- Peter Maher, the radio voice of the Calgary Flames for 33 seasons, has died at 79
- He called the 1989 Stanley Cup win and Canada’s entire 2010 Olympic run, including the Golden Goal
- Read below for the family statement and a look back at his Hall of Fame career
Peter Maher is gone at 79.
The Calgary Flames confirmed Thursday afternoon that their longtime radio play-by-play man has died, closing out a run that made his voice the sound of Flames hockey for 33 straight seasons.
Maher’s family shared a statement that the club posted alongside the news:
“It is with great sadness that our family announces the passing of our dad, Peter Maher. To so many people, Peter was the longtime voice of the Calgary Flames. To us, he was simply Dad.”
Calgary hired Maher in 1980, the year the franchise packed up from Atlanta and headed north. He stayed in the booth until he retired after the 2013-14 season, calling close to 3,000 games along the way.
Two calls followed him everywhere. “Yeah, baby!” and “You can put it in the win column!” are still what Flames fans quote back at each other, and the biggest one came in May 1989 when Calgary won the Cup in Montreal.
Listen to Maher call the final seconds of the only championship in franchise history:
His resume ran well past Calgary. Maher worked six NHL All-Star Games, four Stanley Cup Finals and the 2005 IIHF World Championship.
He also had the entire Canadian men’s slate at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, which means he was on the mic for Sidney Crosby’s Golden Goal.
The Hockey Hall of Fame gave Maher the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 2006. Calgary named the Saddledome radio booth after him once he stepped away, and local media still hand out the Peter Maher Award every year to the Flames player who best shows the sincerity, integrity, dedication and respect he was known for.
Before any of it, he was a kid from Campbellton, New Brunswick, who called Toronto Maple Leafs games on the CKO Radio Network. The Calgary job opened up and he took it.
Take a look at the smile that went with the voice, in front of the flag he spent 33 years describing:
It has been a rough stretch for hockey broadcasting. Longtime Canucks voice John McKeachie died earlier this week at 82.
Funeral arrangements are coming in the next few days, the family said.
