Danny Gallivan Danny Gallivan ( April 11 , 1917 - February 24 , 1993 ) was a Canadian radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster . Biography . Early life and career . Born in Sydney , Nova Scotia , Gallivan began his broadcast career at a local radio station in Antigonish , Nova Scotia while attending St . Francis Xavier University . He taught high school algebra and Latin in Antigonish following graduation and took a stint in the Canadian Army ] before returning to continue his broadcasting career . " Hockey Night in Canada " . In 1946 , Gallivan moved to a radio station in Halifax where he became sports director . He was spotted by a CBC producer of " Hockey Night in Canada " while in Montreal to broadcast a junior hockey playoff between Halifax and Montreal and was asked to fill in for a sick announcer in 1950 . In 1952 , Gallivan began a 32 - year stint with " Hockey Night in Canada " , mostly calling games involving the Montreal Canadiens , before retiring after the 1983 – 1984 season . Immediately after Bill Hewitt was forced to retire in 1982 , Gallivan motored ( for a time ) to Toronto to announce mid - week Maple Leaf games - he announced the night when Rick Vaive scored his 50th goal of the season , a first in Maple Leaf history . Gallivan did play - by - play for over 1 , 800 Canadiens games on both television and radio in his career . Colourful descriptions . Gallivan was known for his colourful descriptions of action on the ice . Hard shots became " cannonading drives " ; saves were " scintillating " or " larcenous " rather than merely spectacular ; and , after a save , pucks tended to get caught in a goalie ' s " paraphernalia " ( goalie equipment ) . If the goaltender made a fantastic or impossible save , he would refer to it as a " hair raising save " or that the goalie " kicked out his pad in rapier - like fashion " to foil a " glorious scoring opportunity " . He would use words such as " anemic " to describe an ineffective offense or powerplay . He also coined phrases like " nowhere near the net " , when a shot would go wide , comment that " there has not been a multitudinous amount of shots " to describe a game with a " dire dearth " of shots on net , would mention that a defender was " wasting valuable seconds in the penalty " when they were ragging the puck , and would almost always announce , " and the penalty has expired ! " at the end of a penalty . The ultimate Gallivanism was a word he coined : the " spinarama , " which described a player evading a check or when a player would deke a defender with a sudden 180 - or 360 - degree turn . Its chief practitioner was Serge Savard , so the move was also known as " The Savardian Spinarama " . When a university professor wrote to Gallivan protesting that there was no such word as " cannonading , " Gallivan wrote back and replied , " " There is now . " " The Canadian Oxford Dictionary includes an entry for " spinarama . " On October 9 , 1970 , he had the distinction of announcing the Vancouver Canucks ' first - ever game in the NHL , a 3 – 1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on CKNW radio . Later life . Gallivan was active in retirement , working with several charities , and was the recipient of several television / broadcast industry awards . He made a cameo appearance in the 1975 Canadian feature film " The Million Dollar Hockey Puck . " Gallivan also had a cameo as the voice of sportcaster Ferlin Fielddigger in the 1981 animated TV special , " The Raccoons On Ice " .