Dave Hodge unrepentant for pen flip that ended his day as HNIC host

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It was the Jose Bautista of pen flips, one that cost Dave Hodge the most prestigious sports broadcasting job in the country.

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Almost 40 years later, the 81-year-old Hodge doesn’t regret it one bit. Judging from the applause when he re-told the tale at Monday’s NHL Alumni Lunch, he’s still respected for his split-second call out of his network for leaving an overtime game for the 11 p.m. news.

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“What I (essentially) said was ‘finish what you started,” former host Hodge told his audience at Scotiabank Pond in Toronto where he and Hockey Night in Canada colleague Brian McFarlane were luncheon guests. “I received hundreds of letters afterwards and never saw one telling me to take it back.”

It was March 14, 1987, and Hodge was hosting a Maple Leafs – Calgary Flames game that ended early, so HNIC switched to Philadelphia – Montreal. That one went to overtime as the top of the hour encroached and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation elected to divert from the rest of the game to the news, leading with the NDP leadership convention.

A visibly angry Hodge used his sign-off to vent to about one million confused viewers.

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Hodge outburst is legendary

“That’s the way things go today in sports and this network. The Flyers and Canadiens have us in suspense, and we’ll remain that way until we can find out somehow who won this game, or who’s responsible for the way we do things here. Good night for Hockey Night in Canada.”

He then spun his stylo in the air to underline his anger.

“It was a pen, not a pencil,” he said, correcting a longstanding misconception, adding stories that the famous pen was retrieved by a collector in Vancouver or somewhere else are likely untrue.

Only viewers in Quebec who’d been watching Habs – Flyers all night were able to see the overtime period (it stayed 3-3).

“I think in Western Canada, they had to watch The Flintstones,” Hodge joked.

Hodge was immediately suspended by his bosses with an option to return if he apologized. But he quit before getting fired outright. Ron MacLean was brought in as host and is still there, while Hodge went to work full time in Vancouver where he’d already moved from Toronto for a weekly job running CKNW radio sports and hosting Canucks games.

He had been a dominant voice on the airwaves with CFRB in Toronto, calling Argonauts football and remained active with TSN in later years.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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