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Joe Bowen's son will be on the call for upcoming Toronto Maple Leafs broadcast

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
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Dec 19 2024, 9:12 pm
Joe Bowen's son will be on the call for upcoming Toronto Maple Leafs broadcast

Toronto Maple Leafs fans will be hearing a voice close to home if they’re tuning into an upcoming radio call.

While generations of fans have been familiar with the voice of Joe Bowen on their radio and television broadcasts over the past few decades, they’ll be getting the chance to hear his son take to the NHL airwaves for the first time next week.

Bowen announced today that his 24-year-old son David will join the Sportsnet 590 The Fan broadcast team for a period during next Monday’s Leafs matchup against the Winnipeg Jets.

“Beyond excited to have my son David joining myself and Jim Ralph,” Bowen posted on X today.

Puck drop for Monday’s game is set at 2 pm ET, a rare time for most hockey games but far from unusual for the Leafs at this point. Since 2017, the organization has scheduled plenty of “Next Gen” games, including a traditional one around the winter holidays that takes place with a midweek afternoon puck drop in order to take advantage of children being out of school.

The elder Bowen has been on the play-by-play Leafs radio call since 2014 for both Sportsnet and TSN. He made his debut as a play-by-play commentator for the Leafs in 1982. Over the past four decades, he has worked on the TV broadcasts of TSN, Sportsnet, and CBC.

Meanwhile, the younger Bowen had his own dreams of making it to the NHL, having suited up for 11 junior hockey games as a goaltender for the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves and the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs. Since his retirement from competitive hockey, Bowen has worked with the Wolves’ broadcast on the Sudbury-based 96.7 FM CKLU radio station.

While the moment might be sweet for the Bowen family, it’s not the only father-son call in Toronto media, however. Last season, Sportsnet introduced Ben Shulman to the Blue Jays radio call, the son of longtime Toronto baseball announcer Dan Shulman.

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