‘Holy Mackinaw!’ Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster Joe Bowen says next season will be his last

Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster Joe Bowen calls an NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators in Toronto, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Legendary Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster Joe Bowen plans to call it a career after the 2025-2026 season.

The broadcaster, who famously coined the catchphrase “Holy Mackinaw!” says he will have called more than 3,800 games for the Leafs by then.

In a post to social media, the Sudbury native thanked his colleagues and fans for a decades-long career that has spanned both television and radio, more recently.

“You are the most loyal and demonstrative fans on the face of the Earth!! I can not THANK YOU enough!! I sincerely hope that this will be the “One Before I Am Done” Season for the Leafs as they chase that elusive Cup,” the 74-year-old wrote.

Bowen got the job in 1982 after working as the play-by-play announcer for the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves and the AHL’s Nova Scotia Voyageurs.

The Leafs exited the Stanley Cup playoffs in the second round following a Game 7 loss to the reigning champion Florida Panthers. The Leafs haven’t won the Cup since 1967, when Bowen was in his second year of high school.