RALEIGH, N.C. — As tributes poured in last month when legendary broadcaster Bob Cole died, Mike Guentzel googled “Hockey Night in Canada 2017 playoffs” to relive the soundtrack of a playoff in which his son Jake, then a quiet, wide-eyed rookie, had a postseason run for the ages.
In helping lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a second consecutive Stanley Cup, Guentzel became the first rookie in NHL history to lead the postseason in goal scoring with 13. He came within one goal of matching Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli’s rookie NHL record set in 1981 and tied for the most postseason points in history by a rookie with 21.
Cole called many of those goals.
“It was just amazing to hear Bob Cole talking about my son and the excitement in his voice,” said Mike Guentzel, a former longtime college and junior coach and now a pro scout with the new NHL Utah franchise after coming over from Arizona. “You forget about those memories and what happened, but it was cool to reminisce back to that and to hear Bob Cole talking about Jake. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’”
That playoff run, after scoring 16 goals and 33 points in a 40-game regular season, turned out to be a family affair for Mike and his wife, Sally, and their two other sons, Gabe, who’s now 36 and a father of…
