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David Bowen handles the puck for the Stouffville Spirit this season. (Photo by Spencer Smye / OJHL Images)

There wasn’t one “Holy Mackinaw” uttered during the interview but David Bowen is definitely Joe Bowen’s son.

The 17-year-old rookie goaltender with the Stouffville Spirit is a storyteller who has inherited the gift for the gab – and some solid stories of his own to tell.

His dad needs no introduction but he’s the radio play-by-play voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Has been for more than 3,000 Leaf games since 1982. Uninterrupted until…

“First time I sat in his box (at the Air Canada Centre), I was like 7 or 8, looking at all these buttons, and I didn’t know what I was doing,” David said. “There’s this big red one that says ‘cough’. I’m holding onto it. He kept talking and then realized no one could hear him.

“I’ve learned not to do that.”

And other lessons from growing up with the voice of Leafs Nation.

“From others’ perspective, it seems like it’s kind of different or cool. But for me, he’s just my dad” the Unionville resident said. “The only different thing is, you walk through Toronto and all of a sudden people are asking for autographs and photos. It’s kind of like, ‘the guy’s not that cool. I’ve seen him at his worst’. To me, he’s just my dad.”

Father and son are both goaltenders.

“I’m the fourth of his boys. He convinced the others not to play goal,” David said. “He tried to convince me, too. One, because it costs too much money and the other because you’ve got to be dumb to do it.”

The advice stuck, for a little while.

David was 6 and playing forward on a house league team in Markham coached by his mom, Goodwood native Jannine Ferguson. He took a turn in goal then backstopped the squad to victory in the championship game.

“I fell in love with it,” David said. “I told (Joe), too bad.”

Ten years later, David was drafted from the Markham Islanders minor midgets by the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League – the hometown team papa Joe first called games for during the 1970s.

With no expectations on draft day, David was at a Blue Jays’ game with some buddies.

“Then we’re walking through Toronto (after the game) and now I’m drafted and answering phone calls from like 300 people,” he said.

David had a solid post-draft year (1.36 GAA) with the Markham Waxers AAA midgets last season before committing to the Spirit last September. The Wolves also signed him as their third goalie.

He played during Sudbury’s preseason and in a regular season game in Erie in October, stopping all three shots he faced.

“Which was nuts,” he said. “First shot was from (Tampa Bay Lightning prospect) Taylor Raddysh. Stopped him. It was really cool.”

His dad gets to see him play when the Leafs aren’t.

“Is that Joe Bowen?” a fan asked during the Ontario Junior Hockey League Governors Showcase in Buffalo in September.

It was Joe, in shorts and a Notre Dame Fighting Irish jacket, watching David have an outstanding game, taking the Toronto Jr. Canadiens to overtime.

And going forward?

“This year is obviously tough. We’ve got a really young team (in Stouffville),” David said. “As a goalie, you just have to keep your head down and keep going.”

“The plan for next year is to go back to Sudbury again and work as hard as we can and see where that goes. If not, we’ll come back and play junior again.

“Where I end up is not in my hands.”

WEEKEND PLANS: The Spirit sees some familiar faces from the past decade in their games this week.

They bus it to Lindsay Friday to meet the Muskies, whose coach and GM, Dan West, was head coach in Stouffville for two seasons. He led the Spirit to the OJHL finals in 2006.

The Spirit hosts the Newmarket Hurricanes Saturday. Tom Milne, head coach of the first-place Canes, was Spirit GM for a spell after West left.

Both are 7:30 starts.

REUNITED: Former Spirit teammates Calvin Martin and Nathan Hudgin have been reunited with Foreurs de-Val-d’Or in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this week.
Martin, a Peterborough resident, arrived via waivers from the powerhouse Soo Greyhounds in the OHL. Hudgin, from Toronto, was traded last month from the Drummondville Voltigeurs. Hudgin was teammates with another Spirit player from 2015-16, Ryan Da Silva, in Drummondville last year. Da Silva, from Newmarket, is now with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the Q.

All Spirit games are broadcast on WhiStle Radio – 102.9FM in the Stouffville area and whistleradio.ca everywhere.

Spirit This Week is sponsored by Farmer Jack’s in Stouffville and Sharon.