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The host for the Saturday night telecast, Scott Oake, said that was very much in character for the broadcasting legend.

“The thing about Bob is he has always wanted the focus to be on the game. The game is everything to him. He doesn’t want the focus to be on him or on anyone else on the broadcast,” Oake said.

Oake, who has been working on Hockey Night broadcasts since the 1970s, goes even further back with Cole — all the way back to Newfoundland, where he lived as a teenager. He first started working at the CBC as a part-timer, right out of high school.

He eventually got to work on the supper-hour newscast on the CBC’s St. John’s TV station.

“My first job was as a sports announcer at CBNT,” he said. “Bob was the news anchor.”

Cole would then jet off on the weekends to call games for CBC TV and radio.

“I used to think, man, if I could have a life like that … It was a thrill to work with Bob back then, because I grew up watching him read the news.

“He read the news with proper cadence, just like he has the proper cadence in doing play-by-play. He would have been considered one of the best announcers that worked at CBC at the time.”

The key to Cole’s special relationship with his audience was the straightforward play-calling, Oake figured.

“It’s all about the game. He’s very sincere: no bells, whistles, just do the game,” he said.

And that so many imitate his style speaks to that ability to connect and impress.

“Every young hockey play-by-play person I’m sure has had a go at doing an impression of Bob.”