Remembering Peter Maher: The Legend Behind the Calgary Flames' Greatest Calls

Peter Klein

Peter Maher, the legendary voice of the Calgary Flames, has passed away.   Peter Klein pays tribute to a man who was everything you could want from a broadcaster and, by every account from everyone who ever worked alongside him, everything you could want from a human being.  👍 Like, subscribe, and share your own Peter Maher memories in the comments.  #PeterMaher #CalgaryFlames #NHL  🎧 Listen on: Apple https://apple.co/49NGm2L | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM?si=icY7NEBvT7yZadv_JFlT6Q  💬 Follow for live breakdowns: X.com/primetimepk | Twitch.tv/primetimepk  | Kick.com/primetimepk  🔗 Support the Show:   - Tip Jar: https://streamelements.com/couchpotatodiary/tip (fuels more content!)   - Partners: C of Dead http://cofdead403.ca/

Transcript

00:00legend. For many people, Peter Marr was the voice of their childhood, calling Calgary

00:05Flames games with a passion that matched their own for that hockey team, and unfortunately

00:10Peter Marr passing away in the last few days. So, let's remember an absolute legend in Peter

00:17Marr.

00:23Yeah, this was a tough one. Saw the news, actually in the middle of doing the ball hockey.

00:30On that day. And it just, it sucks. Like Toxic said over on the Twitch chat, Calgary sports

00:37fans just taking hit after hit after hit. And now, obviously, we had some good news with

00:42the Flames radio. Gonna be on the QR or 770, whatever they call it right now. But it's gonna

00:48be over there. So, some good news there. But this one, like, the stuff, like, jobs sucks.

00:54Losing different commentators that you like, obviously it sucks. And this is an example

00:58of why it does. Because, like, this one obviously is the biggest of it. This is someone who,

01:05like, just synonymous with the Calgary Flames. Like, that call. And the, yeah, baby, yeah,

01:11baby, yeah, baby. Like, that's the passion that he had. And you can't, you can't fake

01:15that. Right? Like, you can't, like, I, any, like, whoever could try to go on and just be

01:21like, yes, father. You know? Like, you could try to do, you could try to be that guy. And

01:27you could try to be over the top. I love the Calgary Flames. There was an authenticity to

01:32Peter that really drew people in. Right? And I think that was one of the reasons why he

01:38connected. Was that it was just, he, he was also a fan. He just happened to be a fan who

01:44could talk in a big, booming voice very loudly and quickly about what's happening out on the

01:48floor. Like, or out on the ice, sorry. Like, he was just, he was that guy. He was, he was

01:53a fan

01:53and he was just, he was the guy you watched games with or the guy who helped you follow these

01:59games

01:59when you couldn't necessarily watch them. Mace, hello in the chat. Good morning. For me, like,

02:07I, I was lucky I got to, to work, to say work alongside him would be a bit of a

02:13stretch. I got

02:13to meet him a handful of times when I was working at 960 back when we were up in the

02:18old building.

02:18In the Northeast. I guess, I guess they're all old buildings now. But, um, when we were in the

02:23oldest building up in the Northeast, he, he would pop in for some of his regular hits. And also I

02:29got to the point of board hopping a few of the games at that time. And it was so funny

02:34when like

02:35so much of it, they, they, cause like with shows, I'm doing it here. Like I'm doing it while I'm

02:42talking the show. You push a couple of buttons. There was more that would go into it, but with shows,

02:46it can get a little bit more chill. The other stuff that the reason those shows get a little

02:50bit busier is because you're doing other stuff with flames things. You got to make sure everything's

02:54timed up. You have like national commercial breaks that have to get hit at the right time. You have

02:59just a lot of different moving parts and a lot of things have to be prayed, played at the precise

03:04right time, or else did the people who spent the money on those things get really, really mad if

03:09they don't. And so much of the training back then was, all right, you're going to hit this and then

03:14you're going to do this. It's like, okay, well, like, is there anything else that I need to know

03:17to make sure this happens? Oh no, Marl will take care of the rest of it. Like that, that was

03:21basically

03:22the training was you do the bare minimum. And then the hall of famer who's up in the booth over

03:27at the,

03:27a few miles down the road, um, he's going to take care of the rest of it. Like just an

03:32absolute

03:33pro that there was no, there was no concern from a technical standpoint on the radio side. And from

03:38a listening standpoint, you want to be comfortable with the person that you're listening to. You want

03:43to know that they have both hands on the steering wheel and Pete had both hands on the steering wheel

03:49locked in, dialed in the exact right amount of caffeine. So he's not too unfocused, but not drifting

03:54away. Like he is locked on. I've taken the car analogy too far, but you get my point. Like there

03:58was,

03:58there was a comfort when he was on games because you knew that you were going to get the

04:02best representation of that game in a way that is going to speak to you as a Flames fan,

04:07but it's not going to be over the top and just hating on the other team for no good gosh

04:11darn

04:11reason, right? Like he, he was fair and he was balanced. And then from our standpoint,

04:15just an absolute pro. And again, everything that you heard about him, felt about him as a listener

04:22and all of that, he was that. And then some in real life, like just a genuinely nice, caring human

04:28being. And that's going to be the part that anyone who got to work alongside with him for an hour

04:35or

04:35for a decade, those are the things that people are going to remember just an absolute pro, but

04:39just the nicest human being to help guide you along as everything went. But that, that passion I think

04:46is going to, what's going to be, what is remembered about him and just the, the, the love that he

04:52had

04:52for the sport of hockey and for the Calgary Flames and for the Flames fan base as well. That, that

04:56passion comes through again, the yeah babies, when they win the Stanley cup, the yeah baby, when Jerome

05:02would meet you would reach a milestone or when the Flames were going back to the cup in 2004,

05:07for a lot of people who are of my vintage now that, that those are the things that people are

05:11going to

05:12remember about Peter Mars. So just an incredible legacy left behind. It is so hard to be, I mean,

05:19it's hard to be in the broadcasting industry for as long as he was period trying, but they keep closing

05:27stations and firing me. So, so like just that alone, it's tough to, to stay in the industry, but to

05:33stay

05:34the industry that long and have zero people have anything bad to say about you, you know? And, and if

05:39anyone did come on and be like, yeah, you know what? Like seeing all these tributes, it's really tough

05:42because he was mean to me this one time in the elevator. Everyone would say, okay, what did you do?

05:46Like it is really, really hard to be around that long, be on the air every day, be around people

05:52every day on the road, doing this thing and not have like one oopsie where people are like, oh,

05:58see, he's not what we think he is. No one has that story. Everyone only has this dude was a

06:03genuine

06:03human being to me story. And that's what makes this guy just an absolute goat and an absolute legend.

06:08And I, I am hopeful that when they go into the new building, that there is a, um, that, that

06:15we

06:16keep the Peter Marr radio broadcast booth up there. I know it's going to be a different station now,

06:20but I hope that that stays the same because there needs to be something. Honestly, we've talked about

06:25this before on different video game streams. Uh, Twitch will remember, or, um, Twitch will remember,

06:30but toxic in the Twitch chat, we'll remember talking about different statues and stuff like that.

06:35And one of the ones I wish I was the first one to bring it up, but I don't think

06:37it was, I might've

06:38even been toxic, but someone said like talking about statues at the new building, there has to be

06:43a Peter Marr one. Like if you're going to build a Lanny statue, if you're going to build an Aginla

06:48statue, arguably like the third most famous person and maybe even influential person around the Calgary

06:55Flames in their history is Peter Marr. So there needs to be something there of, of this man to

07:03recognize everything that he meant to the team in that old building, uh, going into the live chats

07:10here. Uh, we got BBJ403 morning, everyone. Good morning. Uh, BBJ Connor in the YouTube chat, uh,

07:16sharing memories of Peter Marr. Uh, one, one time my friends ran into him at a game and we would

07:23just

07:23name famous flames goals, like Jelena series winner, uh, versus the wings in 04. And he could recreate the

07:28exact call going back to the zone entry. Oh yeah. Like just that encyclopedic knowledge too,

07:34right? Like you're right. Like he could, we remember all of those calls and there are sometimes

07:39where like a broadcast would be like, Oh no, I couldn't possibly, whatever dude remembers all

07:44of that. Right. And not that he, he wouldn't prepare because obviously he would, but his notes

07:49would look a lot different than mine would if we were going into the same thing. Right. Not that I

07:53ever broadcast with him, but you know what I mean? Like he, he just remembered and he just knew

07:57all of these different historical things and everything like that. So, um, yeah, I remember

08:03when he, when he would go on with curve for their afternoon hits every day that there would be,

08:08he would have some kind of tidbit and some kind of anecdote that they, whether it be like random

08:12player X who played 45 games on the fourth line for the flames, it's his birthday today. He would

08:17remember stuff like that. And then you're right. The exact call and the exact moment for all these

08:21things. Like I said, he was just a fan like everyone else. Uh, also number two, we named tons of

08:25goals for him and he had them all him, uh, falling off his chair mid call was classic. Uh, so

08:31was how

08:32he said he'd gargle vinegar to keep his streak alive when his voice wasn't there. Yeah. That

08:37could never be me, but yeah, the, the chair falling off and, and stuff like that. Like there was also,

08:42there wasn't like, he kind of kept it up for a bit of that too. Like he was trying to,

08:46you could hear

08:47he was obviously struggling. But, but into the attack, like I think now you would have a lot of

08:53like, Oh, just shut the mic off and let, let's fix it. And whatever. He just tried to just tried

08:58to

08:58power through it. Just another thing he had to deal with. And then, yeah, like he, he didn't want to

09:02take any sick days and it wasn't just to keep his streak alive. It was the guy just didn't want

09:07to

09:07miss any games. Like he, he, he wanted to be there. He wanted to do what he loved to do.

09:12He didn't want

09:12to, Oh man, it'd be great if I could just have tonight off and be able to recruit for, for

09:16Saturday against Edmonton. Nah, that guy was given it 110% every time. Um, just, just an absolute

09:22classic. And again, like the big booming voice. And sometimes it's tough to have like that big,

09:27deep broadcaster voice. It's tough to then get really excited about things. And he, he just like,

09:32he nailed it all. He was everything you could possibly want from your hometown radio guy. Um,

09:38he was on the national radio call in 2010 on the golden goal as well. But yeah, he was,

09:44he was everything you could possibly want from a broadcaster, from a coworker. Um, I never got to

09:50this level with him, but I would imagine in everything you hear from a friend also, uh,

09:55toxic in the, the, the Twitch chat, everyone can learn from Peter Marr as a person too. That's,

09:59that's it. That's a hundred percent. Like you can, I am sure that man had bad days and I am

10:06sure

10:07but that man at some, the dude was the play-by-play guy during the young guns generation

10:11for the flames. You're telling me that every day felt like rainbows and sunshine getting to go to

10:18the rink, watching Val Bure and the flames get their heads caved in 9-1 by Colorado. Probably not.

10:25That guy probably at some point may have had like 1% of them that wanted to tell someone to

10:31go F

10:32themselves. And he just, he treated everyone with respect. He understood his bad days

10:37didn't need to be taken out on everyone else. Um, you're right. Absolutely right. Toxic a hundred

10:41percent. Everyone can learn from Peter Marr as a person, as a broadcaster, as a human being,

10:46all of it. Uh, Peter Marr tens, tens, tens across the board. So, uh, going to move on, um,

10:52into different ones, but we will, um, if you have any more Peter Marr thoughts or anything else,

10:56throw them in the chat and we can keep the conversation going. Uh, Connor saying,

10:59I always appreciated how he'd call for the opposition, gave them their due. That's the

11:03thing too, right? Like it was, he wasn't going to do. Yeah, baby. If the devils came in and beat

11:08the flames in overtime, but if they scored, he would, it wouldn't sound that much different.

11:15You don't get scores or anything like that. Like he, and I think part of that is a professionalism,

11:22but also the dude just liked hockey. Like he loved the Calgary flames. He really liked hockey.

11:27So if something exciting happened in a hockey game, he's still going to get excited about it

11:31because he had that passion for it. So you're right, Connor, he would, he would give the other

11:35team their due as well. It wouldn't be, Oh, what a lucky break that they were able to do that.

11:40No,

11:40he, he, he would still give the other team theirs also. And so it just, it made it,

11:44it made it an easier listening experience, right? Like you didn't just get the scores like it,

11:51that, that kind of bums you out as a fan sometimes for me, I think again,

11:53you don't want him going over the top, but I would get bummed out if the guy just does and

11:58he shoots and scores. That's, that's not, that's not fun. That's not great to listen to. And so

12:03the dude kind of had that understanding of giving everything the respect that it deserved. So keep

12:08them coming. All the, the Peter Marr thoughts you guys could throw at me, uh, get them in the chat

12:12and we'll keep those going. If I'm talking about something else, that's fine. I'll finish the

12:16something else and I'll bounce right back to talking about Peter Marr. Cause I could talk about

12:20that guy all day, but yeah, just an, an absolute legend. Like the, the word legend is made for

12:26people and careers like the one that Peter Marr had and the life that Peter Marr lived. So we could

12:33learn so much from just sitting back in and watching how that guy navigated so much in this

12:37life and a life very well lived. And unfortunately, uh, when we lose Peter Marr, just a few days.

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