Pat Connolly, N.S. sports writer and broadcaster, dies at 84

Pat Connolly, a native of Sydney, N.S., was known for his weekly newspaper columns and as the radio commentator for several hockey teams in Halifax during his 35-year career.

HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia sports writer and hockey announcer Pat Connolly died Tuesday at the age of 84.

Connolly, a native of Sydney, N.S., was known for his weekly newspaper columns and as the radio commentator for several hockey teams in Halifax during his 35-year career.

He was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Up until three years ago, Connolly was also the public address announcer for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Bill Estabrooks, an NDP member of the legislature and friend of Connolly's, remembered the sportscaster as a raconteur and mainstay of the province's sports scene.

He said Connolly was well-known to sports fans at a time when every radio station had its own sports journalists.

"He had such a golden voice. It was unbelievable. It was just a golden delivery he had," Estabrooks said. "He was a one-of-a-kind."

Estabrooks said when he was a school principal in Halifax, Connolly was also known as a supporter of up-and-coming athletes.

"He always had time for you and his generosity with his time and his love of athletics was something I will never forget," he said.

Connolly began his journalism career in 1945 in his hometown of Sydney.

He also worked for 15 years at CFDR in Dartmouth, where he became the voice of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs during the glory years of the 1970s.

The Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame biography on Connolly says he relished his role as broadcaster for the AHL franchise.

"There were years when the Voyageurs would have beaten at least half of the teams in the NHL. Ken Dryden, Bob Gainey, Larry Robinson ... we had some great players come through these parts," he is quoted as saying on the hall of fame's website.

"I love what I do, and I have never lost my enthusiasm for sports or broadcasting.

"It has been a wonderful life."