When you think about it, for more than four decades Cole has been an eyewitness to hockey history, calling some of the greatest games ever played by some of the greatest players.

Cole did the play-by-play of the historic 1972 Summit Series when Paul Henderson scored with 34 seconds left in the final game to give Canada a series win over the Russians.

The year after that series, Cole joined CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and has called a ton of regular-season games, more than 40 Stanley Cup playoffs, all-star Games, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan, the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, and the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.

That gold-medal win for Canada in 2002, by the way, the first for Canada in 50 years, was one of the true highlights of a career that started in 1969 — his first game a Boston-Montreal overtime playoff thriller — and is still going strong.

And on and on, the list goes of big hockey moments. He has covered all the greats from Gordie Howe to Jean Beliveau, Bobby Orr to Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux to Sidney Crosby…

"I'm a very lucky guy," said Cole. "When you have a job to do and you love it, well, that makes you a lucky guy."

He is a lucky guy, but no luckier than all of us have been for hearing his voice every Saturday night in the winter and virtually every night in the spring for so many years.

Oh, baby indeed.

Think of the great Canadian hockey play-by-play announcers and Cole is at the top with the late Foster Hewitt and Danny Gallivan. It would pain the humble Cole to hear it, but he has become a Canadian hockey icon in his own right and he is the broadcast wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Part of what makes him so special, of course, on and off the air, is that Bob doesn't realize he is an icon and would never think he was the show, that he was bigger than the game. Cole has never forgotten and likes to remind that people tune in to watch the game, he is just glad to be able to call it.

Sometimes, sadly, we tend to take for granted the good things in our lives, or not realize how special they are until they're gone. Fortunately, that wasn't the case on Wednesday in Toronto, when the native of St. John's, Nfld., was honoured by Sport Media Canada with a career achievement award.

That isn't an award for longevity, either. It was an award for many years of excellence.

When Cole calls a game he always has your attention. He has an incredible ability to feel the moment and, almost like a singer, can carry a note during a play call.

"It's mind boggling," Cole said, "to think of my name with his award."

It's not mind boggling to those who enjoy Cole call of a game. I've had the great fortune of knowing Bob for almost 30 years and there have been a couple of constants - from his unwavering friendship to his passion for his work and his ability to make a hockey game jump off the screen.

"I'm going to keep trying to get this thing right," said Cole on Wednesday.

It's hard to improve on perfection Bob.