Maple Leafs Announcer Took His First Night Off In 40 Years To Watch Notre Dame In The National Championship

Joe Bowen is the voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs and has been for decades, and on Monday night he took his first day off in 43 years.

Why?

Well, Bowen, it turns out, is a die-hard Notre Dame fan, so why not put an end to his 43-year perfect attendance streak to watch his Fighting Irish play for a National Championship?

According to The Hockey News, Bowen started his career with the Leafs back in the early 80s on television, and in 2014 he moved into the radio booth. He's probably best known to non-Leaf fans for his famous "Holy Mackinaw!" calls.

What's wild is that ever since he started calling games, Bowen has not asked for a night off.

That's incredible… I mean, since he's calling Leafs games, so for the last two decades it's been safe to assume the season will be done by early May, but still, that's impressive.

Bowen announced his plans to take off for the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Good for Joe! He shared some videos from the night and it's pretty cool that he got to take the night off — it was even a nice rivalry game between the Leafs and Canadiens too — and Bowen shared some videos of him and his family watching the Irish take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Unfortunately, it was a rough night at times for the Bowens and Notre Dame fans around the globe, with the Irish coming up short against the Buckeyes despite a late rally to make things interesting.

But Bowen took the loss in stride and decided to look at the bright side and that is that the program is certainly on the right track.

It's awesome that a legend like Joe Bowen got to spend that time with his family, win or lose.

On the upside, the Leafs had a great night, beating the Habs 7-3.