from Robin Short of The Telegram,

Bob Cole has been calling National Hockey League games since 1969, but long before he reached the NHL, Cole was honing his craft while broadcasting games in Newfoundland. Robin Short writes that Cole, whose memoir is being launched today, is the best play-by-play man hockey has ever seen....

The Hockey Night in Canada Hall of Fame broadcaster speaks of painting a picture for the listeners and viewers, reminding the audience the Canadiens are in the red jerseys skating from left to right, the Leafs dressed in white.

It’s the stuff he learned from the great Foster Hewitt.

“Flow, that’s the word,” Cole writes. “Foster said, ‘Feel and flow.’ I use that now when I talk to guys about broadcasting.

“You’ve got to smell it. You’ve got to feel the game.”

Perhaps it’s entirely coincidental, but the brilliant Vin Scully called it a career last weekend after 67 years talking Los Angeles Dodgers baseball. Four days later, Cole — who will enter his 48th winter behind the mike doing NHL games — has the book release.

Using that parameter to draw a comparison between the two is perhaps a stretch, so instead we’ll get down to brass tacks: like Scully, who called the summer pastime like no one else, Cole is the best play-by-play man hockey has ever seen.

Better than Hewitt. Better than Danny Gallivan.

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