involved in the league’s initial launch, will oversee financial planning, analysis and the league’s expansion strategy in her new role.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
