Bowing out: Joe Bowen begins a Postmedia series on his top NHL stops

Completing 44 seasons calling the Maple Leafs on radio and TV, Joe Bowen is retiring this spring.

During this last season for the hall of famer, Postmedia will tap into Joe’s vast storybook for tales about select Leafs opponents through the years, famous players and many bygone NHL arenas.

With back-to-back games against Detroit this long weekend, we start Joe at the Joe Louis Arena:

‘Hockeytown’ was a favourite stop for Bowen, beginning in 1982 when he broke in the NHL. He’d attended the University of Windsor across the river and had listened to Bruce Martyn and Bud Lynch (all three have now won the Hall’s Foster Hewitt Award) at the Detroit Olympia. Bowen even saw a few games at ‘the Old Red Barn’ on Grand River Ave.

“I once bought four Cashmir sweaters from an entrepreneur in the Ol