12 Facts About Brian McFarlane

Brian McFarlane is best known as a broadcaster on Hockey Night In Canada and as an author of hockey books.

Brian McFarlane is the honorary president of the Society for International Hockey Research.

Brian McFarlane attended St Lawrence University in Canton, New York, on a hockey scholarship, graduating in 1955.

Brian McFarlane had a lengthy career in broadcasting and journalism.

Brian McFarlane is best known as a color commentator and studio host on Hockey Night in Canada, beginning in 1964.

Brian McFarlane made similar broadcasts on NHL games for the major American networks CBS, NBC, and ESPN.

Brian McFarlane was a colour commentator on Toronto Maple Leafs local telecasts until 1980, when he made on-air comments that were supportive of Leaf captain Darryl Sittler and critical of Leafs owner Harold Ballard.

Brian McFarlane was banned from the Maple Leaf Gardens press box.

The cartoon puck, which appeared on both NBC's Hockey Game of the Week and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada during the 1970s, was actually the creation of NBC executive Donald Carswell, although Brian McFarlane had significant input.

Brian McFarlane published two memoirs, Brian McFarlane's World of Hockey republished as Colour Commentary and From The Broadcast Booth.

In 2006, Brian sold most of his hockey collection to the Municipality of Clarington, where it became Total Hockey, a multimedia, interactive museum located at the Garnet B Rickard Recreation Complex in Bowmanville.

Plans for the collection have not been made public, but Brian McFarlane was assured by the purchaser that the collection would be preserved and made available to the public at some point.