Last Updated on: 16th April 2026, 02:45 pm
I missed last night’s Leafs season finale with the Senators. Judging by how it went, I think the Leafs did, too.
It was a meaningless game in pretty much every respect. Toronto was long ago eliminated from the playoffs and the Sens already knew who they’d be matched up against, so everybody was just playing out the string.
There was exactly one reason why anyone would care about any of this. It was Joe Bowen’s last night. There had been tributes to him throughout the year including some nice stuff on the radio during his last couple of home games, but this was it. The end of a legendary career.
I’ll save the harping about how Rogers and Bell should be embarrassed that they helped drive him out by being so incredibly and unnecessarily bush league and cheap these last few years. There’ll be plenty of time for that I’m sure. Those companies are very clearly incapable of feeling embarrassment when it comes to product quality. For today, the important thing is this.
Listening to him start to cry almost made me cry.
Damn, I’m going to miss him. I knew I would, but I don’t think I realized quite how much until it got close to the end.