FOCUS - DECEMBER 2018 47 Focus: What do you like MOST about your job? JB: I get paid. Ha ha. No, you get to watch the greatest athletes in the world and I sit in wonderful venues and I get paid to tell people where the puck is. Focus: What do you like LEAST about your job? JB: The travel and being away. I have four boys who all played lots of hockey and I missed a lot of games and birthdays. I still have a boy playing hockey and I miss his games too. The travel is the toughest part. Focus: What’s your favourite moment in memory? JB: The Team Canada ’72 is probably my favourite memory. In broadcasting, hard to say but probably the Niki Borschevsky goal and the subsequent run to the Stanley Cup semi finals was really the turning point in the franchise where they were going to try to win and they were going to use their assets to try to win. Focus: Who’s the best player to interview or deal with and why? JB: I don’t know if I have an absolute favourite. The one thing I will say is that in the 37 years of doing this job I think there’s maybe two players that I would say I don’t have the time for. And that speaks volumes of the kind of individuals we have in the National Hockey League. Focus: What’s your favourite city on the road? JB: I love Chicago – always have. It’s where I did my very first game. I enjoy all of the stuff downtown. I enjoyed the old stadium. It was the best place to do a game in. Unless, of course, it’s some place in February and it’s warm. Focus: What do you like about this year’s Leaf team? JB: The fact that there’s a window of opportunity that’s not closing. From 92-94 with Dougie and Wendel, you realized that the team was older and this was their chance and then it didn’t happen. With this year’s team there’s going to be 5, 6 or 7 years where they’re going to have a chance. That’s all you can ask for and we are hoping that one of these years the ultimate prize will be won. Focus: When do you predict the Leafs will win the Stanley Cup? JB: Probably in June. Any June. Pick a June. Because you can’t win it in November and you can’t win it in October. Focus: Compare this organization with those in years past. JB: I loved Steve Stavros and I loved Cliff Fletcher and we were very much a part of that, if not in the inner circle, we were very much there. Harold’s ownership was just a zoo, and you weren’t part of anything. Now with Brendan and company it’s very corporate and we don’t get nearly as close to the management or the players as we used to. It’s the way they want to run it and you can’t argue with success. These days, we’re not in the inner sanctum as much as we were, but from where I’m at if they play well and win, who cares. Focus: What’s your legacy? What do you want people to remember you most by? JB: In the 37 years of doing just one team, my favourite team, and being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, I think I will be most proud of the fact that I have done more games than any other Leaf broadcaster. Toronto Maple Leaf games. Foster Hewitt would have done about 2,000, and I’m over 3,100 and still counting and I’ve got another 5 years to go, so I think that’s my legacy. I’ve sat in Foster’s chair a lot and done more games than he did. Joe Bowen - Spoken like a true Hockey Hall of Famer. Note: Timing is everything; Joe Bowen was also inducted in to the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 12. Joe Bowen was the guest speaker at this year’s Scugog Hall of Fame Induction night and gave a rousing speech to all those in attendance. Focus on Scugog had a chance to catch up with Mr. Bowen and find out what makes him tick. He’s a funny man and now a Hockey Hall of Famer himself. JOE BOWEN “ I’ve sat in Foster’s chair a lot and done more games than he did.” By Shawn Lackie, Special to Focus on Scugog &