The Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans have been blessed by 44 years and nearly 4000 games of “HOLY MACKINAW” calls rattling through the foundation of their homes. Longtime Maple Leafs play-by-play announcer Joe Bowen announced prior to the 2025-26 season that the current one would be his last, which will mark the end of a career that spans all the way back to 1982-83.

Bowen spent time as both the Maple Leafs’ TV play-by-play commentator as well as carrying the same duties on the radio. You’ve heard his voice on Sportsnet, Leafs TV, 590 The Fan, and TSN 1050, and with the Maple Leafs set to honour Bowen’s career ahead of their game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, it seemed like an appropriate time to take a trip down memory lane and go over some of Bowen’s best calls throughout his illustrious career.

Everybody remembers the moment the Toronto Maple Leafs signed John Tavares, and everybody remembers his first game back in Long Island against his old team. Islanders fans were absolutely relentless towards Tavares en route to an Islanders 6-1 rout of the Maple Leafs, chanting ‘WE DON’T NEED YOU!’ throughout the game and letting him hear it every time he touched the puck.

on March 2, 2019, ahead of the Maple Leafs’ following game, Leafs fans gave Tavares a standing ovation and he responded by opening the scoring with his 37th goal of the season, leading to the birth of a new nickname. You can hear it at 4:12 of the video below.

The ‘Johnny Toronto’ namesake would be a staple of Bowen’s on big goals by Tavares.

On December 5, 1992 in a game between the Maple Leafs and the Blackhawks, Leafs defenceman Sylvain Lefebvre dropped the gloves with Blackhawks forward Rob Brown after a scrum broke out. Lefebvre dropped Brown with a vicious right and, well, the quote is pretty self-explanatory.

One of the most memorable Maple Leafs milestones of the 2000s was Mats Sundin’s 500th career NHL goal. Everything about it was perfect – from the fact that it was a hat trick goal to the fashion he scored it in. On October 14, 2006, the Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames were tied at 4 in overtime. Sundin had two goals and completed the hat-trick by slowly carrying the puck into the offensive zone before wiring a slap shot top corner to secure the milestone and the win all in one. You can hear it at 2:07 of the video below.

One of Bowen’s best one-liners came in a moment that gave Leafs fans a rare dose of hope that had been hard to come by for the past decade. The 2016-17 season saw the birth of a new era, headlined by Auston Matthews and an overall youth movement throughout the lineup. On April 8, 2017, the Maple Leafs hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins and scored two crucial late goals to send them to the playoffs for the first time in an 82-game season since 2004. The game-winner was a tip-in by Connor Brown, making the red-haired rookie the subject of one of Bowen’s funniest calls. You can hear it at 3:17 of the video below.

The 2022-23 season brought the new generation of Leafs fans their first playoff moment that they could genuinely be excited about. After six failed runs in a row, on April 29, 2023, the Maple Leafs finally managed to win a playoff round in the Auston Matthews era with a Game 6 overtime winner by John Tavares over the Tampa Bay Lightning. This call doesn’t feature an iconic quote or anything, it’s just pure excitement. So nice, ‘HOLY MACKINAW’ was used twice!

Unfortunately for Bowen, he had to call this game remotely and off the TV feed, so he mistakenly credited Morgan Rielly with the goal since the camera panned to him immediately. But it won’t take away from the excitement in the moment.

While Bowen didn’t get to call any second round games the year after they broke the curse, on May 1, 2025, the Maple Leafs returned to the second round in 2024-25 after defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-2 in Game 6 of the first round. Ottawa threatened near the end of the game with a tying goal from David Perron, but Max Pacioretty quickly got it back for the Leafs, and birthday boy William Nylander eventually iced the game with an empty-netter.

On April 22, 2000, the Leafs hit the ice looking to ice the Ottawa Senators in the first round, and Steve “Stumpy” Thomas did just that. After taking a pass from Sergei Berezin, he deflected it past the Senators netminder to send the Maple Leafs to the second round. Another call that’s more about the intensity than it is the wording. You can hear it at 0:49 of the video below.

The second of two fights that made this list came from a bench brawl between the Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers, with the main event being a goalie fight between Ron Hextall and Felix Potvin. As mayhem erupted in the Maple Leafs zone, Hextall charged at Potvin from the other end of the ice and sent the fight into sheer chaos.

You won’t find a tying goal that brings joy to Maple Leafs fans quite like Sundin’s last-minute game-tying goal to send Game 7 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Final to overtime. For a team that’s been without meaningful success since 1967, this moment was the closest the Leafs had come to getting to the Cup final since then, and you can hear Bowen on the verge of tears as he calls this one.

Topping off this list is Bowen’s call of the Maple Leafs’ 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators in Game 6 of the 2022 Eastern Conference semi-finals. The Leafs were down 3-2 in the series and 2-0 in this game before clawing back and taking a 4-3 lead, which they would hold onto until the end of the game. You can hear Bowen’s voice evaporate as the final 20 seconds of the game progress, and when the final buzzer goes, he drops a quote that metaphorically comes across as a giant breath of fresh air.

Making a list like this was impossible, as there are simply too many good Bowen calls to confidently round into a top 10. Honourable mentions include his call of Nikolai Borschevsky’s Game 7 overtime winner against the Detroit Red Wings, his call of Auston Matthews’ four-goal game, and any of his “WEE WILLY NYLANDER” calls. You can hear most of these in the video below.

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