June 10-13, 2016 - Detroit Red Wings

Transcription

Detroit Red Wings Clips June 10-13, 2016
Detroit Red Wings
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Wings pushing back all team meetings until after Gordie Howe funeral
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Datsyuk’s meeting with Holland on hold due to Howe’s death
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NHL legends Ted Lindsay, Red Kelly share thoughts on former teammate
Gordie Howe
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Ex-Bruins Sandford, McKenzie recall game-altering impact of Gordie
Howe
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Fans share their favorite moments, memories with Gordie Howe
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Albom: In Gordie Howe, a legend passes, but stories remain
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St. James: Cherishing Gordie Howe memories with laughter
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Tom DeLisle on Mr. Hockey: Howe great he was
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Howe family wins appeal over destroyed memorabilia
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Court upholds $3M verdict for Howe one day before death
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Wings-Datsyuk meeting postponed in wake of Howe death
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New details on Gordie Howe visitation Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena
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Gordie Howe's family opens visitation and funeral to public
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Gordie Howe tributes include one from President Barack Obama
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Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby say Gordie Howe was just one of the guys when
visiting modern Red Wings
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Column: Iconic Gordie Howe was just as great off the ice
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Pavel Datsyuk's meeting with Red Wings delayed until after Gordie
Howe's funeral
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Gordie Howe’s visitation, funeral open to the public
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Mike Modano and Tyler Seguin remember the late Gordie Howe, reveal
why he will always be remembered in NHL
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Recalling a Time When Gordie Howe and His Sons Were the Power
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Gross: Howe's legacy goes beyond the sport
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Penguins GM Rutherford recalls his experience with Mr. Hockey on, off ice
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Gordie Howe: Joe Thornton pays tribute
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Sportsnet.ca / Sidney Crosby, Penguins remember Gordie Howe the ‘role
model’
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TSN.CA / Rutherford reflects on former teammate Howe
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USA TODAY / NHL legend Gordie Howe dies at 88
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USA TODAY / NHL stars pause to remember 'sweet,' 'genuine' Gordie
Howe
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USA TODAY / APpreciation: Gordie Howe radiated greatness
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U-M's Red Berenson recalls Gordie Howe as a role model, then teammate
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Albom: Goals, Cups, fights -- Gordie Howe did it all
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Sipple: How I'll remember Gordie Howe
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A look back at Gordie Howe's last game
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Red Wings reminisce about Gordie Howe: 'Kind and funny'
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Jim Harbaugh, Mark Dantonio on Gordie Howe: He was a 'legend'
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Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline on Gordie Howe: 'One of a kind'
What Ilitch, Lindsay, Holland and Bettman say about Gordie Howe
Sharp: Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, was tough right from the start
Seidel: Gordie Howe was great player, even better man
Canadian PM Trudeau on Gordie Howe: 'A gentleman' and a 'tough guy'
Flashback: Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, 1980 all-stars at Joe Louis
Gordie Howe remembered for inspiration and charity work
Monarrez: The night I gave Mr. Hockey an assist
Remembering Gordie Howe: Mr. Hockey to generations
Detroit Lions Hall-of-Famer Joe Schmidt: 'I was amazed' at Gordie Howe
Mr. Hockey made strong impression on Wings’ Larkin
Emrick, NBC hockey colleagues praise Howe
Kupelian: Howe the measuring stick for all ages
‘You don’t get many legends:’ Fans mourn Howe
‘Icon’ Howe left lasting impression on ex-Wing Yzerman
Wojo: Mr. Hockey stood for greatness
Ted Lindsay on Howe: ‘Greatest player that ever played’
Red Wings mourn loss of Hall of Famer Howe
Hockey great Gordie Howe dies at 88
Rubin: Gordie Howe, golf and the art of the game
Howe, Orr, Gretzky best of best in NHL history
Green: Gordie Howe showed us how legends are made
Krupa: Howe’s greatness made of strength and humility
Howe’s presence is too much for one player to possess
Following the footsteps of a legend
Zetterberg feels impact Howe had on Wings, Detroit
UM’s Berenson got recruiting assist from Howe
Wayne Gretzky: Gordie Howe 'was the greatest player that ever played'
Steve Yzerman: It was honor to wear same uniform as Gordie Howe
Brad Keselowski: Gordie Howe leaves a tremendous legacy
Jim Harbaugh calls Gordie Howe the 'greatest' and 'toughest' hockey
player ever
Talented, tough and warm Gordie Howe left indelible impressions
What Dylan Sadowy can bring to the Red Wings
Red Wings legend Gordie Howe dead at 88
Scotty Bowman recalls Gordie Howe's 'amazing' All-Star moment
Pat Caputo - Gordie Howe, greatest player, even better person
Meeting Mr. Hockey a ‘huge thrill' for Draper
Gordie Howe’s grace off the ice belied his ferocity on it
Gordie Howe,‘Mr. Hockey,’ was the game’s greatest ambassador
Former Sabres/Wings captain Gare on Mr. Hockey: 'He was a builder and
the greatest ambassador for our game'
When Mr. Hockey last visited Rochester
Memories of Gordie Howe flood back for former NHL and WHA
teammates, foes
Wayne Gretzky: Gordie Howe was the 'best player ever'
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Gordie Howe: a ‘gentle giant’ off the ice
PART OF GORDIE HOWE’S LEGACY HAS NEW ENGLAND
CONNECTION
FRIDAY, JUNE 10: A HEARTFELT FAREWELL TO MR. HOCKEY
List: Honoring "Mr. Hockey" and other all-time greats
Gosselin: Gordie Howe was -- and remains – the measuring stick for
hockey players
Kelly: Gordie Howe was a Canadian hero
R.I.P., Mr. Hockey — Gordie Howe dead at age 88
‘She was everything’: Gordie Howe held on tight to wife Colleen after a
lifetime of love and friendship
There was only one Gordie Howe, and there will never be another like him
Gordie Howe dead at 88: Mr. Hockey was bigger than the game, but
always kept his feet firmly on the ground
Gordie Howe dead at 88: Hockey legend had a fearsome reputation on
the ice but always respected code of honour
Gordie Howe was ‘tougher than a night in jail’ on the ice, and a ‘true
gentleman’ off it
GORDIE HOWE'S LEGACY INCLUDES STEM-CELL TREATMENT
Ed Willes: Howe playing alongside his boys was one of hockey's beautiful
underreported stories
When the late, great Mr. Hockey spoke, his advice was timeless
Gordie Howe's death saddens Sharks coach
Gordie Howe was the Canadian hockey myth come alive: Cox
Leafs president Brendan Shanahan fondly recalls Gordie Howe
9 memorable moments for Gordie Howe
Timeline of Gordie Howe’s life and career
NBCSports.com / NHL mourns loss of ‘the incomparable Gordie Howe’
Sportsnet.ca / Gordie Howe’s way with people is his greatest legacy
Sportsnet.ca / Mike Babcock remembers Gordie: ‘A genetic freak’
Sportsnet.ca / The endurance of Mr. Hockey: How Gordie Howe defied
time
Sportsnet.ca / The Life and Legacy of Mr. Hockey
Sportsnet.ca / The great myth of the Gordie Howe hat trick
Wall Street Journal / ‘Mr. Hockey’ Gordie Howe Dies at Age 88
Red Wings complete coaching staff with John Torchetti
Torchetti adds experience, passion on Red Wings bench
Jeff Blashill impressed with John Torchetti's bench management, power
play ideas
Red Wings hire John Torchetti as assistant coach
See progress on Little Caesars Arena as work starts on exterior buildings
Blashill taps Torchetti to perk up power play
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Wings pushing back all team meetings until after Gordie Howe funeral
Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press 2:52 p.m. EDT June 12, 2016
The Detroit Red Wings have pushed organizational meetings back two days.
Front office staff had been scheduled to gather starting Tuesday, but will delay until
Thursday to pay respect to Gordie Howe. The man known as “Mr. Hockey” passed away
Friday at 88. The Howe family, which includes Mark Howe, the Wings’ director of pro
scouting, will be at Joe Louis Arena Tuesday for public visitation. Gordie Howe’s funeral
service is Wednesday.
General manager Ken Holland marshals his front-office colleagues and pro scouts
every June to discuss how to improve the team. Players who will hit free agency on July
1 are evaluated, as are possible trade targets.
The Wings, who were eliminated five games into the playoffs in April, are looking to
bolster their defense, and acquire a scorer. They will also look at options for a backup
goaltender, with a view to trading Jimmy Howard.
Final word on a decision from Pavel Datsyuk regarding leaving the Wings isn’t expected
until the following week. The meetings still will include, though, discussions on how to
best utilize money that would be freed if the Wings are able to trade Datsyuk’s contract,
which has one year left at a salary cap hit of $7.5 million.
Detroit Free Press LOADED: 06.13.2016
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Datsyuk’s meeting with Holland on hold due to Howe’s death
Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News 11:56 a.m. EDT June 12, 2016
Detroit – The long-awaited meeting between Ken Holland Pavel Datsyuk has been put
on hold.
Out of respect to Red Wings legend Gordie Howe, who died Friday and whose visitation
honors and funeral take place Tuesday and Wednesday, Holland and Datsyuk have
pushed back their scheduled Tuesday meeting, said Datsyuk’s agent Dan Milstein.
Datsyuk is leaning toward returning to Russia, to be closer to his daughter while
finishing his playing career in the KHL. But Datsyuk has consistently said he wants to sit
down and talk with Holland, the Red Wings general manager, before making a final
decision.
Holland believes Datsyuk will return to Russia. Datsyuk – who will attend Howe’s funeral
Wednesday – has one year left on his Red Wings contract, with a $7.5 million salary
cap hit.
Datsyuk will be host a hockey camp at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s June 17-21.
Howe’s visitation will take place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena. The
funeral will be Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Detroit’s Cathedral of the Most Blessed
Sacrament.
Detroit News LOADED: 06.13.2016
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NHL legends Ted Lindsay, Red Kelly share thoughts on former teammate Gordie
Howe
By Brendan Savage | on June 12, 2016 at 12:47 PM, updated June 12, 2016 at 12:48
PM
Ted Lindsay and Red Kelly shared a couple of special bonds with Gordie Howe, the
legendary Detroit Red Wings forward who died Friday at age 88.
All three are not only in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but they were among five players who
helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup four times in a six-year span during the
1950s.
Howe, Lindsay and Kelly were key ingredients to the Red Wings teams that won the
Stanley Cup in 1950, '52, '53 and '55.
Lindsay captained the 1952 and '53 championship teams and also teamed with Howe
and Sid Abel – captain of the '50 and '52 teams – to form The Production Line, one of
the most famous and potent forward lines in NHL history.
Lindsay issued a statement expressing his sadness over the death of his longtime
friend, who was a Red Wings teammate for 12 seasons during the two stints "Terrible
Ted" spent in Detroit.
"Gordie really was the greatest hockey player who ever lived," Lindsay said, echoing the
words of Wayne Gretzky. "I was fortunate to play with Gordie for 12 seasons with the
Detroit Red Wings and I've known him for over 70 years. He could do it all in the game
to help his team, both offensively and defensively. He earned everything that he
accomplished on the ice."
Lindsay, a former scoring champion and one of the toughest players of his era, spent
the first 11 seasons of his career with the Red Wings before being traded to Chicago.
He returned to Detroit in 1964-65 for his final NHL season.
Kelly, one of the best defensemen of his generation, was teammates with Howe for 13
years before being traded to the Maple Leafs in 1960.
They quickly formed a bond after Kelly joined the Red Wings in 1947, Howe's second
NHL season. They were roommates at a Detroit boarding house along with Lindsay and
Marty Pavelich, another of the Red Wings' four-time Stanley Cup champions in the
1950s.
Kelly's most vivid on-ice memories of Howe include a fight with Montreal's Maurice
"Rocket" Richard, the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer until Howe broke his record
and another player who was known for his toughness.
Richard had 544 goals before Howe passed him en route to 801, a mark that stood until
Gretzky came along.
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"(King) Clancy was the referee," Kelly said. "Gordie and the Rocket, they never played
against each other very often. They didn't get on the ice against each other because we
always had a checking line against the Richard line and they always had a checking line
against the Howe line.
"When they did get together a couple of times, they raised their elbows on each other,
went down the ice to the other corner and raised the elbows again and they had a fight.
We circled them. Clancy came in and said, 'Let 'em go, let 'em go.' I guess he was
interested to see what was going to happen, too.
"Anyway, they hit each with a couple of blows and Rocket slipped and fell down to the
ice. Instead of coming up on the inside (of the circle), he came up on the outside.
'Bootnose' Abel, who was standing right there, he said, 'Finally met your match Rocket?'
and boom the Rocket nailed Abel and broke his nose again."
Kelly was also there to see one of the most famous fights in hockey history, one
between Howe and reigning NHL heavyweight champion Lou Fontinato of the New York
Rangers, whom Kelly referred to as the club's "policeman."
Howe destroyed Fontinato.
"I was standing halfway between the blue line and the goal line and they shot the puck
in," Kelly said. "(Eddie) Shack went barreling in, so I turned and had to pick up speed to
hurry and try to pick the puck up going around the net. But it stuck in the little
indentation in the middle of the back of the net and I couldn't pick it up on the fly, so I
had to stop.
"Shack was right behind me and he ran his stick right across my back and then my
neck. Gordie was right behind Shack and gave him a shot. And Leapin' Louie came in
from the blue line straight for Gordie and they got in the fight. Shack and I had front-row
seats.
"Gordie hit him and one of the knuckles on his right hand, he knocked it out of place. So
he just grabbed Fontinato's shirt with his other three fingers and his thumb and hung on.
Leapin' Louie was swinging with roundhouses from out of right field and left field and
Gordie pulled on the shirt and nailed him with the other hand with upper cuts and he
sent him to the hospital.
"That was kind of the end of his police days. Shack and I kind of started it but we ended
up with front-row seats."
The Red Wings traded Kelly to the Rangers midway through the 1960 season but when
he refused to report, New York dealt him to the Maple Leafs.
He spent eight seasons with the Leafs before retiring.
"The first game we're playing against Detroit and against Howe after 12½ years, he's
got his arm around me with his stick around me and the puck's in the corner," Kelly said.
"We're going to be the first ones there, so I figure I'm just gonna freeze the puck there
with my feet.
"Gordie leans right into my ear and says, 'How's the wife?' And I sort of turn to respond,
and he almost puts me through the boards. My footprints are still there."
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Howe's visitation will be from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena and the funeral
will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in
Detroit.
Both are open the public.
Michigan Live LOADED: 06.13.2016
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Ex-Bruins Sandford, McKenzie recall game-altering impact of Gordie Howe
Steve Conroy Sunday, June 12, 2016
Longtime Bruins winger Ed Sandford had played against Gordie Howe in the late 1940s
and ’50s. But it wasn’t until he became a teammate of Howe’s in 1955 — in Sandford’s
first training camp with the Detroit Red Wings — that he came to fully appreciate the
legendary Howe, who died Friday at 88.
And Sandford got an early hint of the incredible longevity that Howe would enjoy as a
player.
“In training camp, we had these skating drills, and the skating drills would be
exhaustive, but he would be the last guy going. I don’t know where he got the energy
from, but when the rest of us were hanging with our heads down, he was still going
ahead. He had tremendous stamina,” Sandford said on Friday. “After two or three
minutes of it, everyone was huffing and puffing and trying to get their breath, but, God,
I’d take a look at him and he was still plowing ahead. He had this exhaustive stamina
and more energy of all of us put together.”
Howe would go on to play another 23 professional seasons in both the NHL and WHA
after that training camp in which Sandford participated with “Mr. Hockey.”
Sandford recalled what an incredible athlete Howe was.
“He played defense a lot when Detroit was winning the game in the last 10 minutes or
so,” Sandford said. “He’d play a shift at right wing and then drop back for a shift on
defense. He had the ability to do that because he was so darn strong and he handled
the puck so well. It seemed he was playing 35, 40 minutes some nights.”
Many of the stories being told of Howe in the wake of his death the last couple of days
centered on the ferocity with which he played. The terrible thumping he gave New York
Rangers enforcer Lou Fontinato, culminating their long-running feud in 1959 — he
broke the nose and dislocated the jaw of the Blueshirts enforcer — is perhaps the most
vivid example of just how brutal Howe could be on the ice. And of course, when a player
now has a goal, an assist and a fight, it’s called a Gordie Howe hat trick.
But in reality, Howe didn’t fight that much. The toughest guys didn’t have to after a while.
“I played against him a lot, but I never saw him in a fight that we had. But he was strong,
he was tough,” said Sandford, born the same year as Howe in 1928. “When he checked
you, he checked you with a very heavy stick. But we all did about the same. The talk
was he was a great fighter and I guess he beat up the guy from New York one time and
that became connected to him all the time. But I never saw that. He was not dirty, he
was not vicious, he was hard-working and he was durable.”
Johnny McKenzie, who came into his own with the Bruins of the ’60s and ’70s
remembers Howe as a player you crossed at your peril.
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“Well, if you left him alone, he’d leave you alone,” McKenzie said. “But if you ever raised
a stick or an elbow, he’d be more than willing to do the same to you, that’s for sure.”
Like Sandford, MacKenzie played both with and against Howe. After his rookie year in
Chicago, McKenzie played with the Red Wings and Howe from 1959-61.
“I came from a small town in Alberta and when they told me I was going up to play for
the Detroit Red Wings, I just about died,” McKenzie said. “Everybody wanted to play
with that team in the ’50s.”
While Howe was known for his sharp elbows as much as the 801 NHL goals he scored
(plus 174 WHA tallies), it was his off-ice kindnesses that stuck with many.
“Gordie was pretty good to the young kids that were up in camp for the first time. He
had a car at camp, I think it was an Oldsmobile or something, and he’d see the kids
walking back from the arena and give them a ride back to the hotel,” said Sandford. “He
had no airs to him and he was a very modest person off the ice. Extremely modest. He
didn’t want to have anyone talk about anything that he did, just a real good guy off the
ice to a lot of kids, to tell them ‘You’re playing well in practice, just keep going, keep
working.’ ”
Johnny Bucyk started his career with Howe in Detroit before going on to a Hall of Fame
career in Boston.
“We were really close. He took great care of me when I first came up in Detroit, and any
time he was in Boston he made a point of coming to see me,” said Bucyk. “He was
mean and tough on the ice, but just a big pussycat off the ice. He never refused to sign
an autograph. And he was a great family man, just so proud of his wife and kids. He
was a great man.”
“I was so lucky to play with two of the best ever, Gordie and Bobby Orr,” said McKenzie.
“If anyone says they saw anyone better than those two, then they must have seen
something special, because I sure never saw anyone better.”
B’S SUMMER IS ABOUT TO HEAT UP
It has been pretty quiet in Bruins Nation for a couple of months now, but that’s about to
change as the NHL offseason officially kicks off when the Stanley Cup is finally raised
tonight or Wednesday.
The buyout period begins later in the week (Dennis Seidenberg?) and there is expected
to be a gaggle of trades leading up the NHL draft to be held in Buffalo June 24-25. The
period in which the unrestricted free agents (goodbye, Loui Eriksson?) can speak to
other teams begins on June 25, the opening bell for free agency on July 1. Another
important date is Aug. 15, when Harvard’s Jimmy Vesey becomes a free agent after
declining to sign with the Nashville Predators, the team that originally drafted him.
The B’s have approximately $20 million to spend this summer, though a good chunk of
that could go to RFAs Torey Krug, Colin Miller, Joe Morrow, Brett Connolly and/or
Landon Ferraro. They also have to plan for significant pay raises to Brad Marchand and
David Pastrnak for 2017-18.
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On the open market, there are plenty of forwards who’d look good in a Bruins uniform —
Steven Stamkos, Kyle Okposo, Troy Brower — but there are no bargains in that end of
the UFA pool. Their big money acquisition could come via the trade market, perhaps
grabbing a young RFA defenseman who has become unaffordable for his present team.
Whatever happens, Bruins fans can expect a fair amount of action this summer.
GUY: CUT IT OUT!
Retired sharpshooter Guy Lafleur took aim at the Civil War era beards of San Jose
Sharks’ Brent Burns and Joe Thornton (right) last week.
“I think it’s a disgrace for hockey. I hate it. It’s not a good image for the game,” the Hall
of Famer told the Montreal Gazette. “I don’t mind a guy wearing a beard, but to his
belly?...enough is enough. The team’s managers should put their foot down.
He added with a laugh: “They can’t see the puck. That’s why they’re struggling.”
Not for nothing, but I wonder what, say, Eddie Shore thought of the long, flowing locks
Lafleur wore as a player.
Boston Herald LOADED: 06.13.2016
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Fans share their favorite moments, memories with Gordie Howe
Detroit Free Presss 3:05 a.m. EDT June 12, 2016
Great player, great person
As a young boy, my father and I would go watch hockey games at Olympia and
between periods I’d race down to the hallway that the players would walk to the locker
room and every time Gordie would see me he would smile. My father knew a few of the
players and he gave me a hockey stick and puck that Gordie Howe used in a game. I
still have them and cherish them. Over the years I’ve seen him at different events and
he always was a great person signing anything you asked him to and never turning you
away if you wanted to talk to him. Detroit has lost a very important part of itself. Mr.
Howe will be remembered forever in the city of Detroit as a great hockey player and a
wonderful person.
— Robert Denstedt
Fun night in Cincy
I had the good fortune to meet Gordie five times over the years, starting when I was 8
years old and my mother marched me up to Federal’s department store in Ferndale to
get his autograph.
Fast forward to the ’70s and five buddies of mine and me drove to Cincinnati to watch
Gordie play for the Houston Aeros. After the game, we fast talked our way into the hall
outside the locker room. Gordie comes out and greets us like long-lost friends and has
two beers with us. When the team manager told Gordie it was time to go, Gordie simply
replied, “These guys drove ALL the way from Detroit to see me, tell the team to sit tight.”
My generation will maintain Gordie was the best. Younger generations will say that
Gretzky, Orr or Mario Lemieux are the best. I had the opportunity to meet Gordie’s son
Murray at the funeral of a dear friend, and I told Murray his dad was the best but
younger folks will say Gretzky held that honor. “Wayne Gretzky will tell you my dad was
the best,” he said.
— Ron Hingst
Fingers in the ribs
I met Gordie twice. Both times he thought it was funny to jab his fingers in my ribs. He
was the embodiment of what a Michigander should be.
— Brad Hoff
Comparing ailing shoulders
Back in 2008, I received an e-mail from my Toyota dealership that Gordie Howe was
going to be there signing autographs. So I showed up a few minutes before the
scheduled start. To my surprise, NO ONE was there! Gordie walked in shortly after and I
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got to spend 15 minutes of one-on-one time. He was fantastic, so warm and so
congenial. We compared lousy shoulders that were due to be operated on. I saw him
about a year or so later at a Toast of Hockeytown event and he remembered. I floated
out of there. What a wonderful person.
— John Rheinhardt
A couple of Gordies
When I was about 8 years old, Gordie came to the Eaton’s store in London, Ontario, to
meet with his fans and sign autographs. I went down with my dad and waited in line with
my Red Wings scrapbook for Gordie to sign. When I got to the front I told Gordie I was
named after him and that he was my idol. He called over the London Free Press
reporter who took our picture and put it in the paper the next day with the caption “A
couple of Gordies.”
Several years later, I was fortunate enough to play in the Comdisco celebrity golf event
with Gordie. When I arrived he was on the putting green and I walked over to him to
recount the story of our meeting and what it meant to me. He remembered everything.
That I was named after him and our picture in paper. That day was one of the greatest
in my life. After golf, I had dinner with Gordie and Stan Mikita. They told me some of the
greatest hockey stories I have ever heard. This one was my favorite:
Gordie: I was going behind the Chicago goal, when I got speared from behind. I went
down hard and crawled to the bench. When I asked who did it, the guys on the bench
said Mikita.
Stan: I never did it. Well, I might have tapped him as he went around the goal, a real
hockey player would have kept going (Mikita grins).
Gordie: (Bobby Hull joins us). Stan, you speared me harder than Bobby put his pitchfork
into a hay bale on the farm.
Stan: Either way, I know Gordie was going to get even, played in fear through three
games and he never came near me.
Gordie: Just waiting for the right moment.
Stan: Game 4 since the alleged incident, I skate down behind our net to pick up the
puck that the Wings dumped into our end, passed it up the wing, the play and the refs
went quickly up ice ... the last thing I remember is crawling to the bench and saying ...
Howe?
Hawks bench: Yup, Howe ... Mr. elbows.
Gordie: Never happened, I was on the bench at the time.
— Gordie MacArthur
Watching bowling
My memories of Mr. Howe go a long way back, 60 years ago at the age of 5. My mother
and Colleen Howe belonged to the Lathrup Village Women’s Club bowling team. On
certain days, I would go with her and Gordie would come along with Colleen and sit
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right next to me and we would watch them bowl. I really had no idea who I was sitting
next to at the time and what a hero he would be to me and what he would come to
mean to the city of Detroit. We only lived three blocks from the Howes and occasionally
would play driveway hockey with Mark and Marty. I have many lifetime moments that I
remember of Gordie and I will always cherish them.
— Cougar Goddard
Standing O at the Joe
I had the opportunity to attend the 1980 All-Star Game at the Joe. I will always
remember the 5-minute standing ovation for Gordie. It sent shivers up and down my
spine then and still does today thinking about it.
— Kurt Affholter
Autographs at the Royal York
Imagine the greatest hockey player ever not only signing a kid’s book but taking that kid
and his mother around the lobby of the Royal York Hotel to have the other Red Wings
sign, too.
“This is Mr. Abel, this is Mr. Lindsay, this is Mr. Delvecchio, this is Mr. Sawchuk ...”
I watched him with the Wings and saw his comeback with his sons in Houston as well
as the Hartford Whalers ... but that Saturday afternoon at the Royal York Hotel will
always be my favorite hockey memory.
To the Red Wings: You’ve lost the man who personified all that you stand for. For God’s
sake, please rename the new arena the “Gordie Howe Olympia.”
— Jim Agnew
Gave me his stick
In the mid ’60s, I used to go to about half of the Wings home games. I sat in the balcony
for $1.50 After the game, I would go down to ice level where the players came off the
ice. One time, as Gordie passed by, he looked right at me and gave me his stick. He
was the greatest athlete I have ever seen.
— Roger Dowd
Kind to my daughter
Living in Connecticut, Mr. Howe was playing for the then-Hartford Whalers of the WHA
with his sons Marty and Mark. I would take my little daughter to many games and after
one game we received access to the outside of the Whalers locker room. Mr. Howe
came out and sat my daughter on his knee and spoke to her as if she was one of his
grandchildren. He signed her program. He went into the locker room and brought out
Mark and Marty. We still talk of his kindness and gentleness. He was the Great One
before the great one.
— Robert Kozma
A role model for all
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I was born in Detroit in 1971. Yes, my dad was a big Gordie Howe fan, but he was more
than a namesake to me. He played hockey and lived his life in a way we should all
emulate: tough, loyal, humble. Thanks No. 9.
— Gordon Kendall
Hands of marble
My Gordie Howe recollection was meeting him at Metro Airport when I was a security
guard. We shook hands and I said to myself, “Hmmm ... there is no give in his hand; it’s
like shaking hands with a marble statue. I can see why no one willingly wants to mess
with him.” But a nice guy, just the same. Never once did I get the impression that he
thought it was even a little bit of a hassle to deal with fans. What a great guy.
— Rick Jamerino
A signing to remember
I was with my wife at the mall in Traverse City a few years ago when I saw Gordie Howe
in the line at Subway. My wife likes to collect autographs, so I told her to go ask him for
his autograph. I told her he was the greatest hockey player who ever played the game.
She went up to him and he was all smiles and signed his autograph for her. He then
handed it to the man next to him who also signed it. When she came back to the table I
asked to see the autographs. It was Gordie and Mark Howe. How cool, two Hall of
Famers, father and son, on the same autograph.
— Brad Scheer
Meeting at Hudson’s
I will always remember going to Detroit Hudson’s back in 1968 with a friend. As we
came down the escalator from the 12th floor, I noticed this guy behind us. He looked
familiar and went down eight floors right behind us. I kept looking back at him and he
finally said, “Hi, yeah, it’s me, I’m Gordie.” I shook his hand and he signed a box I had in
my arms. I was 16 and always will remember that day. Just wish my mother hadn’t
thrown away the model car box he signed.
— Bill LaBeau
Popped with elbow
I used to take the bus down to Olympia and get standing room tickets. One game
Gordie went into the corner with an opponent. The guy tried to get a little rough with
Gordie. Howe won the battle and sent the puck up ice. As the two skated out of the
corner side by side, Gordie popped him with an elbow. The guy dropped to the ice.
Gordie was the best ever.
— Roy Vaughn Nielsen
Top of my list
I have very few sports heroes, but Gordie was the top of my list. I also add Sparky
Anderson, Barry Sanders, and yes, Dick Vitale (long story, huge heart). What a classy
gentleman and I hope he is in Colleen’s arms as I type.
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— James Lyden
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Albom: In Gordie Howe, a legend passes, but stories remain
Mitch Albom
Here’s a Gordie Howe story. He was playing at the old Olympia, and an opposing player
hit him and somehow cut his hand. Gordie had to leave the ice and go to the trainer’s
room. There, Dr. John (Jack) Finley, the Wings’ longtime physician, began stitching him
up carefully.
“Hurry up,” Gordie said. “I gotta get back out there.”
As Finley accelerated, Gordie added, “And by the way, Jack, don’t go anywhere.
Because the guy who did this is gonna be in here real soon.”
Scotty Bowman told that story Friday afternoon, laughing. Just as Wayne Gretzky told
ESPN about being with Gordie at a White House dinner with President Reagan, and
there were so many forks that Gretzky asked his childhood hero which one they should
use.
“Kid, I have no idea,” Gordie said. “I’ll follow the president and you follow me.”
Who really follows Gordie Howe? Nobody can. Nobody will give us stories like that, or
memories like those, not 25 years with a single team, not five decades of hockey, not a
standing ovation at Joe Louis Arena as a white-haired, 51-year-old All-Star.
You lose athletes like this, and there’s a hole on the shelf forever. Nobody slides over.
Nobody fills the space.
A TV anchor asked me Friday what other Detroit athlete’s death was equal to Howe’s? I
had no answer at the time.
All I know is that this was seismic. Gordie Howe was the Babe Ruth of hockey. And
you’d expect that Babe Ruth’s death would be felt most strongly in New York, right?
The world should expect no less from Detroit. Howe’s passing on Friday morning came
on the same day as Muhammad Ali’s funeral, and while the nation can lament two
towering sports figures dying in the same week, there should be no criticism (as there
was in some corners) for Detroit focusing its attention on Howe, even at the expense of
Ali’s funeral service.
All sports are, at their core, local. It’s why players wear the name of cities (or countries)
on their jerseys, and why fans root based on their geography.
Gordie Howe was one of ours. He was “Detroit” and “Red Wings” with capital letters. His
departure from this earth was always going to be our biggest story of that day. No
apologies. None needed.
Since then, and with plans now for a memorial viewing at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday,
people around the country have asked what it’s been like in Detroit since the news
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spread. The answer: It’s as if a top has been lifted from a boiling cauldron and an
explosion of marvelous memories have shot into the sky.
A bigger-than-life player
Who didn’t know Gordie Howe in this city? Or this state? Who doesn’t have some kind
of story or encounter? As with legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell, whose viewing
drew more than10,000 people to Comerica Park, it seems everyone who ever shook
Gordie Howe’s hand was moved to remember it as a personal highlight. Someone will
boast how he chatted with their youth hockey team and someone will tell you how he
signed autographs in a parking lot and someone will detail how, if a child didn’t say
please or thank you, he’d mark their palm with the pen.
Look left. Look right. There’s someone talking about Gordie. The stories seem to group
into two categories:
The first sound like panels in a Superman comic. As a child, young Gordie, born in a tiny
Canadian farm town named Floral, grew strong carrying buckets of water into the
farmhouse (his family had no indoor plumbing). Later he hauled bags of cement when
he quit school to work in construction.
As a teen player he was 6 feet tall and ambidextrous, and could do things equally well
from both sides. His physique grew so chiseled, he could crush your hand when he
shook it. He signed with the Red Wings, and his signing bonus was a team jacket. A
team jacket? Yep.
“After I finished a game at the Olympia I used to walk home,” he once told me. “Then,
when I moved into a residential area, I took the bus down Grand River. You don’t get too
flamboyant on $6,000 a year.”
Even so, he quickly fought his way into the league, and at 18 was already known as a
brute force, at times, almost superhuman. During the 1950 Stanley Cup semifinals,
Gordie suffered a serious injury crashing his head into the boards, and doctors had to
drill a hole in his skull to relieve the pressure. Many thought he’d never play again.
Instead he came back the next year and led the league in scoring.
When does the Kryptonite come in? When does he grab Paul Bunyan’s ax? That’s what
it’s like to hear the first type of stories about Howe. He led the Wings to the NHL’s best
record seven years in a row. He won six MVP awards, won six scoring titles, held up
four Stanley Cups and kept playing and playing, even as his once brown hair receded
on that high, prominent forehead, until he looked more like a professor than a hockey
player.
Well. From the neck up.
The rest of him was rugged hockey. Tough? He knocked out the famous Maurice
(Rocket) Richard the first time they played each other. One punch. Nearly a decade
later, when the New York Rangers’ Lou Fontinato tried to ambush him, Howe hit him so
hard “he demolished his nose,” hockey historian Stan Fischler recalled. “I was there.
Lou’s nose took a 90-degree turn.”
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Fischler — who ranks Howe as “Top of the list. Not second. Not third. The top.” — is one
of so many inside the game telling stories of Howe this weekend. Analysts. Players.
Coaches. Old friends.
Here was Red Berenson, the longtime U-M hockey coach, who as a young player with
Montreal, was asked by the legendary Toe Blake to “cover” Gordie and not give him any
room:
“I tried to do that — and all of a sudden, my head was spinning. He nearly knocked it
off. … I looked over at our bench and they were laughing, because they knew. It was
the infamous elbow. That was Gordie Howe.”
Here was Don Cherry, of “Hockey Night in Canada,” telling his audience Friday, from an
airport, about the first time he met Howe, during warmups on the ice. Cherry, then a
young player, was adjusting a new jock strap.
“Having trouble finding it?” Howe asked, skating past.
From the historical to the hysterical, the stories tumble forth. I can personally detail a
time when I sat with Gordie, who was nearly 70, and fired a series of “urban legends”
about him to see if they were true.
“Gordie Howe once suited up with the Detroit Tigers and hit a few balls out of the park,”
I said.
“True,” he said. “Well. Into the seats.”
“Gordie Howe,” I continued, “who suffered from dyslexia, flunked the third grade twice.”
“False,” he said.
“Did you flunk it once?”
“Yeah, once.” He paused. “But that’s the year I started playing hockey.”
“Gordie Howe, as a kid, would play with pucks made of ‘frozen road apples,’ another
word for cow manure,” I said.
“That’s false,” he answered, smiling. “I was a goaltender. And in the spring, that would
be dangerous.”
A humble champion off the ice
Then there are the private stories. The many moments of charity. The countless hours
at a rink or a function.
The time Gordie photobombed a picture Kris Draper was taking with his son at
Comerica Park, capturing a mock elbow throw beautifully. (“I’m so lucky to have that
photo,” Draper said Friday.) Or the plane trip that Gordie took from New Orleans, sitting
next to a woman whose husband, Roop Raj, was working as Detroit TV newsman. The
woman had no idea who Gordie was, and he never told her. Just spoke the whole trip
about New Orleans. When they landed, he gave her a card.
“Give this to your husband,” he said.
The card read “Mr. Hockey.”
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There are thousands of memories like that, being quietly told all over town. Make no
mistake. It wasn’t all storybook for Gordie. He served only four years as captain during
his 25-year Red Wings tenure. “I did not like the captaincy,” he once told me. “You’re the
one they come to and ask ‘What happened?’ ”
He also never made the kind of money that lets a legend retire for good (thus the many
post-playing endeavors). And he wasn’t thrilled with his retirement treatment by the
then-Wings management.
“They didn’t know what to do with Gordie Howe,” he once said. “…They had me in the
front office. I think they were trying to embarrass me to leave … Thank God the present
ownership is different…
“I’d liked to have been an assistant coach, where I could play with the guys every day,
and also be in a position where if two people got injured, I could go on the bench. If a
third person got hurt, I could play five minutes.”
It didn’t happen. After all those years with the Wings, he finished with a WHA stint, and a
year in Hartford. Then came decades of just being “Mr. Hockey” — plus a one-game
appearance with the Detroit Vipers, which allowed him to say he played in six decades.
I joked with him before that game that he should be careful going over the boards. He
said, “That’s why I’m starting. I’ll go through the gate.”
His final years were challenging. The recent stroke that robbed him of his mobility and
other functions had many fans bracing for the worst. (And reportedly had Gordie telling
his family, “Just take me out back and shoot me.”)
But in true Howe fashion, he rallied once more, defying odds with unconventional
medicine (a stem cell treatment) putting the weight back on, regaining his strength,
making a few more appearances to serve his legend.
The news of his death came suddenly to most of us. No long deterioration. No sad
updates on failing health. He went quietly, with modesty, befitting a child of the
Depression, who got his first pair of skates from a woman going door to door selling her
possessions. Those first blades were too big, and he needed to stuff them with socks.
It was the last time any hockey shoe could not be filled by Gordie Howe.
He did it all. He left it all. “They used to say if you needed to fill a rink,” Scotty Bowman
recalled, “you’d probably go for Rocket (Richard). But if you needed to win
championships, you’d have Gordie Howe on your team.”
That’s the kind of statement that makes a legacy. That, and maybe one more story from
the second category, the kind that only get told after an icon has passed.
In 1995, the Wings were in the Western Conference finals against Chicago, one win
from making the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1966. Although they won the
first three games, they’d been embarrassed by the Blackhawks in Game 4 and some
were worried about a letdown. Sergei Fedorov, a huge star, had an injured shoulder and
was planning to sit out Game 5.
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Gordie came to see Scotty Bowman. He told Bowman he thought it was essential that
Fedorov play.
“Why don’t you ask him to come down to the Joe tonight and I’ll talk to him,” Howe
suggested.
Bowman did. Fedorov came down that night. They went out on the ice together. As
Bowman recalled, “Gordie said to him, ‘Sergei, you’re not gonna get in to the semifinals
every year. This isn’t always going to happen. You got to suck it up and play.”
Sure enough, the next night, Fedorov played. The game went to double overtime. It
ended when Fedorov made an assist to Slava Kozlov who buried the winning goal.
Twenty-nine years after the Wings had last been to a Cup final, when Gordie was a
player, they were going again.
Howe was a bridge. A quiet, tell-nobody, era-to-era bridge.
You want to know what it’s like in Detroit? That’s what it’s like. Story after story. Head
shake after head shake. What Gordie Howe meant to his sport, what he meant to his
fans, what he meant to this city, is still yet to be measured, because the memories keep
exploding from that cauldron.
But I do have an answer now for that anchor who asked what other Detroit athlete’s
passing compares to this one.
No one.
Visitation for Mr. Hockey
Visitation will be held 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena. The Howe family will
be present to greet the public. The funeral service will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the
Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave. in Detroit. The
celebrant will be Father J.J. Mech.
Detroit Free Press
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St. James: Cherishing Gordie Howe memories with laughter
Helene St. James
My great good fortune includes covering the Detroit Red Wings back when Gordie
Howe would make regular appearances in the locker room.
I was waiting to interview a player, and suddenly there he was, right next to me. He
looked at me, laughed, and teased “no girls allowed.” Then we chatted for a few
minutes.
Seeing Howe around Joe Louis Arena was such a joy. It was fun to watch players new
to the team approach him. There was such reverence for him, but he couldn’t have
been more down-to-Earth.
You just knew if you talked to him, you’d end up laughing at some point. He told stories
with such animation, you never wanted the tales to have an ending.
As great a player Howe was, I don’t think there’s a better tribute than how many people
have a cherished memory of him.
Every time I’ve written about him, my inbox floods with people sharing a story of
meeting him — at a rink, in a parking lot, in an airport, anywhere. Always the memory is
fond, always the interaction reveals Howe had time for everyone.
In their own words
Before his 75th birthday in 2003, Free Press special writer Bill Dow spoke to Gordie
Howe and other NHL greats about the game. Some highlights:
From Howe
On his secret to staying productive during his 25-year career with the Wings: “There is
no doubt in my mind that it was my love for the game. To succeed, you’ve got to love
what you’re doing. I tell kids, if you don’t love it, get out of the way for someone who
does.”
On his tough play: “I learned to play religious hockey. That is, it’s better to give than to
receive.”
On whether he regretted his aggressive play: “No, not really. When I was young I was
told you have to protect yourself.... If somebody got me, I wanted to get them back.”
On his off-ice kindness: “I remember how excited I was as a kid when I got an
autograph. Once I asked my hero, Ab Welsh of the Saskatoon Quakers, for an
autograph. He took me into the room, had the other players sign my book and then he
gave me his stick. God, I slept with that thing when I got home. I told Mom, ‘If I’m going
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to be a hockey player, I better learn how to write.’ I wasted a lot of paper practicing
autographs.”
Hall of Famer Bobby Orr: “When it comes to who was the best hockey player ever, don’t
even go there with me. There is no question that Gordie is the best of all time.”
Hall of Famer Brad Park: “Gordie was determined to protect his livelihood. But today he
couldn’t play because with all the cameras, he’d be suspended all the time. But God,
he’s just a wonderful guy.”
Hall of Famer Frank Mahovlich, who played with Howe in 1968-71 in Detroit: “No matter
if it was an exhibition game or a playoff game, everyone came to see him play. He was
a beautiful skater with a great shot, and he was so strong, especially in the corners. The
man was so gifted. But he was also very wonderful with the fans whenever they would
meet him.”
Hall of Fame goalie Glenn Hall: “He was very, very deceptive, so you never knew where
he was going to shoot. Gordie was so smart around the net. When a shot was coming
from the point, instead of interfering heavy, he would often just pull down the top of my
stick, lifting my blade off the ice.”
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Tom DeLisle on Mr. Hockey: Howe great he was
Tom DeLisle, Detroit Free Press Special Writer 8:45 p.m. EDT June 11, 2016
Don’t believe me? Ask anyone who spent electric winter nights at Detroit’s holy
cathedral of hockey, Olympia Stadium, in 1946-71 to see Gordie Howe, Number Nine,
God’s gift to ice hockey, Canada’s gift to Detroit.
Just to see him jump over the boards and slowly take the ice at Olympia, his pained and
graceful steps offering little evidence of the power that coiled inside him was a great and
unique thrill.
Incredibly he won six Most Valuable Player trophies in his 26 seasons, he led the
league in scoring six years — even landing in the top five in NHL scoring for an
astonishing 20 consecutive seasons. And amid all that offensive flare, Howe was the
toughest, meanest, most defensively adept and most powerful forward to play the game
… to ever play the game.
There is a common saying currently popular among come-lately fans, ESPN types, who
praise Number Nine by describing a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” as Gordie scoring a goal,
an assist and piling on a fight in one game. Unfortunately for those converts, Howe
almost never engaged in a fight in his contests … mostly because nobody would fight
him. The last man who gave it a full effort was a New York Rangers madman named
Leapin’ Lou Fontinato, who had his face rearranged so drastically by Howe in New York
in 1959 that Louie ended up with his nose saying hello to his left ear.
Whack, whack, whack, whack. It was, said the referee, “like a man chopping wood.”
How respected was Howe by his opponents?
In the mid-1960s, the talented captain of the champion Toronto Maple Leafs, center
Dave Keon, told a reporter: “There are six teams in the National Hockey League —
Montreal, Toronto, New York, Chicago, Boston and Gordie Howe.”
As a Baby Boomer who was raised on family stories of Ty Cobb and Joe Louis and
Bobby Layne, it was Gordie Howe who was portrayed as a Superman by my family in
the ’50s. “His reflexes are unbelievable,” my father used to say. “God-given talent; no
one like him.” “If he took it in his mind, he could be the heavyweight champion of the
world,” my grandfather often claimed.
Although Howe was one of the toughest and most vicious players to ever play, he was
also one of the most humble and kindest persons off the ice as hundreds of fans
witnessed through the years.
Here’s my first encounter with my hero.
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It was just one week after the 1955 Stanley Cup victory that Gordie and his mates came
to our neighborhood church on Detroit’s east side to celebrate the wedding of defensive
forward stalwart Marty Pavelich.
With my Topps Red Wings hockey cards jammed in my 8-year-old fist and an autograph
booklet in the other, I led the local kids on mad charges from All-Stars Ted Lindsay to
Red Kelly to Terry Sawchuk across the church grounds of Our Lady of Good Counsel
parish. But it was Big Gordie that everyone sought, even the adults.
I was the first to waylay him and his then-pregnant wife Colleen in their 1955
Oldsmobile on the Friday night of the wedding rehearsal.
Back at my post early the next morning, with a cordial “Hey, Gordie, remember me?” to
refresh our 12-hour friendship, I found myself being hoisted by his powerful hands up in
the air … spun around so I was facing forward … and placed upon his shoulders high
above the teeming crowd. From that fabulous vantage point, I was the envy of every kid
in our neighborhood, being walked around the Red Wings church-front reception on the
shoulders of the greatest hockey player in the world.
My personal history with Gordie Howe was filled with good fortune. Besides my fabulous
wedding party ride, I encountered him again and again over the years.
While working with Detroit morning radio icon Dick Purtan in the 1960s and ’70s, we
had great fun fielding a media hockey team called the Dick Purtan No-Stars raising
money for charities.
Gordie was working in the Red Wings front office upon his retirement and we had the
great fortune to have him play for the No-Stars, so naturally his involvement boosted
attendance.
From a personal viewpoint, the idea of playing alongside Gordie Howe was a dream
come true for myself and my teammates who consisted of local newspaper and radioTV personalities, along with many former local athletes from the Red Wings, Tigers and
Lions. We literally fielded teams with players as far-flung as Motown singer Marvin Gaye
and 1940s Heisman football legend Doak Walker, along with Hall of Famers Ted
Lindsay and Bill Gadsby.
I used to notice an odd noise in the air in our first weeks of pickup practices, something
that I found distracting, out of place in hockey. Finally, I was able to discern that the
strange sound was a giggle … a high-pitched titter that was coming from … well … the
greatest hockey player in the world. As he was swishing by us on the ice or taking the
puck from a group of players in a corner, Gordie was giggling like a schoolkid. “Hee-hee
… hee, hee, hee.” He was having that much fun playing the game he had enjoyed, and
mastered, all his life.
One time I snuck up behind him as he was casually turning with the puck, and I was
able to sweep-check it off his stick. As I chased after the now-loose disc I was thinking
“wow, I just poked the puck off Gordie Howe’s stick!”
Suddenly I experienced a machine gun-like rapping on the side and rear of my hockey
pants as if I was being attacked by a flock of crazed woodpeckers. It was Gordie,
whacking me wildly from behind … bang, bang, bang, bang! … with one hand on his
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sawed-off stick. Surprised and confused, I stopped in my tracks, turning to look back,
only to have him sweep quickly by me, taking the puck back off my stick, and giggling
wildly as he circled and headed back up ice. Yet it was a thrill to be upstaged by the
great … and giggly … Gordon Howe.
In 1995, I was selected by Colleen and Gordie to write a book with them on the history
of their family. The book was titled “And Howe!” and though Colleen and I didn’t see
eye-to-eye about how it should be constructed, it gave me the opportunity to live and
travel with Gordie for six months that year.
In airports we sometimes hung out at a VIP lounge where I often took advantage of an
open bar, but Gordie would never have more than one beer. It was a rule he never
abandoned.
“I’d like to join you,” he said one afternoon as I rose to get him a can. “But I don’t ever
want a kid drinking alcohol because he once saw Gordie Howe having a beer in public.”
That was Gord.
Gordie was a genius in many aspects of his life, personality, and work. While doing
research on the book I was able to determine that he had suffered all his life from
Dyslexia, a disease that rendered reading and writing near impossible for suffering
young students.
It was virtually unknown out on the Canadian Prairie during his youth in the 1930s.
Gordie, because of the disease, was mocked in his schoolwork and fell behind in his
studies.
He told me once of a teacher sending him to the blackboard with the instructions to spell
words she called to him from the class. He failed, awfully, in front of his fellow students.
“The words were all backwards, like Chinese,” Gordie explained. “A lot of people called
me ‘Dummy.’ ”
Friends of Gordie Howe knew that no one with the natural humor and incisive mind he
exhibited could ever be regarded as being slow or dull-witted. And some observers have
wondered if Gordie’s difficult childhood — being saddled with the undiagnosed curse of
the Dyslexia that plagued him — may have sparked his fierce competitiveness and
aggression on the ice that sparked his amazing talent.
Wayne Gretzky went way up in my estimation this last week when he was asked to
comment on the passing of his childhood idol. He didn’t mince or waste words. The man
nicknamed “The Great One” stated strongly that Howe was “the greatest hockey player
in history … and the finest man I have ever known in my life.”
Gordie was our inspiration … Detroit’s village champion. A once-in-a-lifetime genius who
brought light into all our lives across the many decades of his public stardom. Like
Muhammad Ali, who was buried amid great public acclaim on the day Gordie passed,
our Number Nine truly was the Greatest … of All Time.
And a man I admired and loved like no man I’ve encountered in this life.
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Howe family wins appeal over destroyed memorabilia
Mike Martindale, The Detroit News 10:54 p.m. EDT June 11, 2016
The day before hockey legend Gordie Howe died last Friday, the Michigan Court of
Appeals quietly affirmed a $3.2 million jury verdict against his former business
managers for destroying priceless memorabilia previously ordered returned to Howe
years earlier.
Attorneys for Del Reddy, Aaron Howard, and Del’s father, Michael Reddy and their
company, Immortal Investments, had appealed the 2013 Oakland Circuit Court jury
verdict and sought a new trial.
A 2007 civil case was reopened after the Howe family learned truckloads of photos,
CDS, books, and tapes ordered returned to Howe in 2008 had instead been sent off to a
Shred-It facility. It is believed that among the items were home movies of Howe and his
late wife, Colleen, and also sports legends from hockey and other sports.
A three-judge panel consisting of Donald S. Owens, Stephen L. Borrello and Cynthia
Diane Stephens, rejected seven issues raised by the ex-business managers, and
affirmed all court actions and jury decisions in an opinion released Friday.
“It’s a sad day today,” said Kellie Blair, one of the attorneys for the Howe family, when
reached Friday for comment. “We are all saddened by the news of the death of the 88year-old Howe.
“We are, of course, happy that judgments in his and his family’s favor have been
upheld. But we always expected nothing less.”
Blair said she would be surprised if attorneys plan to appeal to the Michigan Supreme
Court.
Howe and his Power Play International Inc. sued Del Reddy and Aaron Howard, and
Immortal Investments, for unpaid royalties from sports memorabilia shows where Howe
appeared and autographed photos and other materials for fees ranging from $100 to
$1,000. That lawsuit ended in 2008 with a $60,000 settlement and an order that all
property, including recordings and books, be returned to Howe.
It also banned Immortal from profiting off Howe’s name or likeness.
Howe, formerly of Bloomfield Hills, filed a second suit in 2011 for damages when he
learned of the Shred-It incident. In June 2013, a six-person jury returned a verdict of $3
million in favor of Howe and his company, which includes his two sons, Marty and Mark.
Additionally, the Howes were awarded attorney fees, with interest, which amounts to
more than $261,000.
Attorney Anthony A. Randazzo, who represented Immortal Investments, the Reddys and
Howard, could not be reached for comment Friday.
27
The Court of Appeals opinion noted how ownership of the destroyed property was never
an issue, that Oakland Circuit Judge Leo Bowman had ordered the materials returned to
the Howes as part of a settlement agreement and withholding them constituted a breach
of contract.
Michael Reddy testified at trial that he had property in a 16-foot moving truck and two
passenger vans sent to a Shred-If facility and destroyed in part because he was being
vindictive toward Mark Howe.
The eight-day trial exposed other secrets, including perhaps the first public admissions
of the long rumored, declining mental health of the elder Howe, whose NHL career
spanned five decades in which he set numerous records as a Detroit Red Wing while
helping the team win four Stanley Cup championships.
Mark Howe testified his father had dementia and he personally became concerned
about his father’s financial affairs in 2008 when he heard Del Reddy slam Gordie Howe
up against an office wall during an argument, knocking a framed picture to the floor.
Howe escorted his father out of the office and Reddy and Howard resigned two weeks
later claiming they were pushed out by Mark Howe.
Another son, Marty Howe, testified how his father, who he described as mentally
incompetent, began suffering memory problems two years before Colleen Howe’s death
from Pick’s Disease in March 2009. His 76-year-old mother, who once handled all of her
husband’s financial affairs, had hired on business managers as her own health
deteriorated until she eventually required 24-hour care.
Howe, who sat flanked by his two sons throughout the trial, was never called to testify.
Randazzo believed his clients were entitled to another trial on several issues, ranging
from questionable witnesses and damages to confusing jury instructions. He contended
Howe’s chief trial witness, film producer Howard Baldwin, was not qualified as an expert
and should have been stopped from testifying regarding potential damages.
Baldwin — who has produced Ray; Mystery, Alaska; Sahara; and a 2012 film on Howe
titled Mr. Hockey — said in his 30-year career has paid between $500,000 to $1 million
to life rights of some people. Baldwin paid the National Hockey League $75,000 for 90
seconds of footage of Howe and said the 1,389 tapes reportedly destroyed would have
been “incredibly valuable” and worth millions of dollars.
Several of the videos reportedly involved Howe discussing sports with other hockey
stars and counterparts from golf, major league baseball and other sports.
Another Howe witness testified Reddy and Howard followed Howe around to countless
personal appearances between 1996 and 2006, filming Howe at all the events.
None of that film footage was ever returned to the Howes and is apparently lost forever.
28
Court upholds $3M verdict for Howe one day before death
Associated Press 4:15 p.m. EDT June 11, 2016
Detroit — A day before Gordie Howe’s death, the Michigan appeals court upheld a $3
million verdict in his favor in a lawsuit over the loss of tapes, videos and personal
documents belonging to the Hall of Fame hockey player.
Howe and an affiliated company, Power Play International, had sued former managers
over the failure to return certain possessions. Truckloads of merchandise and
memorabilia were returned in 2008. But the Howe family learned that more than 1,000
videos, compact discs and DVDs had been destroyed.
The managers claimed destruction was part of an earlier agreement. But a suburban
Detroit jury in 2013 awarded $3 million to Howe and Power Play.
In a 3-0 decision Thursday, the appeals court said there was no “reasonable excuse” for
the destruction. Howe died Friday
29
Wings-Datsyuk meeting postponed in wake of Howe death
The big meeting between the Detroit Red Wings and Pavel Datsyuk has been
postponed in order to pay respects to Gordie Howe.
Dan Milsten, the agent for Datsyuk, told the Free Press Saturday that Datsyuk is
returning to the Detroit area on Tuesday. Originally the two were to meet with Wings
general manager Ken Holland on Wednesday, but that "will be pushed back to next
week so Pavel, Ken and I can pay respect to Gordie and attend his funeral scheduled
for Wednesday," Milstein said in a text message.
Howe passed away Friday. The funeral service is 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Most
Blessed Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave., in Detroit. It is open to the public.
Datsyuk has let it be known he wants to return to his native Russia, but has held off
making a decisive announcement. He has a year left on his contract, and because the
deal went into effect after Datsyuk turned 35, the $7.5 million salary cap hit remains
even if Datsyuk does not play next season in the NHL. This rule was designed to
prevent teams from signing older players to front-loaded contracts that could be
manipulated into a friendly cap hit.
The Wings' only recourse is to trade the contract (there would be no actual payout of the
salary) to a team that could use the cap hit to be compliant with the minimum required
payroll. Lower-budget teams include Arizona, Buffalo, Carolina and New Jersey. The list
of options certainly can expand if the Wings accept a contract back in return, so long as
the monetary gain significantly favors the Wings.
The sticky point is that every team knows the situation, and so will want something to
sweeten the trade, such as a higher-end draft pick or prospect. Holland has said he'll try
to move the contract, but only if the price makes sense - i.e., he isn't giving up a firstround pick.
There's potential for a big payoff if the money is recaptured. The gain would enable the
Wings to bid for the services of this summer's expected prize free agent, Steven
Stamkos, who has rebuffed offers from Tampa Bay. It'd take somewhere in the area of
seven years (the maximum allowed) and $70 million. Stamkos is 26, has a history of
scoring (something the Wings desperately need) and would instantly rejuvenate the
Wings.
The Wings expected to have Datsyuk's final decision mid-June, but Holland said in April
that he expects Datsyuk to leave, and has been preparing the groundwork for that
eventual likelihood. It's entirely possible a deal is made during the draft, which is June
24-25.
30
31
Funeral plans and visitation for Gordie Howe have been finalized.
The Detroit Red Wings legend, known to generations of fans as Mr. Hockey, passed
away Friday at age 88. Murray Howe told the Free Press today his father's funeral and
visitation will be open to the public.
Visitation will be held 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena, honoring Howe’s iconic
sweater number while allowing fans to pay their respects to Mr. Hockey and the Howe
Family, according to the Wings. The funeral service will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the
Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave., in Detroit. The
celebrant will be Father J.J. Mech.
Murray Howe said Gordie Howe will be cremated, as was his wife, Colleen, who passed
away in 2009.
In a Saturday afternoon press release, the Wings released these further details of
Tuesday's public visitation:
Though the Howe Family has made it a priority to allow the public to pay tribute to the
hockey legend, the organization would like to emphasize that all media and fans
continue to respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.
Fans will be able to park in the Riverfront Executive Lot (located directly west of Joe
Louis Arena) or in the Joe Louis Arena Garage (900 W. Jefferson Ave.) and enter the
building at street level through the arena’s west entrance. The Howe Family will be
present to greet the public, and Gordie Howe will lie in state inside the arena bowl.
After paying respects at ice level, the public will have the option to head to the
concourse level of the arena to view the Gordie Howe statue. A member of the Red
Wings video team will also be stationed on the concourse level for fans who wish to
share a memory of Gordie Howe.
Those who wish to pay their respects but cannot attend the visitation can join the
thousands who have already shared their Mr. Hockey stories on the Red Wings’ “Gordie
Howe Tributes” fan page on Facebook.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to one of the following
charitable organizations:
The Gordie Howe Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative (www.ghi4tbi.org or mail a check to
ProMedica Foundations, 5217 Monroe St., Suite A-1, Toledo, OH 43623);
The Howe Foundation (3128 Walton Blvd., #255, Rochester Hills, MI 48309);
The Gordie Howe Fund for Alzheimer’s Research (Saskatoon Community Foundation,
101-308 Fourth Ave. North, Saskatoon, SK Canada, S7K 2L7).
32
33
Gordie Howe's family opens visitation and funeral to public
By The Associated Press
on June 11, 2016 at 1:52 PM, updated June 11, 2016 at 2:18 PM
DETROIT (AP) — Gordie Howe's visitation and funeral will be open to the public.
The visitation is scheduled for Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena, the
home of the Detroit Red Wings, the team Howe played for during much of his Hall of
Fame career that started in 1946 and ended in 1980.
Howe's funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed
Sacrament in Detroit.
Murray Howe writes in a text to The Associated Press that his father will be cremated
and his brain will not be studied for possible concussion trauma.
The man forever known as "Mr. Hockey" died Friday. He was 88.
34
Gordie Howe tributes include one from President Barack Obama
By Brendan Savage | on June 11, 2016 at 2:02 PM
Tributes have been coming in from all over the world since the death of Detroit Red
Wings legend Gordie Howe Friday morning at age 88.
Those issuing tributes and messages of condolences included President Barack
Obama, the Hockey Hall of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Detroit Lions,
Palace Sports & Entertainment and the NBC Sports hockey team.
Here's a sampling of the tributes and statements issued in honor of "Mr. Hockey."
President Barack Obama
The list of hockey players who suited up in six different decades, including returning to
the ice after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, is a short one: it starts and ends with
Gordie Howe. But the list of kids who skated around the pond until dark, picturing
themselves passing, scoring, and enforcing like Howe, dreaming of hoisting the Stanley
Cup like him --“ that one comprises too many to count. Howe's productivity,
perseverance, and humility personified his adopted hometown of Detroit, to which he
brought four championships and which he represented as an All-Star more than 20
times. The greatest players define their game for a generation; over more than half a
century on the ice, Mr. Hockey defined it for a lifetime. Michelle and I send our
condolences to his sons and daughter, his family, and his loyal fans from Hockeytown to
Hartford to Houston and across North America.
Lanny McDonald, Hockey Hall of Fame chairman
Gordie Howe is a true legend who not only inspired so many people by his
achievements on the ice, but to all of those who interacted with him throughout his life.
He represented our game with great dignity and always had time for his legions of fans.
On behalf of the Hockey Hall of Fame and all of our Honoured Members, I would like to
extend heartfelt condolences to Mark, Marty and the entire Howe family, and to express
our gratitude to Gordie for the treasured memories and legacy he is leaving behind for
all to celebrate. Thank you "Mr. Hockey."
Detroit Lions president Ron Wood
We not only lost a sports legend today but also one of the most iconic, impactful and
beloved people our community will ever know. Gordie Howe's imprint on the city of
Detroit, the state of Michigan and the game of hockey was generational and everlasting. While he was "Mr. Hockey" to the sports world, he was that and so much more
to Detroiters and Michiganders. He was a true gentlemen and an inspiration to so many.
His legacy will undoubtedly live on forever. On behalf of Mrs. Ford, her family and the
Detroit Lions organization, we offer our deepest sympathies to Marty, Mark, Cathy,
Murray; the entire Howe Family; and the Detroit Red Wings organization.
35
Palace Sports & Entertainment
All of us at Palace Sports & Entertainment express our thoughts and condolences to the
Howe family and the Detroit Red Wings organization in acknowledging the passing of
Gordie Howe. "Mr. Hockey" left an indelible mark on the sports landscape both locally
and nationally. His longevity is unmatched and we were proud to host the memorable
game in 1997 where he eclipsed his sixth decade of competition while playing for the
Detroit Vipers at The Palace. His impact on hockey and the region is immeasurable and
he was truly a legendary figure.
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame mourns the loss of Honoured Member Gordie Howe,
inducted in 1975. Gordie Howe, known as "Mr. Hockey", was one of the most enduring
athletes in the history of pro sport. Canada's Sports Hall of Fame's mission is to share
the stories of its Honoured Members so that their legacy is never forgotten. The
Canadian flag at Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, located at WinSport's Canada Olympic
Park, will fly at half-mast in honour of Gordie Howe. Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is
deeply saddened by the death of one of our inducted Honoured Members, Gordie Howe
inspired generations of hockey players throughout the country. Gordie received the
highest sporting honour in Canada when he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of
Fame in 1975, as an Athlete for Ice Hockey. His legacy will live on for generations to
come," said Mario Siciliano, President & C.E.O. of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr
With the passing of Gordie Howe, the game of hockey has lost an icon. Gordie, or 'Mr.
Hockey' as he was known to legions of fans, was a true legend who had an immense
impact on the game, the Players who followed him and the fans who revered him. On
behalf of the Players and staff of the NHLPA, we join Howe's family, friends and fans on
mourning his loss.
Carolina Hurricanes GM Ron Francis
Gordie Howe was a true legend in every sense of the word, and we are proud that he
and his sons are a part of our organization's history. I was lucky to have the opportunity
to take the ice with him during my time in Hartford, and his impact on our sport is
immeasurable. The Carolina Hurricanes organization sends its deepest condolences to
the Howe family and everyone affected by his loss.
Mike Emrick, NBC Sports
Like the sport he played, Gordie Howe was a mixture of imposing brawn and polite
character. There were generations of fans who bought tickets to see 'Mr. Hockey,' and
playing in five different decades, there were also generations of players who so admired
his skill that they too wore No. 9. Growing up as a boy, I was a fan of Gordie Howe the
athlete, but was even more impressed with Gordie's personality, his character, and how
he served as an ambassador for the league. Gordie was a major reason why many who
weren't athletes still loved the sport. They shook that hand, got one of those legible
autographs, and for a few seconds fashioned a lifetime memory. My heartfelt
36
condolences go out to Gordie's family, teammates, friends and the Detroit Red Wings
organization.
Mike Milbury, NBC Sports
Gordie Howe was "Mr. Hockey" because he was the embodiment of all the qualities we
admire in a player a skilled, beyond tough, durable, reliable and team-oriented. More
importantly, and what made him most endearing, was that he was simply a very nice
guy.
Pierre McGuire, NBC Sports
Gordie Howe is probably the most iconic No. 9 of all time, along with Maurice 'Rocket'
Richard and Bobby Hull. Gordie was the personification of the power forward position â“
he was fast, rugged, skilled, and dominated the game. He was feared by his opponents,
and respected by his teammates. I got to know Gordie during my time as the head
coach of the Hartford Whalers, and as fierce as he was on the ice, he was a better
gentleman off the ice. It was a pleasure and privilege to know him and his family, and
he'll be missed by the National Hockey League and the entire hockey community.
The Howe family
Hockey legend Gordie Howe, age 88, passed away peacefully this morning with his
family by his side. The Howe family would like to thank friends and fans for their love
and support. Gordie had a special connection with Red Wings fans and was always
touched by their commitment. We are celebrating the life of a devoted husband, father,
grandfather, great-grandfather and a friend to all. Arrangements will be announced once
they are finalized.
37
Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby say Gordie Howe was just one of the guys when visiting
modern Red Wings
By Brendan Savage | on June 11, 2016 at 10:10 AM, updated June 11, 2016 at 1:19 PM
Nobody in the Detroit Red Wings' storied history commanded more respect, both on and
off the ice, than the legendary Gordie Howe.
Howe was not only one of the greatest scorers in NHL history, he was one of its
toughest players as well.
Opponents respected Howe as a player and there was an aura around him that took
over a room whenever he entered, immediately drawing the attention of everyone in the
vicinity.
It was something few people possess.
But when Howe visited the Red Wings dressing room, all of that disappeared. Sure, the
players knew they were in the presence of greatness, but he also just one of the guys,
somebody who loved to swap stories and talk about hockey.
"Yup, I think he was," said Kirk Maltby, who got to know Howe well during 14 seasons
with the Red Wings. "He was never a guy that felt that people should bring him stuff or
get him stuff or do stuff for him. He had no issues doing something for himself or just,
like I said, being down to Earth, talking to whoever.
"It didn't matter if it was the fourth-line guy or the first-line superstar. He was all about
the game of hockey was bigger than him or his ego or anyone's ego. I think he just
loved hockey and being around it."
Howe died Friday at age 88 and tributes have been pouring in from all over the world for
the past 24 hours, including one from President Barack Obama.
Maltby and fellow Grind Line member Kris Draper cherish the time they got to spend
with Howe during the 14 seasons they played together in Detroit.
Draper said seeing the way Howe carried himself and treated people had a big impact
on the way he and Malty developed as players and people.
Both have remained in the Red Wings organization after retirement, Draper as a special
assistant to general manager Ken Holland and Maltby as a pro scout.
"Gordie was so easy to talk to," Draper said. "I think that we're lucky. The game of
hockey, there's some great people that are involved in the game. Kirk and I, we grew up
together here with the Detroit Red Wings and when you see Gordie Howe, the way he
carries himself, Ted Lindsay, the way he carries himself, arguably some of the greatest
Detroit Red Wings in the history, it impacts you.
"I know Malts is the same way. I've seen it. When somebody wants to come up to him or
wants him to sign autographs – and obviously we're talking at a whole different level
38
than Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay are at – to do that, they impacted us as Detroit Red
Wings and how we wanted to carry ourselves and give back to the community and give
back to the organization.
"That's just the luxury you have sitting in that dressing room, playing for an Original Six
team and playing for the Detroit Red Wings. Obviously it was a big part of Kirk Maltby
and myself and who we are and what we are."
Draper, Maltby and Howe are part of a rare group of Red Wings who won four Stanley
Cups in Detroit.
Draper and Maltby helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 1997, '98, 2002 and
2008. Howe won Cups in 1950, '52, '54 and '55.
Their elite club includes guys like Lindsay, Nicklas Lidstrom and Red Kelly.
"For me, probably the greatest times to be able to talk to both Gordie and Ted was
during the playoffs," Draper said. "You could tell it was a whole different animal when
you started to talk to them about playoff hockey.
"They were obviously great players but when the games got bigger, that's when those
guys got bigger. So I always remember it being around playoff time and those guys
would come around a little bit more often and it was so cool to be able to see them
walking through the door."
When Howe retired in 1980 after 26 NHL seasons – 25 with the Red Wings – he was
the all-time leader in goals (801), assists (1,049) and points (1,850), records that now
belong to Wayne Gretzky, who grew up idolizing Howe.
Howe remains the NHL's all-time leader in games played with 1,767.
He also racked up 1,685 penalty minutes, was generally considered the NHL's best
fighter even though he didn't drop the gloves often and was known for possessing a
lethal pair of elbows.
As the legend goes, players who took a cheap shot at Howe would mysteriously end
crumpled on the ice later in the game as Howe skated away while everyone tried to
figure out what happened.
Maltby, who compared Howe's death to that of another famous tough guy – Muhammad
Ali – laughed when recalling Howe's famous elbows.
"When Gordie talked stories, if it was him playing, he would almost start reenacting it,"
Maltby said. "You'd want to hear the story but you didn't want to be the person next to
him because he'd get his elbows up in your face.
"You were just hopeful there was no hockey stick nearby because he'd start really
reenacting."
Draper called Howe's passing "a sad day for hockey" even though it was no secret he
had been battling dementia for several years and was reportedly close to death near the
end of 2014 before he underwent stem cell treatment in Mexico that gave him new life.
39
One thing Draper will never forget is the first time he met Howe after being traded from
Winnipeg in June 1993.
"The first time that Gordie came by, came into the locker room, he just goes around
shaking everyone's hand and it was my first year," Draper said. "I was one of the newer
Red Wings, he came up and we just started talking. It was so easy to talk to him and
you just realize, 'Wow, I just met Gordie Howe. Mr. Hockey.'
"And I remember going home and calling my dad and saying 'I just met Gordie, shook
his hand and talked to him' and I remember saying 'What a huge thrill.' Those are just
some perks that are obviously very special to be able to be a Detroit Red Wing, an
Original Six team and having the greatest of the greats walking through that door and
have the opportunity to shake hands."
Maltby met Howe shortly after he was traded from Edmonton in March 1996.
Maltby was a youngster who had scored 24 goals in three seasons with the Oilers but
that didn't matter to Howe, who treated him as a peer the first time they crossed paths at
Joe Louis Arena.
"It didn't matter if you were the youngest guy in the dressing room or the oldest," Maltby
said. "Everybody knew who Gordie was. When he came in, it's like he wanted to say hi
to everyone. He didn't just go straight over to talk to Steve Yzerman or Nick Lidstrom.
"He talked to talk to anybody and everybody who was in the dressing room. He was not
biased. You hear a lot of stories, whether it's a superstar athlete or celebrity or
something like that, they kind of blow people off.
"Gordie had no bias to anybody and seemed to enjoy meeting and talking to everyone
that was there."
40
Column: Iconic Gordie Howe was just as great off the ice
By Ansar Khan
on June 11, 2016 at 6:06 AM, updated June 11, 2016 at 6:08 AM
DETROIT – I was working for The Oakland Press in 1999 when readers voted Gordie
Howe the greatest Detroit athlete of the 20th Century, no small feat for a town that has
been home to the likes of Joe Louis and Ty Cobb.
Had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Hockey and his wife Colleen, who graciously
invited me to the clubhouse of the condo complex where they were living for a career
retrospective story.
It was a tremendously insightful interview, a fantastic trip down memory lane. He talked
about growing up in Saskatchewan, his long career with the Detroit Red Wings, his
comeback in the World Hockey Association and life after hockey. It lasted for more than
an hour. It was one of the highlights of my career.
Howe was an icon, and I was struck by how humble and down to earth he was, softspoken with a warm smile and a sense of humor.
Those sentiments were echoed by many who knew Howe. He died Friday at age 88.
"He was nicknamed Mr. Hockey because of his accomplishments on the ice but he was
also Mr. Hockey off the ice," Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. "He was an
incredible ambassador, loved the game, was humble, kind, giving of his time.
"He would sign autographs, loved to tell stories, tell jokes, make people laugh, whether
you were in hockey or a fan."
Long after he scored his final goal and threw his last elbow, Howe was a frequent visitor
at Joe Louis Arena, often stopping by the dressing room and greeting players and team
personnel, especially after son Mark joined the Red Wings in 1992.
"He made you feel comfortable," Holland said. "He'd come to Detroit and when I
introduced him to people he had time for everybody. He was just an incredible human
being."
Howe dominated in a six-team NHL in the 1950s and much of the '60s. He never scored
50 goals in a season and topped 100 points only once (as a 41-year-old in 1968-69),
but except for a couple of seasons he didn't have the benefit of playing in a league
watered down by expansion and virtually bereft of tight-checking in the wide-open
1980s and early '90s.
Howe was a model of sustained excellence, with 22 consecutive seasons of more than
20 goals with the Red Wings from 1949-50 to 1970-71, his final season in Detroit. He
even scored 15 goals at age 51 in his last NHL season, 1979-80 with the Hartford
41
Whalers. From 1973-74 to '78-79, he flourished in the World Hockey Association with
sons Mark and Marty.
Howe retired from hockey as the NHL's all-time leader in goals (801) and points (1,850),
records shattered by Wayne Gretzky in the 1990s, numbers that would have been much
gaudier had he played in Gretzky's era.
Howe, Gretzky and Bobby Orr are considered by many as the greatest players of alltime. How they should be ranked has been debated for years.
But Howe was more than just a scorer. He was a complete player. He was the toughest
player of his generation and at the same time a class individual.
"He was the best player in the league, the toughest player in the league and the nicest
player off the ice all at the same time," said Red Wings radio broadcaster Paul Woods,
who played against Howe during his final season. "It was a rare combination.
"The greatness on the ice and the humility off the ice won't be matched. These kind of
guys leave or pass away and it has an effect on you."
Red Wings TV broadcaster Mickey Redmond, who was Howe's teammate for half of the
1970-71 season, said Mr. Hockey never forgot his humble Western Canadian roots.
"Most of us, if not all of us, that have played this game at this level never forgot where
we came from, and Gordie was certainly the leader in that department," Redmond said.
"He was always very kind around people, good with kids, always signed autographs and
never said no. You can't ask for anything better than that. He was a great role model. I
wanted to be just like him."
Countless others, no doubt, felt the same way.
42
Pavel Datsyuk's meeting with Red Wings delayed until after Gordie Howe's
funeral
Brendan Savage on June 11, 2016 at 6:17 PM
Pavel Datsyuk's meeting with general manager Ken Holland to discuss what the future
holds for the Detroit Red Wings forward has been put on hold because of the death of
Gordie Howe.
Datsyuk has expressed an interest in finishing his career in his native Russia and was
planning to sit down and talk with Holland next week before making a final decision.
"The meeting was originally scheduled for Wednesday at noon but now it's been
canceled," said Dan Milstein, Datsyuk's agent. "We're going to reschedule after Gordie's
funeral. I said 'Let's pay final respects on Wednesday and right after we'll resume
conversations.'"
Milstein said that Datsyuk, who was in Russia playing in the World Championship last
month, will attend Howe's funeral.
Holland has said he expects to hear that Datsyuk will be not be returning to the Red
Wings to fulfill the final year of his contract.
Howe died Friday at age 88.
Howe's visitation will be from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena and the funeral
will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in
Detroit.
Both are open the public.
43
Gordie Howe’s visitation, funeral open to the public
Detroit News staff and wires 2:29 p.m. EDT June 11, 2016
Detroit — Gordie Howe’s visitation and funeral will be open to the public.
The visitation is scheduled for Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena, the
home of the Red Wings, the team Howe played for during much of his Hall of Fame
career that started in 1946 and ended in 1980.
Fans can park in the Riverfront Executive Lot (west of Joe Louis Arena) or in the Joe
Louis Arena Garage (900 W. Jefferson Ave.) and enter the building at street level
through the arena’s west entrance.
Howe will lie in state inside the arena.
Howe’s funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed
Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave. in Detroit.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to one of the following
organizations:
The Gordie Howe Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative.
The Howe Foundation (3128 Walton Blvd., #255, Rochester Hills, Mich., 48309).
The Gordie Howe Fund for Alzheimer’s Research (Saskatoon Community Foundation,
101-308 Fourth Ave. North, Saskatoon, SK Canada, S7K 2L7).
Murray Howe told the AP that his father will be cremated and his brain will not be
studied for possible concussion trauma.
The man forever known as “Mr. Hockey” died Friday. He was 88.
Howe set NHL marks with 801 goals and 1,850 points that held up until Wayne
Gretzky’s career.
Macomb Daily LOADED: 06.12.2016
44
Mike Modano and Tyler Seguin remember the late Gordie Howe, reveal why he will
always be remembered in NHL locker rooms
By SportsDayDFW.com
Mike Modano is a hockey icon in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. He hoisted the Stanley Cup
in 1999 with the Stars and is the all-time goal scoring and point leader among American
born NHL players.
Oh, he is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, too.
Tyler Seguin is one of the most polarizing players in the game today and possesses
breakneck speed that when paired with teammate Jamie Benn, has shown to be lethal.
Recently, both Modano and Seguin paid tribute to the late Gordie Howe, who died
Friday at age 88.
Gordie Howe you will be missed. Thoughts and prayers. The reason I wore #9.
#9RIP..
— Mike Modano (@9modano) June 10, 2016
The former Red Wings captain, known by many as simply "Mr. Hockey," was a 23-time
All-Star and holds the record for most games and seasons played.
Modano and Seguin both took to The Players Tribune to pay their respects and share
the memories they each had of Howe.
Having had his number retired by Dallas in 2014, Modano revealed Howe was the
reason he wore number 9.
"I always wore number 9 because of Gordie Howe," Modano wrote. "Ever since I started
playing junior hockey up in Saskatchewan with the Prince Albert Raiders, it had to be
number 9."
"Gordie is such an icon that you don't need to watch YouTube to get an understanding
of what he means to the game of hockey. His legend has been passed down by word of
mouth, from junior hockey buses to NHL locker rooms."
Stars legend Mike Modano pays tribute to the late Gordie Howe, 'Mr. Hockey'
"Gordie Howe will live on in NHL locker rooms as long as people are still playing hockey.
I'll guarantee you right now, even 50 years from now, any time a guy has a goal, an
assist and a fight, there will still be a rowdy little celebration in the room, and you'll hear
Gordie's name."
Seguin also marveled at Howe's toughness, particularly his massive physique, and said
"Gordie wasn't to be messed with."
"Gordie is just massive," Seguin wrote. "Gordie wasn't to be messed with. And he was
just such a complete player on the ice. He was everything all at once. That's probably
45
what I'll always remember about him. As a kid growing up, my father and my father's
father talked a lot about Gordie, and he became a bigger-than-life figure for me."
Recalling a Time When Gordie Howe and His Sons Were the Power
By GERALD ESKENAZIJUNE 11, 2016
After almost 800 N.H.L. goals, after 21 All-Star stints, after six Most Valuable Player
Awards, Gordie Howe left hockey a bit sad. He had wanted to play on the same team
with his sons.
And then, two years into his retirement, the fledgling World Hockey Association
beckoned with a team in Houston. Howe’s boys Mark, 18, and Marty, 19, were drafted.
And Howe joined them.
Howe and his boys came up to The New York Times to hype the new league and their
roles. It was 1973, and Howe was 45. He was still famous, a member of the Hall of
Fame, almost 200 goals ahead of anyone who had ever played.
I had written about him many times, awed by his dominance of his sport in a way, I
imagined, that Babe Ruth had taken over baseball, the way Muhammad Ali had
overshadowed boxing. Everyone was in awe of Howe — even opposing players.
While the public thought of him as Mr. Hockey, to teammates and opponents, Howe,
who died Friday at 88, was known as Power. He had started playing for Detroit shortly
after World War II, in an era when everyone in the N.H.L. was Canadian, when there
were only six teams, just 120 players. Most of them were high school dropouts because
of the junior system in effect at the time: You wanted to make it to the N.H.L., you had
better play junior hockey, which had a punishing schedule that left little time for
schoolbooks.
Howe was the league’s official greeter. His was a time when you did not complain about
a hit to the head (“tape an aspirin on it,” was the general advice). When the Rangers’
future star Brad Park legally checked Howe in their first meeting, Howe flicked out his
stick — and Park went down with a sliced cheek, the blade of Howe’s stick just missing
his eye.
A referee, Vern Buffey, once told me: “You’re working a game and you see a player go
down. You know Howe did it. But how can you prove it?”
There were many players who believed that Howe was the dirtiest player in the N.H.L.
But by no stretch of the imagination was he a goon. He was a smooth-as-silk skater, a
DiMaggio on the ice, effortless, it seemed. And yet he played all out, and played. In 17
seasons he never missed a game. In two other seasons he missed only one — and yet
he played his last 20 years with a permanent twitch as a result of a concussion.
I knew nothing of hockey when The Times assigned me to the game in the mid-1960s.
And yet the first time I saw Howe, I understood what the superlatives were all about.
With his loping style, he cradled the puck as if it were a baby — and then he’d switch
46
the stick to his right hand and straight-arm an opponent with his left, sending him
tumbling, all the while sailing straight ahead. And then he would look to his right, as if
about to pass the disc to a teammate. Instead, he would flick his wrist — and blast
home a goal. Just like that.
The numbers are so huge they almost make no sense. In his 23rd season, he set a
record for right wings for total points and assists. He appeared in 11 Stanley Cup finals,
the Wings winning four during a six-year span. He captured six scoring championships
and yet never produced a 50-goal season or a game in which he scored more than
three goals. He just did everything right, all the time.
But in 1973, in the offices of The Times, wearing a suit, Howe was a doting father and
not a scary opponent. In fact, the old man did not look so big. When he played, at 6 feet
and 200 pounds or so, he was larger than most of his opponents.
Gordie was amazed at this new world of money in sports.
“Each of my boys will earn more money on the interest of their salary than I earned after
10 years in the league,” he said. He was slated to make more money over the next four
years than he had in his first 20 with Detroit.
When he retired from the Red Wings, he said his only regret was that he never had
played with his sons in the big time. But he was forced to quit because of something
that afflicts a few other 40-year-olds — arthritis. Still, in his final year with Detroit, he
generated more points than he had as a rookie. Now, as he planned to return to the ice,
he wondered whether it would be safe. So he consulted a doctor, who told him, Howe
said: “You’re fine to play. But I can’t guarantee you won’t get a heart attack the first time
you get hit.”
Howe did not hesitate. He had been given a front-office job with the Red Wings in which
his duties apparently entailed nothing more than smiling. For Howe, the guy who was
always in charge on the ice, it was demeaning.
“I felt like a mushroom,” he said. “I was in a dark corner, and every now and then they’d
come in and throw manure over me.”
Remarkably, Howe went on to play seven more seasons, although when you think of
the big guy he’s wearing a Red Wings uniform with the number 9. That number, in fact,
was a badge of honor for anyone on another team. You had to be the best to get that
number, and it generally was reserved for only a star player.
But when all was said and done, Howe’s proudest moments came as a father. And it’s
how I remember him, close to his two boys, looking at them proudly.
New York Times LOADED: 06.12.2016
47
Gross: Howe's legacy goes beyond the sport
BY ANDREW GROSS
Those who had the privilege of seeing Gordie Howe play, those who saw him compile
points while carving a path up and down the ice with his elbows, can attest to his
greatness.
And those who had the even greater privilege of meeting him off the ice, where the lion
turned into a pussycat, will aver to his gentlemanly nature.
“Mr. Hockey” passed away Friday at the age of 88 and his greatness was well-rounded,
part superior hand-eye coordination and awareness, part physical intimidation and,
perhaps most importantly, part ambassadorial skill interacting with fans and, surely,
creating new ones.
“Gordie really was the greatest hockey player who ever lived,” longtime Red Wings
teammate Ted Lindsay said in a statement released by the NHL Players Association. “I
was fortunate to play with Gordie for 12 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and I’ve
known him for over 70 years. He could do it all in the game to help his team, both
offensively and defensively.”
The dichotomy of Howe, the beauty of Howe, was that he was among the meanest,
most intimidating hockey players ever, a beast who’d as soon elbow an opponent as
score. And he certainly did plenty of both. A “Gordie Howe hat trick” – a goal, an assist
and a fight – is a huge mark of distinction.
Yet, off the ice, Howe seemingly had time for everyone. There are numerous stories,
told by current and former players and just hockey fans, of Howe going out of his way to
be accommodating to those who approached him, be it for a photograph, an autograph
or just to talk hockey, which Howe loved to do.
“He has been an icon not only in Detroit but throughout the entire hockey world for as
long as I can remember,” said Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, who played
for the Red Wings from 1983-2006. “It was an honor to wear the same uniform, spend
time with, laugh, joke and seek advice from him. Gordie’s humility and kindness left a
permanent impression on me, greatly influencing how I tried to conduct myself
throughout my career.
“His impact on the Red Wings’ organization is still evident today,” Yzerman added in his
statement. “I travel the world and constantly hear stories from people who love the
Wings and share memories of the glory days when Gordie and his teammates ruled the
NHL.”
There’s debate as to whether Howe is the greatest hockey player of all time. Howe,
Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux, Maurice Richard. Suffice to say, it’s elite
company.
48
Gretzky, “The Great One,” on Friday said, via his Twitter account, “Unfortunately we lost
the greatest hockey player ever today, but more importantly the nicest man I have ever
met.”
Howe, of course, was a different player than Gretzky, perhaps a more complete player if
not as great a scorer. But there was a vastly different brand of hockey in Howe’s prime,
the Original Six era, in the 1950s and ’60s than Gretzky’s prime in the 1980s.
And, of course, Howe’s career was not only remarkable for his 1,850 points, fourth in
NHL history behind Gretzky’s 2,857, his 801 goals, still second behind Gretzky’s 894 but
for his longevity.
Howe broke into the NHL with the Red Wings in 1946 and remained with the
organization until 1971.
Two years later, he returned to hockey in the upstart WHA, playing with his sons Mark –
a Hall of Famer in his own right – and Marty with the Houston Aeros and then the New
England Whalers.
The NHL-WHA merger brought Howe back into the NHL for one final All-Star season
with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80 when, at age 51 – and 52 by the end of the
season – he compiled 15 goals with 26 assists in 80 games, then added a goal and an
assist in three playoff games.
And his game never lost that mean streak.
Fellow Hall of Famer Phil Esposito, in his autobiography “Thunder and Lightning: A No
B.S. Hockey Memoir,” co-authored by Peter Golenbock, recalled the first time he faced
Howe as a Blackhawks rookie in the 1963-64 season.
“The puck dropped and Gordie Howe whacked me with an elbow right in the mouth at
the bottom of my nose above my lip,” Esposito recounted. “He hit me so hard my teeth
cut my lip. I still have the scar. I could feel the blood flowing.”
Esposito added he swung his stick back at Howe and both wound up in the penalty box.
“The next summer Gordie and I were sitting together on the dais of a banquet hall in
Prince Edward Island and he told me that if I hadn’t responded to him the way I did, he
would have owned me for as long as he played,” Esposito wrote. “He said he tested
every rookie.”
Sadly, Howe’s health and memory declined in his later years.
But as Howe is mourned, so must he be celebrated for creating an enduring legacy,
both on and off the ice.
The greatest hockey has seen?
In many respects, absolutely.
Bergen Record LOADED: 06.12.2016
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Penguins GM Rutherford recalls his experience with Mr. Hockey on, off ice
BY JONATHAN BOMBULIE | Saturday, June 11, 2016, 6:09 p.m.
Updated 23 minutes ago
SAN JOSE, Calif. — As Penguins general manager this season, Jim Rutherford has
seen several rookies face the challenge of fitting into a locker room that already
contains some of the game's biggest stars.
He knows exactly what they were going through.
Rutherford was a 21-year-old rookie with the Detroit Red Wings in 1970-71 when he
joined a team that included perhaps the biggest star of them all, Mr. Hockey, Gordie
Howe.
“Your first year in the league is exciting enough, but when you enter that room with such
a great player like him, it was special,” Rutherford said Saturday in San Jose, reflecting
on Howe's legacy in the wake of his death the day before.
As a native of Beeton, Ontario, Rutherford remembered his first game at Maple Leaf
Gardens as a particularly significant moment of his rookie season. He gave up three
goals in the first period and got pulled.
“He was the first guy, in between periods, to come over and say it's OK,” Rutherford
said, before continuing with a laugh. “But it really wasn't OK because we ended up
losing 13-0.”
Rutherford also remembered what it was like practicing against Howe, who was known
for his ferocious competitiveness as much as his prowess with the puck.
“It wasn't fun,” Rutherford said. “I didn't like practice to start with. I certainly didn't like it
with the guys who could really shoot it. He had a very, very heavy shot, and he
practiced the way he played. He played for keeps. He was trying to score all the time,
and it was a hard, heavy shot. Probably didn't hit me very much. Went by me.”
More poignantly, Rutherford recalled a time early in his career when he decided to go
home for his grandfather's funeral against the wishes of the team.
“He comes from the side or behind, gives you a little elbow and says, ‘Hey, kid, good for
you. That's exactly what you should have done,' ” Rutherford said. “He was right there to
support me.”
Putting his personal experiences aside, from the perspective of a general manager
whose job it is to evaluate players, Rutherford again said Howe was one of a kind.
“He was a guy that could win a scoring race, or he was a guy that could win the fight,”
Rutherford said. “He could do everything. Some of the power forwards now can do
some of those things but not at the level he did. I can't think of anybody in my time over
five decades in the league that I can even come close to comparing (to) him.”
50
Tribune Review LOADED: 06.12.2016
Gordie Howe: Joe Thornton pays tribute
By Curtis Pashelka,
POSTED: 06/11/2016 02:03:16 PM PDT
UPDATED: 06/11/2016 02:03:17 PM PDT
SAN JOSE — Joe Thornton might not remember all the things he has accomplished in
his 18-year career. But he remembers in detail the Gordie Howe hat trick he had four
years ago against the Los Angeles Kings.
Thornton fought Kings defenseman Drew Doughty in the first period, scored a goal late
in the second period, and then assisted on a goal in the third.
It all added up to a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, an assist and a fight — is what
became a 6-5 win over the Kings on April 5, 2012. Former Sharks forward Ryane Clowe
also had a Gordie in that game.
Howe, considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game, passed away
Friday morning at the age of 88. In his NHL career, he had 801 goals, 1,850 points and
1,685 penalty minutes.
Thornton also had a Gordie Howe hat trick on Jan 19, 2004 when he was with the
Boston Bruins and they were playing the New York Rangers.
"You get one of those, you're pretty proud of it," Thornton said. "I've had the pleasure of
getting a couple... Not too many times in your career do you get a goal, an assist and a
fight."
Thornton said he first met Howe when was 15 or 16 years old in Detroit. From that point
forward, every time Thornton got a chance to talk to Howe, he "was so humble, so
gracious and just a kind, kind man.
"A bigger than life personality and player," Thornton said. "But when you meet a guy like
that, you don't know what to expect. But he met all my expectations and more. Just a
great man."
Asked if his own playing style mirrors that of Howe, Thornton said, "Nobody can
compare himself to Gordie. Gordie was one of a kind."
San Jose Mercury News: LOADED: 06.12.2016
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Sportsnet.ca / Sidney Crosby, Penguins remember Gordie Howe the ‘role model’
CHRIS JOHNSTON JUNE 11, 2016, 6:57 PM
SAN JOSE, Calif. – It can be difficult to find the right words to sum up a guy known as
“Mr. Hockey.”
But to see the way Sidney Crosby spoke about Gordie Howe on Saturday afternoon
was to see the avalanche of touching tributes that have followed his death come to life.
Here we had the game’s biggest superstar, on the game’s biggest stage, wearing an
ear-to-ear grin while discussing his first meeting with Howe.
“When you think of hockey, that’s who you think of,” Crosby said after practice at SAP
Center. “The way he played, the way he conducted himself, he’s a role model for a lot of
people, including myself. I had the opportunity to meet him and feel pretty fortunate to
have done that.”
Their first encounter occurred at Joe Louis Arena not long after Crosby entered the
NHL. It happened unexpectedly – without warning – while the Pittsburgh Penguins
captain made the long walk around that building to the bus.
“Like anyone else, you don’t even know what to say,” said Crosby. “You just kind of
shake his hand, you’re in awe. Just the way he spends time to talk to people – there
[were] so many people that wanted to meet him, wanted to take a picture with him – and
he just made you feel comfortable.
“He’s just a genuine person.”
There has been an outpouring of anecdotes and adoration since Howe died at the age
of 88 on Friday morning. The sheer volume of reaction says a lot about a superstar who
had an everyman’s touch.
Crosby was born more than seven years after Howe’s last NHL game and still held him
in extremely high esteem.
Jim Rutherford, the Penguins general manager, was fortunate to find himself sharing a
dressing room with Howe after making the Red Wings as a 21-year-old rookie in 1970.
He recalls feeling Howe’s patented elbow in the ribs before hearing him deliver an
unexpected line.
One such occasion came after Rutherford had gone against the team’s wishes and
returned home to attend his grandfather’s funeral.
“The organization didn’t want to give me the time off,” Rutherford explained. “I made my
own decision that I was going to go. He was the first one there to tell me … he comes
from the side or behind, gives you a little elbow: ‘Hey kid, good for you, that’s exactly
what you should have done.’
“He was right there to support me.”
52
While Rutherford spoke glowingly about Howe as a premier player – “I can’t think of
anybody in my time over five decades in the league that I could even come close to
comparing him to” – it was his humanity that truly set him apart.
“He was a guy that, in some ways, was hard to describe,” said Rutherford. “He just had
a special way about him. As a teammate, you looked around the room, and if somebody
was struggling with something in his own way he’d go by and say something to them.
Might not be long. Might not say, ‘Hey, do you want to go somewhere and talk?’
“He’d walk by and kind of catch you from behind, give you a little poke, a little elbow,
say a few words, which meant a lot.”
He left an impression on an entire sport.
Crosby and the Penguins currently find themselves one win away from lifting the
Stanley Cup, but they spent more time discussing Howe than anything else on the eve
of Game 6 against the San Jose Sharks.
“He was done playing by the time I was even born,” said Crosby. “But I think if you love
the game, if you love reading stories about the people who played it, he played with a
ton of passion. Played on that edge — you know wasn’t afraid to play physical too.
“I think those are the kind of things you love about a hockey player.”
Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 06.12.2016
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TSN.CA / Rutherford reflects on former teammate Howe
By Frank Seravalli
SAN JOSE, Calif. — As a goaltender, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim
Rutherford hated practice.
The pads weren’t what they are today, so every session was an invitation for more
bruises and puck burns that counted for nothing in the win column.
But Rutherford particularly hated practicing against teammate Gordie Howe.
“It wasn’t fun,” Rutherford said Saturday. “He had a very, very heavy shot. He practiced
the way he played games. He played for keeps. He was trying to score all the time. It
was a hard, heavy shot.”
Then, Rutherford quipped: “Probably didn’t hit me much. Went by me.”
Rutherford, now 67, said he couldn’t think of anyone in his five decades in the NHL to
compare to Howe.
One win away from his second Stanley Cup in a decade, Rutherford joined the long list
of former Howe teammates and big names in the hockey world to offer a remembrance
and pay tribute to “Mr. Hockey,” who passed away on Friday at the age of 88.
The hockey icon’s body will lie in state on the ice level of Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on
Tuesday for public visitation. After fans pay their respects, funeral services will be held
in a Detroit Roman Catholic church prior to his cremation.
Howe’s passing was the big topic of conversation as both the Penguins and San Jose
Sharks readied for another Stanley Cup final elimination game on Sunday.
“When you think of hockey, you think of Gordie Howe - the way he played, the way he
conducted himself,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “He was a role model for a
lot of people, including myself. I had the opportunity to meet him and feel pretty
fortunate to have done that.”
Crosby, 28, was born six years after Howe’s final NHL campaign. He said he met Howe
after one of his first career games in Detroit, an unexpected encounter that wasn’t
planned.
Like Wayne Gretzky before him, Crosby said he learned a thing or two about how to
interact with people as a star hockey player just from watching Howe. It was Howe who
embodied what it meant to be humble and approachable, recognizing his duty as a pro
sports icon and power of his reach.
“Like anyone else, you don’t even know what to say,” Crosby said of their meeting. “You
kind of shake his hand, you’re in awe. The way he spends time talking to people, there’s
so many people who want to meet him, take a picture with him. He made you feel
comfortable. Just a genuine person.”
54
Rutherford was a 21-year-old rookie when he made his NHL debut with the Red Wings
in 1971. Howe was nearing the end of his NHL career; that year was just his second
following 20 straight seasons of finishing in the top five in league scoring.
“Of course, your first year in the league is exciting enough,” Rutherford said. “When you
enter that room with such a great player like him, it was special. But he was a guy that
in some ways was hard to describe. He just had a special way about him. As a
teammate, you looked around the room, if somebody was struggling with something, in
his own way he'd go by and say something to them. Might not be long. Might not say,
‘Hey, do you want to go somewhere and talk?’
“He'd walk by and kind of catch you from behind, give you a little poke, a little elbow, say
a few words, which meant a lot. His character and his leadership were second to none.”
A decade later, when Howe was retired but still around the organization, Rutherford was
closing out his playing career with the Red Wings. His grandfather died and the Red
Wings didn’t want to let him leave the team to attend the funeral, but Rutherford decided
he would anyway.
He got another elbow from Howe.
“He was the first one there to tell me,” Rutherford said. “He come up to me … gives you
a little elbow: ‘Hey, kid, good for you, that's exactly what you should have done.’ He was
right there to support me.”
Now, all these years later, Rutherford would like to return to favour. He said he planned
to attend Howe’s services if the Penguins can wrap up the Stanley Cup on Sunday
night.
TSN.CA LOADED: 06.12.2016
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USA TODAY / NHL legend Gordie Howe dies at 88
Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports 2:19 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Gordie Howe, considered one of the NHL's greatest players and ambassadors, died
Friday at 88.
"His nickname says it all: Mr. Hockey," said Calgary Flames president of hockey
operations Brian Burke. "His impact and legacy are both as broad as his shoulders."
Howe, who turned 88 in March, had been diagnosed with dementia in 2012. He had
previously taken care of his wife, Colleen, until she died from complications of Pick's
Disease, a form of dementia, in 2009.
During Howe's peak years in the 1950s and 1960s, he seemed more popular than his
sport. Howe was often featured in newsreels. The late Detroit Red Wings general
manager Jack Adams called Howe "the Babe Ruth of hockey." His fame stretched
beyond the confines of the sports pages. His exploits were written about in Look
magazine.
Famed NBC broadcaster Mike Emrick said Howe did as much for the NHL as an
ambassador as he did on the ice, where he was the second-leading goal scorer in
league history.
"What he did for the sport in the U.S. — during its several eras of growth — was to
epitomize the humility and friendliness of hockey athletes." Emrick said. "People came
up to Gordie Howe because they knew they could. And they would walk away with a
smile on their face, just like they expected to."
According to legendary coach Scotty Bowman, those who played against Howe
"thought he was close to Superman."
Former NHL and World Hockey Association coach Harry Neale has long said that Howe
is the best all-around player in NHL history. Howe played his first game in the NHL for
the Detroit Red Wings in 1946 at age 18, and played his last game for the Hartford
Whalers at age 52 in 1980.
"He has been omnipresent forever," said former NHL player Ray Ferraro in a recent
radio interview.
Counting his time in both the NHL and World Hockey Association, Howe played 32 pro
seasons.
STEM CELLS: Howe made dramatic recovery after stem cell therapy in 2015
"If you equate greatness with superior play and durability, there is no match for Gordie
Howe — I don't even think there is a challenger," Neale once told USA TODAY Sports.
56
He was born and raised in Saskatchewan, where he once was banned from playing
forward and defense in elementary school hockey because he was too talented. He only
was allowed to play as a goaltender.
"His roots and the roots of the game were the same: rural Canada," Emrick said.
In an era when 20 goals confirmed a player was near the head of his class, Howe
scored at least 23 for 22 consecutive NHL seasons and the next five in the WHA. He
won the scoring title six times and won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable
Player six times.
Howe sons 2-11-13
"When I think about players, I consider three ingredients: the head, heart and the feet,"
Bowman has said. "Some players don't have any of those, and some players have one
or two. But Gordie had all three in high dimensions."
Howe played with left wing Ted Lindsay and center Sid Abel on the famed Production
Line. The name was chosen to salute fact that the three players played in a team
famous for automobile assembly lines. Coach Tommy Ivan put the Red Wings trio
together in 1947 when Howe was 19. In 1949-50, Lindsay, Abel and Howe finished first,
second and third in the NHL scoring race and the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup
championship.
The following season, Howe started a run of four consecutive NHL scoring
championships.
"I always said that being with Teddy helped (Howe) become a better hockey player,"
said their former Red Wings teammate Marty Pavelich. "Teddy was so aggressive that I
think that Gordie got caught up in that, too."
Howe scored 801 goals in the NHL, second only to Wayne Gretzky's 894, and another
174 in the WHA. Counting his regular-season and playoff goals in both leagues, Howe
totaled 1,071.
And Howe did it all seemingly effortlessly.
"It is like a great golfer," Hall of Fame hockey coach Al Arbour said. "They swing so nice
and easy and they make it seem so simple. You try to duplicate that swing and it's
impossible.
"No one could do it like Mr. Hockey. No matter what it was, he could do it well, whether it
was penalty killing, power play or making passes."
Arbour died in 2015 at the age of 82.
Howe was a right-hand shot, and yet he sometimes would shoot left-handed just to
confuse the goalie.
"He probably got 50 or 60 goals in his career like that," former NHL goalie Eddie
Johnston said. "A puck would be in his skates and he would kick it to the wrong side.
Then he would shoot left-handed and catch you by surprise."
57
Hall of Fame player Bill Gadsby, Howe's close friend who passed away earlier this year,
often said he would be amused when he read or heard it suggested that Howe wasn't
fast.
"I watched a lot of good skaters try to catch him from behind and never do it," Gadsby
said.
Arbour said when a defender came close to catching Howe, "he would put it into the
next gear."
But there was a flip side, too.
While Howe seemed to have more skill than anyone, he also would use his brute
strength as an effective weapon.
"He was a bull," Johnston once told USA TODAY Sports. "If there was no room, he
would jam on you. He would drive you and the puck into the net."
Howe stood only 6 feet tall and weighed a little more than 200 pounds. Even so, he was
so physically intimidating that he seemed monstrous to his opponents.
"He looked six-foot-eight," Hall of Fame goalie Glenn Hall said. "We thought he should
have been playing basketball."
Howe was known as a ruthless competitor, a man who didn't use his stick simply to
score goals.
"(Howe) was a miserable guy to play against," said Neale, who coached Howe in
Hartford. "He had no conscience when he hit you with his stick. Players didn't touch him
very often."
Howe had a knack for sending an opponent flying without the victim knowing exactly
what had happened to him.
"He lived up to his reputation of Mr. Elbows," former NHL player Ralph Backstrom said
in a 2004 interview.
In 1959, Howe beat up Lou Fontinato in one of the most famous fights in NHL history.
Howe was the MVP of the league that season and Fontinato was supposed to be the
toughest fighter in the league.
When Howe felt wronged, there was no statute of limitations on his vengeance. In 1959,
then-Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Bobby Baun knocked Howe senseless with a
bodycheck.
in 1967-68, so the story goes, Baun was playing for the Oakland Seals when he saw
Howe in a vulnerable position. But this time, just as Baun was about to strike, Howe
whacked Baun in the throat with his stick.
"Baun told me he was lying on the ice. ... He couldn't breathe. He couldn't talk," Neale
said. "There was Gordie coasting over to him. He looked down and said, 'Now we are
even.' "
Neale laughed. "He waited eight years."
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During the 1950 playoffs, Howe suffered a near-fatal brain injury after a collision with
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Teeder Kennedy.
What actually happened has been the subject of debate for many years, but Howe's
brother, Vic, was in the stands and he said Kennedy's stick caught Howe above the eye
as Howe was coming at him. Howe's helmetless head struck the ice when he went
down.
Vic Howe said in a 2004 interview that he went to see Gordie after the period and was
told that Howe just needed stitches.
"But when I went down after the game, trainer Lefty Wilson had a different expression,"
Vic Howe said.
Wilson told Vic that his brother was being rushed the hospital. During the night,
surgeons had to drill a hole in Howe's skull to relieve the pressure. The story that came
out over the next couple of days was that Howe had nearly died.
He didn't play for the rest of the playoffs, but he was ready to play the following season.
After Sid Abel was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in 1952, Alex Delvecchio became
the Production Line center. The line continued to have success.
"Ted and I played together so long that we could anticipate each other's moves," Howe
once said.
Howe's blend of durability and longevity is unmatched in NHL history.
In 26 NHL seasons, he played 97% of all of his team's games. From 1961 to 1970, he
missed only two games.
He registered his first 100-point season for the Red Wings when he was 40. At 50, he
scored 34 goals for the New England Whalers in 1977-78. At 52, he scored 16 goals in
his final NHL season.
"I would not seriously try to convince anyone that Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr or Mario
Lemieux wasn't as good as Gordie, because that is an argument that will go on forever,"
Neale said. "All I know is that I had Gordie when he was 49 and 50, and he was still a
phenomenal athlete. ... His passion for the game was unequaled."
The reason why Howe jumped to the WHA was for a chance to play on a professional
team with two sons, Mark and Marty. They played together for the Houston Aeros and
New England Whalers.
Gordie Howe was known for looking out for his sons. Mark Howe has said through the
years that the force of Gordie coming after someone who checked his son hurt more
than the initial check.
"The second after I would get hit there would be a much bigger thud," Mark Howe said.
"Finally, I had to say to him, 'Dad, I can take a hit from anybody. But you are killing me
by hitting the guy who hits me.' "
Howe has long had a reputation as one of the NHL's top ambassadors. Mark Howe has
often told the story of how he was able to hone his hockey skills by playing ball hockey
59
after every Detroit home game, because he knew his father would always spend an
hour signing autographs for every person who waited.
In 2004, rival Bobby Hull said about Howe: "When everything is gone by the wayside,
the only thing that remains is character — and Gordie Howe has character."
Gordon "Gordie" Howe
Born: March 31, 1928, in Floral, Saskatchewan, Canada
Nickname: Mr. Hockey
Education: Attended but did not graduate from King George Community (High) School
in Saskatoon
Hall of Fame: Inducted in 1972 into the Hockey Hall of Fame; member of 11 halls of
fame
Playing career: 1946-71 with the Detroit Red Wings; 1973-77 with the World Hockey
Association's Houston Aeros; 1977-79 with the WHA's New England Whalers; 1979-80
with the NHL's Hartford Whalers. The right wing was a 21-time NHL All-Star, 12 times to
the first team; six-time NHL scoring leader and six-time league MVP; played on four
Stanley Cup champion teams with the Detroit Red Wings; oldest to play in an NHL
game (52 years, 10 days)
Foundation: The Howe Foundation, founded by his late wife Colleen "to help those in
need and allow them to be able to enjoy, participate and learn about the great sport of
hockey."
Author: Gordie Howe: My Hockey Memories (with Frank Condron), 1999; and ... Howe!:
An Authorized Autobiography (with Colleen Howe, Tom Delisle), 1995; Let's play
Hockey, 1972
TV series: Himself on Yes, Dear (2004) and E.N.G. (1993)
Trivia: "Mr. Hockey" and "Mrs. Hockey," for his wife, became registered trademarks
Quote:"No, but 11 other guys did." -- Howe, asked if he ever had broken his nose
By Rachel Shuster
USA TODAY LOADED: 06.12.2016
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USA TODAY / NHL stars pause to remember 'sweet,' 'genuine' Gordie Howe
SAN JOSE – Among Gordie Howe’s many contributions to the NHL is the fact that his
name is synonymous with being both skilled and combative.
“I think everybody knows what a Gordie Howe hat trick is,” San Jose Sharks center Joe
Thornton said. “It’s the pride of hockey players.”
Players register a Gordie Howe hat trick when they record a goal, an assist and earn a
fighting major penalty in a single game.
“You get one of those and you are pretty proud of it and I’ve had the pleasure of getting
a couple in my career,” Thornton said Saturday as he remembered Howe, the day after
the NHL legend died at age 88.
Thornton was 16 when he met Howe for the first time in Detroit.
USA TODAY
Did stem cells prolong Gordie Howe's life?
“It was such a huge thrill,” Thornton recalled. “He was a bigger-than-life personality and
player. When you meet a guy like that you don’t know what to expect, but he met all of
my expectations and more.”
Thornton said Howe’s demeanor off the ice was a sharp contrast from his reputation for
on-ice ruthlessness. Thornton said Howe was a "sweet man."
“You hear all of the stories of what a fierce competitor he was,” Thornton said. “But
every time I met him he was such a kind, kind man.”
Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby, who also has a Gordie Howe hat trick on his resume,
used the word “genuine” to describe Howe.
USA TODAY
Appreciation: Gordie Howe radiated greatness
“He has probably met so many people over the years,” Crosby said. “And anyone who
has met him will tell you he makes you feel comfortable. He genuinely cares.”
Penguins forward Chris Kunitz is from Saskatchewan, where Howe was born. He
seems to believe there’s a bit of Howe in all players from that Canadian province.
“The mentality I have to grow up and be a hockey player is bred into guys from Western
Canada,” Kunitz said. “Toughness. You may not have the stature, but you still do
whatever you can to help your team win….I think everybody from Saskatchewan wants
to go out and be that kind of player.”
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USA TODAY / Appreciation: Gordie Howe radiated greatness
When Gordie Howe was well into his 70s, he still had the aura of a powerful athlete.
He looked like what you would have expected Superman to look like if DC Comics had
allowed him to age. With his chiseled features, piercing bright eyes and broad
shoulders, Howe looked more powerful than a locomotive.
Shaking hands with him was a blow to your self-esteem. No matter how much strength
you threw into your grip, your hand would be swallowed up by his bear-like strength.
Howe was only 6-0, 203 pounds when he played, but he had a much larger presence.
When you met him, you understood why goalie Glenn Hall once said Howe always
seemed like he was 6-8 when you played against him. He seemed bigger than life. It
was like he radiated greatness.
There were several unique aspects of Howe's dominance, The late Detroit general
manager Jack Adams once said athletes like Howe only came along once every "50 or
100 years."
But what always struck me as the most fascinating aspect of Howe's career is that he
was able to play a dominant tough, physical, often ruthless, style for 26 years in the
NHL without developing a large collection of people hating him.
You have to look long and hard in the hockey world to find anyone who disliked Gordie
Howe.
His son, Mark, once said of his dad: "He was the meanest, nastiest man on a pair of
skates that I ever met. Off the ice, he was the most gentlemanly man I ever met."
That was Mr. Hockey's greatest talent. He knew where the game ended and life began.
He played with his elbows up, and if you wronged him, you faced his retribution. But if
you respected Howe, he respected you. He lived by his own code of conduct, and
almost everyone in the NHL understood Howe's rules.
Away from the rink, Howe was the friendliest man in hockey. While he was dominating
the NHL, Howe was also the game's greatest ambassador.
There are thousands of people in North America with poignant memories of meeting
Howe. He always made a point to be kind to fans. Most people in the hockey world have
a Howe autograph or a Howe story or know someone who does. Howe's longevity in
hockey has allowed him to touch three or four generations of fans.
Jeremy Roenick once told me he always tried to be nice to his fans because he
remembered how Gordie Howe was playful with him during the pre-game warm-up at a
Harford Whalers game when Roenick was a youngster.
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Bobby Hull told me the story of seeing Gordie Howe play at Maple Leaf Gardens in
1949 when Hull was 10. Hull's dad ripped open a cigarette package so his son could
obtain Howe's autograph.
Hull said Howe was impressively kind to him, and he always tried to remember that
moment when fans asked him for an autograph years later.
The debate over who's the greatest player in NHL history never will have a clear-cut
winner. You can make a case for Howe, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky or even Mario
Lemieux.
I'm old enough to have seen them all play in person. I've always believed the greatest
NHL player was Howe because he was the most complete of those four players. He
provided enough offense to win six scoring championships and six Hart trophies.
Plus, he could dominate teams physically. He was a rugged hitter. To maximize his time
on the ice, his coaches would put Howe on defense occasionally.
He also had more durability than any of the other superstars. In addition to his record 26
NHL seasons, he had six more in the World Hockey Association. He rarely was injured
and was still playing at an elite level beyond the age of 50.
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U-M's Red Berenson recalls Gordie Howe as a role model, then teammate
George Sipple, Detroit Free Press 3:17 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson remembered Gordie Howe today as an
inspiration, a former teammate and friend.
Howe passed away today at age 88.
Like Howe, Berenson was from Saskatchewan, Canada. Berenson, 76, said he didn’t
meet Howe until he was a freshman at U-M.
“I followed his career because he was from Saskatchewan,” Berenson said. “When I got
to Michigan, I couldn’t wait to go to see Detroit play and see Gordie Howe play.
“I didn’t meet him until sometime during my freshman year when the Ice Capades came
to the Olympia and the Red Wings came over to Michigan to practice. So I not only got
to watch him practice, I got to practice with him. Al Renfrew, our coach, asked Jack
Adams and Sid Abel if they would let me practice with them. So I got to practice with
Gordie Howe and (Ted) Lindsay and all those guys at the old Coliseum.”
GORDIE HOWE DIES AT 88
Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe dies at 88
Berenson had intended to wear No. 7, which he went on to wear with the St. Louis
Blues and Detroit Red Wings, at U-M but his coach had other plans.
“My favorite number was number 7 and my coach told me, ‘No, no. You don’t wear No.
7. You’re in Michigan now. You wear No. 9.’ Oh yeah, No. 9. Gordie Howe.
“He said this is Gordie Howe country. I realized right away. When they gave me No. 9, I
was pretty touched, even at the college level.”
Berenson recalled a game against the Red Wings in his first full season in the NHL with
the Montreal Canadiens. Toe Blake had put Berenson out against Howe’s line.
Berenson said Blake’s instructions were to not give Howe any room.
“Of course, I’m a rookie and Gordie Howe was Gordie Howe,” Berenson recalled. “I can
keep up to him and so on. All of a sudden, I could see stars. My head just jolted.”
Berenson laughed, recalling Howe didn’t say anything to him after giving him the elbow.
“He was just giving me a little bit of a wake-up, ‘You don’t get too close to me,’”
Berenson said. “I looked at our bench and the players were all laughing.”
Berenson said Howe was “tough and he was strong and he played the game like a
man.”
Although the race is far from over, the Red Wings, leaders in the NHL posed for the
official team picture.
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The squad includes Terry Sawchuck, Red Kelly, manager Jack Adams, captain Sid Abel,
coach Tommy Ivan, Leo Reise, Ted Lindsay, Spare Goalie Tibbet.
Berenson became teammates with Howe on the Red Wings when he was traded from
the Blues to the Red Wings in 1970-71. Howe scored 23 goals, his final season with the
Red Wings.
Berenson recalled Howe was bothered by a wrist injury.
“I know it was a disappointment for the fans,” Berenson said. “Nevertheless, he was a
great teammate. He was a player’s player. He didn’t act like he was better than anybody
else. He was one of the boys. He fit in. I was so impressed with how personable and
friendly and down-to-earth that he was, when he realized the stature he had in the
games. With the all the young guys on the team in that year, Detroit had gone through
an overhaul of their team. But Howe was so good with everybody else. It was rewarding
to see a guy like that with his humility. He still loved the game and was a great player.”
Berenson recalled going to dinner with Howe in NHL cities like Toronto and Montreal.
“We went to Toronto and holy geez, the people were just flooding around him,”
Berenson said. “And we went to Montreal and the same thing.
“They would never leave him alone. We’d be eating dinner in a restaurant and people
would continually be coming up. He would cooperate and sign autographs. He was just
really, really good that way.”
Berenson said he has a picture of himself and Howe in his office at Yost Arena and it
means a lot to him.
The two legends in Red's office
@GeorgeSipple@freep#Hail#RIPMrHockeypic.twitter.com/Kzo1H12qBm
— Barbara Cossman (@BIC_09) June 10, 2016
“I’m looking at a picture of him and I, sitting here in my office,” Berenson said. “He could
talk about hockey all day. It’s no wonder he played as long as he did.”
Howe had come to U-M to meet some of the players about eight years ago, Berenson
said.
“He was showing them a better way to hold your stick and a better way to release the
puck,” Berenson said. “He understood what it was like to play the game with today’s
equipment and today’s sticks, even though I don’t think he ever used a synthetic stick.
He still had a passion for the game and how to play the right way.
Berenson acknowledged today is “a sad day for hockey” because of Howe’s death.
“But it’s a day to remember somebody really special,” Berenson said. “And I think that’s
a good thing. Think about what an impact he had on the game and a lot of people and
the kind of player he was, the kind of person he was.
“He would never say no. It wasn’t about how much money or anything like that. He was
just himself. I don’t know if he ever wrote a speech. He didn’t have to. He would just talk
65
about hockey and the things that he thought were important for the kids to hear. He was
just a great ambassador for hockey.”
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Albom: Goals, Cups, fights -- Gordie Howe did it all
Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press Columnist 3:05 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Superman just bid us farewell. It’s hard to believe, Gordie Howe dying, because for so
many years, he seemed immune to all of life’s blows.
From a terrible early head injury that might have ended other players’ careers, to a
stroke a few years ago that brought him to the front porch of death, Howe just kept
checking Father Time, leaving the old specter bent in the corner and wondering what
just hit him.
Nobody wins that fight forever. At 88, Mr. Hockey is finally gone, passing away earlier
today. You can debate whether he was the best to ever play the game. In Western
Canada they’ll insist it was Gretzky and in Boston they’ll claim it was Orr, but here in
Detroit it was, is and always will be Gordie.
Let’s face it. There’s a reason they called him Mr. Hockey, Mr. All Star, Mr. Everything.
Who has nicknames like that? But then, who plays in five decades, who gets 23 All-Star
selections, who scores 100 points when he’s 40 years old?
Forty years old?
“Twenty straight years an All-Star, getting 100 points when nobody else could…”
marveled Scotty Bowman on Friday morning. “I’m just honored to have met him and
have known him.”
And that’s from maybe the greatest coach in NHL history. It was Bowman who famously
put Howe in the NHL All-Star Game at age 51, his last season of his comeback that
started when he was 45. The game was played at Joe Louis Arena. His introduction was
saved for last. The crowd rose even before the words hit the loudspeakers. And as the
only player with white hair skated to the line, you heard:
“And from the Hartford Whalers, representing all of hockey ... Number 9.”
That was it. That was enough. No. 9. He will forever be that number. At least around
here. He was a living statue, a monument to his own greatness, a name that became
synonymous with doing it all.
“The first time I had a goal, an assist and a fight, one of the veterans said to me, ‘That’s
a ‘Gordie Howe Hat Trick,' ” Brendan Shanahan recalled Friday morning. “I had never
heard that expression before. What an unbelievable legacy to have that kind of a game
named after you. It's synonymous with the way he believed the game should be played.
There was nothing that happened on the ice that he thought was someone else’s job.”
The best on ice
All morning long, people were calling, scrambling, making statements and calling up
stories. And as the mountain of information and tributes grew, you realized it will be a
67
long time before we put the totality of this man, born a year before the Great
Depression, into perspective. Twenty-five seasons as a Red Wing? More games played
with one team than any player in history?
“The Red Wings organization and the National Hockey League would not be what they
are today without Gordie Howe,” Wings owner Mike Ilitch said in a statement.
That is true. I’ve already been asked many times, how he could play in today’s game,
how he stacks up against today’s players.
You can’t compare. Suffice it to say that as a rookie, Gordie Howe did as much fighting
as he did scoring, and he remained that tough throughout his career. Gretzky had tough
guys protecting him all those years in Edmonton; Gordie protected himself – and his
teammates. He once famously knocked out Rocket Richard with a single punch. As
Shanahan noted, there’s a reason the “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” stands for a goal, an
assist and a fight.
You can’t do that stuff today, so why compare eras? More important is what Ilitch
suggests, that there might not be the game of hockey as we know it without Gordie’s
legacy. Certainly not around here. The four Stanley Cups Howe helped bring to the Red
Wings in the 1950s – in a mere six years -- established this franchise as an elite hockey
organization; so much so, that we always thought of it that way, even though it would be
42 years until the next Lord Stanley trophy.
Howe was behind that pedigree of greatness. Remember the seven straight years the
Wings finished first overall with Howe leading the way? Seven straight years with the
best record in the NHL? Never happened before. Not likely to happen again. And
Howe’s place on the iconic Production Line was the forerunner of future famed Detroit
groupings like the Russian Five or the Grind Line. None would compare. In 1949-50,
Howe, Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay actually finished 1-2-3 in the scoring race!
Talking about Howe’s career is like that. The superlatives, the ridiculously impressive
statistics. It’s like being in the treasure cave in “the Hobbit.” You can get lost in all that
gold.
His quiet grace
But let us not lose sight of something else. Howe was also humble, particularly as he
aged. Tough, yes. No-nonsense, yes. But I can’t tell you how many locker rooms and
dinner affairs that I have been in his company when nobody knew he was there -- until
the whisper shot through the room “Did you see Gordie? Oh my, God! He’s over there!”
And there he would be, quiet, reserved, dapper. He didn’t arrive with noise and
entourages. Just a towering, quiet, white-haired presence, as calm as history already
written.
“He knew how to fit into a locker room as opposed to people who kind of say ‘Make
room for me’ ” Shanahan recalled. “You had to shake your head sometimes and say,
“I’m talking to Gordie Howe.’ He never seemed to give off the air of ‘Do you know who
you are speaking to?’ It was almost like he didn’t know he was Gordie Howe – at least
not what that meant to all of us.”
68
Kris Draper was a recent arrival to the Wings when Howe paid a locker room visit. “He
knew I was a new player. He shook my hand. Just had a conversation. I had goose
bumps. The first thing I did when I left the rink was call my dad and say, “I just met
Gordie Howe!'
“Over the years, you never knew when he or Ted Lindsay might just wander in. It was a
perk of being a Red Wing for sure.”
That quiet grace set a standard that would influence other Detroit players. People hail
Steve Yzerman as a humble, understated superstar. But some of that comes from the
history he observed from Howe. Years ago, I wrote about a discussion I had with
Yzerman, who inherited Detroit’s captain’s “C” decades after Howe had worn it.
“Have you ever met Gordie Howe?” I asked.
“A couple of times,” he said. “He’ll come over and say hi.”
“Couldn’t you just say hello first?”
His eyes bulged.
“No way! I would never just go up to Gordie Howe out of the blue.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s Gordie Howe. What am I gonna say, ‘Hey, Gordie. How’s it goin’?’ ”
“Well, don’t you think you’ve reached that point?”
He shook his head.
“I’ll never reach that point.”
That’s the kind of shadow Howe cast.
And now the shadow is all that’s left.
A simply super man
The reason this is stunning to some of us, particularly here in Detroit, is that Howe
seemed tough enough to beat back any affliction. When we heard in October 2014 that
a severe stroke had left him nearly devoid of speech and with limited use of his
extremities, we prepared for the worst. We heard he was bedridden. That he’d dropped
35 pounds. But then came the news that he had made a remarkable recovery, with the
aid of an experimental stem cell treatment. He was fending off dementia, he put weight
back on, he even began travelling and was honored in his hometown in Canada.
It was the kind of toughness you expected from Howe, who was reportedly 6 feet tall as
a teenager, dropped out of school to work construction, and eventually left Saskatoon,
where he’d been raised, to pursue his hockey career. A child of the Depression, he was
ambidextrous, he could fight, he could skate, score, pass, clear room for himself with his
famous flying elbows. There was nothing, seemingly, he couldn’t or wouldn’t do in the
game of hockey.
Mark Howe and Gordie Howe in 1999.
Maybe the only thing is live forever.
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“The last time I saw him was kind of sad and funny,” Shanahan recalled. “He came out
to drop the ceremonial puck at the alumni game the year Detroit hosted the Winter
Classic (2014). He was escorted out on the ice. I could just see that he was a little bit
lost, not quite sure what he was doing. We’d heard he was suffering from dementia and
my dad had that, so I kind of knew what it looked like.
“A photographer was trying to position him so he could take a photo, and at one point he
grabbed Gordie by the arm, trying to gently maneuver him. Well, the old instincts kicked
in, and Gordie sort of raised his arm and mumbled something like ‘Get your hands off
me.’ That’s the look he gave the guy. And I thought, “There he is. There’s the old Mr.
Hockey.”
And there he will remain, in stories like that, in pages on record books, in a statue and a
bridge and streets and future monuments, and forever, forever, in our memories,
particularly in this little corner of the planet.
Superman just bid us farewell. The comic book version had an “S” across his chest.
Ours had a winged wheel.
"I’m really just a lucky old farm boy." - Gordie Howe | #9RIPhttps://t.co/ho3njORnM6
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 10, 2016
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Sipple: How I'll remember Gordie Howe
George Sipple, Detroit Free Press 2:25 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Gordie Howe, who died this morning at 88 years old, will certainly be remembered for
his 801 goals and 1,850 career NHL points.
He’ll be remembered for the hat trick that bears his name – a goal, an assist and a fight
in one game.
He’ll be remembered for six Hart trophies as the league’s most valuable player, six Art
Ross trophies as the NHL’s leading scorer. He'll be remembered for winning four
Stanley Cups.
He played 25 of his 26 NHL season with the Detroit Red Wings, but some will remember
him for his time in the old World Hockey Association, skating with his sons, and for all
the different decades that he managed to play in.
I will remember Gordie Howe most for his kindness.
There were many times over the years that I ran into Howe at Joe Louis Arena before
Red Wings games. He would usually acknowledge me with a smile, a nod or a quick
remark as he passed me in the press box.
One of my favorite memories was an elevator ride with Howe and a few fans before a
game at the Joe. Howe noticed a young boy carrying a mini hockey stick. The boy,
seemingly unaware of who Howe was, bristled when Mr. Hockey asked to see him
shoot.
The boy’s father, well aware of how lucky his son was to interact with a hockey legend,
prodded the boy to do as asked. When the boy did not, Howe playfully delivered an
elbow to the boy’s chest and turned and grinned toward everyone else in the elevator.
I laughed because the boy seemed clueless as to why his father was so excited.
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A look back at Gordie Howe's last game
Older players usually lose weight during the season, but the young Wings often find that
they need extra exercise, like the trianing bicycle, to keep them down to playing
poundage. Gordie Howe now packs 187 pounds into his 5-foot, 11-inch frame, but
Adams believes he'll hit over 200 when he's at his peak. His unusually well-developed
shoulder and arm muscles
Hockey legend Gordie Howe played 25 seasons with the Red Wings, four with the
Houston Aeros, two with the New England Whalers and one with the Hartford Whalers.
All told, he played in 1,767 NHL regular-seasons games and 419 more in the World
Hockey Association. He also played in 235 pro playoff games — nearly three full
seasons worth of games.
All told, he had played pro hockey in five decades — the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and
’80s — when he stepped on the ice at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Oct. 3, 1997. He
would notch a sixth decade with a brief appearance for the Detroit Vipers of the
International Hockey League.
Here’s the Free Press’ account of that historic Friday night:
Gordie Howe used to be the most feared man on the ice. Opponents shuddered at the
thought of getting in the way of his renowned elbows.
But time shows mercy on no one, and it was a considerably different Howe who skated
through a 46-second shift Friday night with the Detroit Vipers to become the first sixdecade hockey pro.
His arthritis-hampered stride was much slower than in his heyday. He kept his elbows to
himself.
And he actually was worried.
“I just thought, ‘Don’t make a mistake,’ ” said Howe, 69.
Howe, best remembered for the four Stanley Cups he won with the Red Wings some 40
years ago, bumped Kansas City captain Iain Fraser during his shift, and watched a puck
deflect off his leg and ricochet to Kansas City goalie Jon Casey.
“I almost got one, “ Howe said, laughing.
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The fans at the Palace cheered his every move, even though his stick never touched
the puck.
“That was beautiful,” Howe said.
He called his bump on Fraser a smart defensive play.
“I know I don’t have the speed,” Howe said, “but when he took off, I thought, ‘Oh, God.’
It was just a casual bump of the lumber. It’s pretty hard to forget old tricks.”
Fraser called it differently: “I saw him stand in front of the net, and I wanted to — pow!
— hit him. No, really, I didn’t see him at first. I tried to get out of the way.”
During his 25 seasons with the Wings, Howe won six Art Ross trophies as the NHL’s top
scorer and six Hart trophies as the league’s MVP. Surely, it was amazing achievements
like that that Wayne Gretzky was thinking of when his image appeared on the
scoreboard to wish his idol luck. “You still are the greatest player that ever played,” he
said.
After his history-making shift, Howe spent the rest of the first and all the second period
on the Vipers’ bench, watching the teams play to a 3-all tie. He wasn’t on the bench for
the final period, which ended 4-all. Kansas City then won the shootout, 3-0, for a 5-4
opening-night victory.
During the first intermission, Howe and his wife, Colleen, came out to wave to fans,
accompanied by son Marty and nine assorted grandchildren. Son Mark, a scout with the
Wings, watched from the press box.
Howe first took to the ice a minute before 8 p.m., after a half-hour presentation
commemorating the Vipers’ first Turner Cup. While the championship banner was raised
with the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey” blaring in the background, Howe watched
from the inflatable snake head that players have skated through since the Vipers’
inaugural year four seasons ago.
As the announcer began listing Howe’s many accomplishments, the fans rose to their
feet in anticipation of seeing Howe skate through the snake head and into the haze left
by a five-minute pyrotechnics show.
Even his wife got a tear.
“As many times as I’ve seen Gordie play, I still got a lump in my throat when he came
out, “ Colleen said. “I feel very blessed.”
And the fans echoed her feeling. Every time his noble, white-haired mug appeared on
the scoreboard, “Gor-die! Gor-die!” chants rang out. Even in the third period, after he
had left the bench, fans called for him.
Any chance Howe will try for a seventh decade? He just laughed when asked.
Before Friday, he hadn’t played in a pro game since 1980.
Certainly, an in-his-prime Howe was sorely needed by the Vipers, who made some bad,
bad mistakes. Assignments were missed, and two of them led to Kansas City goals.
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The Vipers were simply caught somewhere between Howe and hoopla. “It was pretty
evident by the way the first period went, “ said Peter Ciavaglia, who centered the line
with Howe on the right and Steve Walker on the left. “This team hasn’t had that many
mistakes in a series of five games as it did in the first period. For whatever reason, we
were too hyped up. We lost the game in the first.”
The Vipers trailed, 3-1, at the end of the period. Dan Kesa, Phil Crowe, Scott Thomas
and Clayton Beddoes scored the Vipers’ goals.
Despite the final outcome, Ciavaglia will treasure this game.
“The first shift of every new season is pretty exciting,” he said, “but the thought of having
Gordie Howe on the right wing is something else. It was a special moment. I won’t have
a shift like that again in my life.”
Neither will Howe. Maybe.
Howe and why
Gordie Howe’s one-shift comeback by the numbers:
0 — Times Gordie touched the puck, or opponents touched Gordie.
1 — Minutes it took the PA announcer to list Gordie’s career feats.
2 — Periods he sat on the bench and watched the game, serenaded with occasional
chants of “Gor-die! Gor-die!”
40.3 — Average age of Gordie’s line, with Gordie (69) at right wing, Peter Ciavaglia (28)
at center and Steve Walker (24) at left wing.
46 — Seconds Gordie played in his record-setting shift.
3:41 — Time standing ovation for Gordie lasted.
7:59 — Time of day Gordie skated out of the inflatable snake head.
Ouch — Vipers defenseman Brad Shaw ripped a shot that deflected off Gordie’s leg and
a long way to goalie Jon Casey, who stopped it for the night’s first save.
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Red Wings reminisce about Gordie Howe: 'Kind and funny'
Helene St. James
The stories always were worth hearing.
Gordie Howe, who passed away Friday morning at age 88, built a legendary career in
hockey that spanned five decades and lasted 2,421 games.
He had a tale for every one of those games.
Long after he'd retired from playing -- Howe as inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in
1972 -- Howe could be found at Joe Louis Arena. He'd often accompany son Mark, who
is the chief pro scout for the Detroit Red Wings. Kirk Maltby, a former player and also a
team scout, remembers those times fondly.
In earlier days, Howe would sometimes come to Joe Louis Arena with his son Mark,
who is the chief pro scout for the Wings. Kirk Maltby, a former player and also a team
scout, remembers those times fondly.
"You'd want to hear Gordie's hockey stories," Maltby told the Free Press. "You'd want to
be within an ear's length so you could hear him, but at the same time, you didn't want to
be right next to him because he'd get his fists and his elbows up. He'd get so animated.
"Thankfully, there was never a hockey stick nearby."
Nicklas Lidstrom shared his favorite memory — no surprise, given how much Howe
loved children, it involved Lidstrom's four sons.
"One fond story I have of Gordie is when we were traveling on Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch's
private plane to Toronto and the NHL Awards show.
"I had my family with me and he would take his time talking to my kids and explain how
he worked out in the summertime to get in shape for the hockey season. He would
listen to my kids and their questions, which they thought was very cool.
"He was very kind and funny and down to earth. It was great to get a private moment
with him during our flight. It was always a pleasant moment any time you had a chance
to chat with him. His son Mark has told me stories of how tough he was as a player but
he was always a funny man when he came down to the locker room."
Mike Modano, who grew up in metro Detroit and finished his Hockey Hall of Fame
career with the Wings, wore the no. 9 for much of his career.
"Gordie was the reason for that, with the ties to Detroit," Modano said. "My dad would
always talk about him, and I'd go on YouTube to find clips of him as a player."
Modano met Howe several times, from doing a card show together during the 2010-11
season to chatting with him when Modano would come to the Joe as a player for the
Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise.
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"Great story teller," Modano said. "Certain guys can just go on and on, and Gordie was
one of those guys. He just had a gift."
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Jim Harbaugh, Mark Dantonio on Gordie Howe: He was a 'legend'
Lev Facher, Special to the Detroit Free Press 1:12 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh and Michigan State football coach Mark
Dantonio made it clear Friday that Gordie Howe’s legacy transcends hockey.
“I just know him as a legend,” Dantonio said after addressing high-school athletes at
Sound Mind Sound Body, a two-day football academy held this year at Wayne State.
“It’s at tragedy when our country loses legends. … It’s a part of our lives, growing up
with someone.”
Howe, known as “Mr. Hockey,” passed away Friday morning at 88 years old.
“I had not heard that news,” Harbaugh said when asked about his reaction to Howe’s
passing. “I never got the chance to meet Gordie Howe. I would have loved to.”
Harbaugh discussed Howe’s passing in the context of another sports icon’s death: that
of boxing great Muhammad Ali, whose funeral was to be held Friday in Louisville, Ky.
“Muhammad Ali infused the whole world with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind,”
Harbaugh said, adapting one of his trademark phrases to the late legends. “Gordie
infused a toughness unknown to mankind.”
Howe played for the Detroit Red Wings from 1946 to 1971. He holds the record for most
career games played with 1,767, and his 801 career goals are second only to Wayne
Gretzky’s 894 on the NHL’s all-time scoring list.
Friday’s news, coupled with that of the previous week, served as a rough start to
Harbaugh’s day. He arrived at Wayne State on Friday morning having delivered the
commencement address the night before at Paramus Catholic High School in New
Jersey. After spending time with the roughly 600 high schoolers in Detroit on Friday, he’s
scheduled to appear at a pair of camps in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
“Both of those men have been heroes of mine and my family,” Harbaugh said. “I’m sorry
to hear that news.”
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Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline on Gordie Howe: 'One of a kind'
Detroit Free Press 12:44 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the two iconic sports stars in Detroit were Gordie
Howe of the Red Wings and Al Kaline of the Tigers. During their Hall of Fame careers,
they became fast friends.
Howe joined the Wings as an 18-year-old in 1946. He retired at 43 in 1971. Kaline
joined the Tigers as an 18-year-old in 1953. He retired at 39 in 1974.
In a recent interview with the Free Press, Kaline reflected on his relationship with Howe,
who died this morning at 88. Among Kaline’s comments:
“Gordie’s one of a kind. Of course, his nickname, Mr. Hockey, is exactly what he is.
Other than the fact he was a great, great, great hockey player, he is one of the great
people that I’ve ever run into in sports. Our friendship has gone back a long ways. We
lived at one time close to each other.”
“I used to go to hockey games with a friend of both of ours and afterwards we would go
to Carl’s steakhouse — which is no longer there — after the game before we went
home. Several other players and their wives were always there, too. That’s how I ran
into Gordie.”
“Gordie would come down to the ballpark once in a while and maybe take batting
practice with us at that time in Briggs Stadium. When we started to go to dinner we got
very friendly.”
“He’s such an icon in this city and in sports, especially in the hockey world.”
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What Ilitch, Lindsay, Holland and Bettman say about Gordie Howe
Detroit Free Press Staff Reports 6:11 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Early Friday morning, Detroit Red Wings legend Gordie Howe died. He was 88 years
old.
Statement from Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch:
“Today is a sad day for the Detroit Red Wings and the entire hockey world as together
we mourn the loss of one of the greatest hockey players of all-time. The Red Wings
organization and the National Hockey League would not be what they are today without
Gordie Howe. There is no nickname more fitting for him than “Mr. Hockey.” He
embodied on and off the ice what it meant to be both a Red Wing and a Detroiter. He
was tough, skilled, and consistently earned success at the highest level. His
achievements are numerous and his accomplishments immeasurable. It is truly a
blessing to have had him both in our organization and our city for so many years. He
will be deeply missed.”
Statement from former Red Wings teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay
“I was very sad to learn today of the passing of my longtime teammate, and friend,
Gordie Howe. Gordie really was the greatest hockey player who ever lived. I was
fortunate to play with Gordie for 12 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and I’ve known
him for over 70 years. He could do it all in the game to help his team, both offensively
and defensively. He earned everything that he accomplished on the ice. Beyond hockey,
Colleen and his family meant everything to him. Gordie was larger than life, and he was
someone who I thought would live forever. My wife Joanne and I extend our
condolences to Gordie’s children — Cathleen, Mark, Marty and Murray — and his entire
family and many friends during this time.”
Statement from Red Wings general manager Ken Holland:
“Gordie Howe was an incredible ambassador for the game of hockey. He was as fierce
and competitive as they come but away from the rink he was truly engaging and
personable and always enjoyed his interaction with the fans. Gordie set the standard for
this franchise during the Original Six era, winning four Stanley Cups, capturing
numerous awards and setting an abundance of league records. We will miss Mr.
Hockey, who was the greatest Red Wing of all time. Our deepest sympathies go out to
Mark, Marty, Murray, Cathy and the rest of the Howe family during this difficult time.”
Statement from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman:
"All hockey fans grieve the loss of the incomparable Gordie Howe. ... Gordie's
greatness travels far beyond mere statistics; it echoes in the words of veneration
spoken by countless players who joined him in the Hockey Hall of Fame and considered
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him their hero. Gordie's toughness as a competitor on the ice was equaled only by his
humor and humility away from it. No sport could have hoped for a greater, more-beloved
ambassador."
What you need to know about Gordie Howe
Who: Gordon (Gordie) Howe.
Nickname: Mr. Hockey.
Born: March 31, 1928 in Floral, Saskatchewan. Family moved to nearby Saskatoon
when he was nine days old.
Size: 6-foot, 205 pounds.
Family: Married Colleen Joffa of Detroit, April 15, 1953. She died March 6, 2009.
Children Marty, Mark, Murray and Cathy.
Position: Right wing.
Jersey: No. 9.
Autobiographies: “And ... Howe!” with Colleen Howe in 1995. “Gordie Howe: My Story”
in 2014.
Career: Detroit Red Wings (NHL), 1946-47 to 1970-71; Houston Aeros (WHA), 1973-74
to 1976-77; New England Whalers (WHA), 1977-78 to 1978-79; Hartford Whalers
(NHL), 1979-80.
Awards:Hart Trophy (MVP) — Six times (1952-53, 1956-58, 1960, 1963). Art Ross
Trophy (scoring leader) — Six times (1951-54, 1957, 1963). All-Star first team — 12
times NHL (1951-54, 1957-58, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1968-70), two times WHA (1974-75).
All-Star second team — Eight times NHL (1949-50, 1956, 1959, 1961, 1964-65, 1967).
Gary L. Davidson Trophy (WHA MVP) — 1972. Lester Patrick Trophy (service to U.S.
hockey) — 1967. NHL Lifetime Achievement Award — 2008 (inaugural recipient).
Hockey Hall of Fame: Inducted 1972. Also, inducted into WHA Hall of Fame 2010 (as a
member of the Howe family).
Championships: Stanley Cups with Red Wings in 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955. Avco Cups
(WHA) with Houston in 1974, 1975.
Statistics:NHL (26 years) — 1,767 games, 801 goals, 1,049 assists, 1,850 points, 1,685
penalty minutes. WHA (6 years) — 419 games, 174 goals, 334 assists, 508 points, 399
penalty minutes. Combined (32 years) — 2,186 games, 975 goals, 1,383 assists, 2,358
points, 2,084 penalty minutes.
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Sharp: Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, was tough right from the start
Drew Sharp, Detroit Free Press Columnist 12:34 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
The origins of Gordie Howe’s toughness were evident in the first minutes of his life 88
years ago. His mother, Katharine, was chopping wood when she went into labor. She
delivered the future king of her nation’s passion without need of medical assistance.
One of the lessons of living in rural Saskatchewan during that time was self-sufficiency,
relying on whatever necessary to do the job.
Howe applied those same principles on the ice. If subtlety didn’t work with some clever
stick work, then he would deliver a not-so-subtle elbow to the head to get the message
across. Nobody could move him off the puck. And if you tried, brace yourself for the
impending punishment.
There was a perception of indestructibility through 32 seasons of playing professional
hockey that advancing years and diminished health never lessened. Even when word
first filtered out nearly two years ago that Howe suffered a serious stroke while staying
with his daughter in Lubbock, Texas, the immediate reaction was that Howe would
tough it out because that’s what he always did. And he did stun his family by
rebounding.
But there finally came the one fight Howe couldn’t win. The combination of advanced
age, the stroke and dementia took its final toll.
Mr. Hockey died this morning at 88, bringing a sad end to not simply one of the greatest
chapters in Detroit sports history but in all of professional sports history.
Murray Howe, one of Gordie’s three sons, told the Free Press in October 2014 after the
severe stroke that it felt like “this is his final lap around the rink.” Murray had assumed
the worst, but added that “he’s about as strong as they get. If anybody can do it, he
can.”
How tough was Gordie?
In his first NHL game in 1946, Howe scored a goal and lost three teeth. His proclivity for
physical confrontation coined the "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" (a goal, an assist and a
fight), a distinction that still stands today.
He still played at high level at 51 years of age, and shared the ice with his other two
sons, Mark and Marty.
Detroit has been blessed with many great athletes, but only two could anyone honestly
classify as possibly the best ever in their respective fields — Joe Louis and Gordie
Howe. Before Wayne Gretzky rewrote the NHL record book, there wasn’t a more
dynamic offensive force than Howe with the Red Wings. And nobody more feared when
he went into the corners battling for a loose puck.
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But even Gretzky and Bobby Orr — one half of hockey’s Mt. Rushmore — deferred to
Howe as the best ever.
In an interview he gave to his protégé Gretzky, promoting Howe’s just released
autobiography “Mr. Hockey: My Story,” Mr. Hockey told the Great One that the iconic
No. 9 was his second number with the Red Wings.
“Many people may not know that my first number with the Red Wings was No. 17 until
early in my first season,” Howe said. “The No. 9 became available and it was offered to
me. We traveled by train back then. And guys with higher numbers got the top bunk on
the sleeper car. No. 9 meant I got a lower berth on the train, which was much nicer than
crawling into the top bunk.”
Gretzky wore No. 99 in honor of Howe.
Those too young to remember Howe and the fabled Production Line patrolling the
Olympia ice might never fully appreciate his enduring impact. To them, Gordie Howe
was a product of grainy black-and-white Images and stories from fathers and
grandfathers of days when toughness wasn’t hidden underneath a helmet or hidden
behind an eye shield. But they will better understand in the coming days as hockey
salutes the passing of a member of its royal family.
Detroit didn’t just lose an icon. The entire sports world did.
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Seidel: Gordie Howe was great player, even better man
Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press Columnist 12:33 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
shoulder and arm muscles give him wrist power in shooting.
Ken Young used to ride a bus across Detroit to watch his hero – Gordie Howe.
“Gordie Howe was the man,” Young said.
Young grew up on the far west side of Detroit, near the Dearborn border.
“I was probably 12 and I used to take a bus down McGraw and go to Red Wings
games,” he said. “After the games, I would wait to ask for autographs.”
There are countless people like Ken Young across the state of Michigan.
People who grew up idolizing Mr. Hockey.
People who fell in love with hockey because of Gordie Howe, who died today at age 88.
That is Howe’s legacy.
He was great player and an even better man.
An ambassador for the sport. An ambassador for this city.
“Gordie Howe was always the last one to come out,” Young said. “Al Kaline was the
same for the Tigers. You had to hang around a long time if you wanted those guys.
Gordie Howe was a helluva nice guy. Really cordial. Never turned anybody away. There
were a few times he would go out on the ice, after everybody was gone. The stands
were almost totally empty. He would go on the ice with his boys, Mark and Marty. He’d
play keep away with them. He would turn his stuck upside down and do figure eights.
The boys would try to get it away from him. And his wife, Colleen, would sit in the stands
and watch.”
Classy. Kind. And full of integrity.
“He never acted like a big time hockey player, the best player in the world,” Young said.
“You would never guess that. A family man to the bone.”
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Young is now in his 60s and a grandfather himself. But he still has Howe’s autograph.
Somewhere. “Maybe, it’s in my dad’s attack,” he says.
Goodness, how many people across Michigan have Howe’s autograph?
“He was the man to anybody who cared about hockey, like my dad and my uncles and
me,” Young said. “I mean, he inspired people to play hockey.”
Mr. Hockey played a central role in Young’s childhood. Young remembers getting
barbecue chips and Faygo pop and laying on the floor and watching, “Hockey Night in
Canada.”
“That was our big deal, me and my dad,” Young said. “I would listen to the games on the
radio and keep score. I had books. Who scored. Who assisted. The time of the score.
Penalties. Everything.”
That is Howe’s legacy.
All the people he touched.
The people who saw him play at the Joe. The people he met on the streets or in
restaurants and across the state. And the thousands of hockey players that he inspired.
It’s hard to find somebody who doesn’t have a Gordie Howe story in Hockey Town.
Maybe, it’s just how he inspired them. Or how much they appreciated them.
But so many others have personal stories about him.
“He was very friendly, down to earth, kind of an average guy,” says Terry Marchand.
Marchand is a hockey guy, who is in charge of three ice rinks in Traverse City. One of
the rinks is named the Howe Ice Arena.
Obviously, it’s named for Mr. Hockey. Every day, about 500 kids go through the three
rinks in Traverse City. And those young players are like ripples in a pond, following in
the splash that Howe helped start.
“He’s the best player who ever played,” Marchand said. “You are going to get a lot of
argument that it was Wayne or Bobby Orr. But Gordie was the first main big name in
hockey. A lot of people of our era will think of him as Mr. Hockey.”
Walk into any rink in Michigan today, as the hockey community mourns his loss, and it
won’t take long to hear a Gordie Howe story.
“I’ve worked at the ice rink for years and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Gordie Howe
and his kids,” says Mickey Jesue, who works at the Dearborn Ice Skating center. “They
are just great people.”
And then she laughs. She remembers the day her son got Mr. Hockey’s autograph in a
most unusual way.
“When my son, Mark, was 5 or 6 and my husband took him down to a Red Wings
game,” Mickey Jesue says. “I think it was an alumni game. My son had this big poster of
Gordie Howe. He wanted it signed. He went down and watched the game. My husband
said, ‘Ok, let’s go down to the locker room and see if we can get Gordie Howe to sign it.’
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“Well, my son wasn’t going to wait. My son walked in and there he was, Mr. Hockey, in
his birthday suit and my son walked in and said, ‘Mr. Howe, can you please give me
your signature?’”
“And he did. It was kinda cute. My son, to this day, … remembers it like it was
yesterday. I still have that poster to this day. My son walked out with the biggest smile
you could imagine.”
Gordie Howe was hockey royalty but acted like a common man.
A king who took off his skates and lived outside of the palace.
He was one of us. The best of us.
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Canadian PM Trudeau on Gordie Howe: 'A gentleman' and a 'tough guy'
Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press 12:29 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau says Gordie Howe 'Highlighted both our national sport and
our national identity."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday took a moment to praise the career
of Gordie Howe and said the former Red Wings legend strengthened ties between
Detroit and Canada.
"He was a gentleman but he also was very much a tough guy. (He) showcased the best
of what Canadians like to think of themselves as," Trudeau said after a press
conference at General Motors' plant in Oshawa, Ontario.
The first question asked at the news conference after GM announced it would add
1,000 engineering jobs was about Howe.
Howe, a hockey legend who played for the Detroit Red Wings from 1946 to 1971, died
Friday in Toledo, Ohio. He was 88.
"We are here with company that obviously has deep connections to Detroit, and all of
Canada has deep connections to Detroit because of Gordie Howe," Trudeau said.
Howe, also known as Mr. Hockey, is remembered for his toughness on the ice and for
his character off of the ice.
And that, Trudeau said, is why Howe symbolizes Canada's national identity.
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Flashback: Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, 1980 all-stars at Joe Louis
Bill Dow, Special to the Free Press 12:25 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
shoulder and arm muscles give him wrist power in shooting.
In 1980, Gordie Howe played in his 23rd and final NHL All-Star Game. At the time, he
was a 51-year-old right wing with the Hartford Whalers. During his 26 NHL seasons,
Howe played in 23 All-Star Games, missing only once a decade (1947 — his rookie
season — 1956 and 1966). The 1980 game was played at the NHL’s newest venue —
Joe Louis Arena along the Detroit riverfront. And it featured a rookie who idolized Howe
and would threaten to take his title as the greatest player ever. On Feb. 4, 2005, while
the NHL was shut down by a labor dispute, the Free Press looked back on the historic
1980 meeting between Howe and Wayne Gretzky.
Hockey fans won’t get to see an NHL All-Star Game this season, but 25 years ago they
were treated to an unforgettable All-Star moment at newly christened Joe Louis Arena.
Returning to the city where he starred for 25 years, 51-year-old Gordie Howe, playing in
his final season, faced 19-year-old rookie sensation Wayne Gretzky, selected to his first
NHL All-Star Game.
Had the World Hockey Association not folded the previous year, hockey’s two greatest
icons would not have played against each other in the midseason showcase.
After retiring from the Red Wings in 1971 — followed by two frustrating years as a club
executive — Howe starred in the WHA for six years with Houston and Hartford, playing
alongside sons Mark and Marty.
Gretzky played for Indianapolis and Edmonton in the WHA in the 1978-79 season. After
the league folded, Howe’s Whalers and Gretzky’s Oilers (along with Quebec and
Winnipeg) merged into the NHL.
On Feb. 5, 1980, a crowd of 21,002 jammed into Joe Louis Arena to watch the Wales
Conference play the Campbell Conference in the All-Star Game, setting an all-time
attendance record — since broken — for a hockey game.
The opposing coaches were Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour.
Although it was the biggest stage the sport’s two greatest players ever shared, the
game always will be remembered for the thunderous standing ovation fans showered
upon Howe, Gretzky’s childhood idol and one of the Motor City’s most fabled sports
legends.
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For the pregame introduction, public address announcer John Bell wisely introduced
Howe last, but not by name. It was hardly necessary.
“And from the Hartford Whalers, representing all of hockey, the greatest statesman for
five decades, No.9!” Bell announced as the fans quickly rose to their feet.
Witnesses said it felt like a 20-minute ovation, but in reality, the crowd stood and
cheered for four minutes, chanting, “Gordie! Gordie! Gordie!” until Bell interrupted the
roar by introducing national anthem singers Roger Doucet and Roger Whittaker.
On the CBC telecast, play-by-play announcer Dan Kelly remarked to color sidekick Dick
Irvin: “Well, Mr. Irvin, I’d hate to see what happens if that No.9 for the Wales Conference
would score a goal. Do you think we’d finish the game?”
Attorney Gary Wilson of Redford was part of the crowd.
“I’ll never forget being a part of that ovation for Gordie because it didn’t feel like it would
ever stop,” said Wilson, 51. “I still get chills thinking about it. It was nice seeing Gretzky
for the first time, but having Gordie in Detroit again brought back so many great
memories for the fans.”
Mr. Hockey, who turns 77 in March, still treasures that ovation, one he never expected
to be so long and loud.
“I had the same feelings for the fans as they had towards me,” Howe said. “I was very
emotional, and the fans were getting to me, so I skated over to Lefty Wilson on the
bench and asked for help so I would be normal again. Lefty was bilingual — he spoke
English and profanity. He said something to me I can’t repeat, and it worked.”
Wilson was the Red Wings’ trainer.
But the man to whom Howe is eternally grateful is Bowman, who coached the 1980
Wales Conference team.
“When Scotty picked me to play, he really stuck his nose out because I later learned
there was opposition to me playing,” said Howe, who at the All-Star break had scored 11
goals. “I have so much respect for that man.”
Bowman calls Howe hockey’s greatest player, and Bowman, coaching the Buffalo
Sabres at the time, insisted that Howe play in the All-Star Game.
“I said if Gordie didn’t play, I wouldn’t coach,” Bowman said. “It was a natural for him to
play that game in Detroit. I didn’t care what anybody thought. I knew he could still play,
and it turned out perfect.”
Every time Howe took a shift, the crowd cheered and chanted his name, hoping to see
No.9 turn the red light on again in Detroit.
Near the end of the first period, Howe received the puck at point-blank range in front of
Campbell Conference goalie Tony Esposito. Howe fired his famed snap shot at
Esposito, who stopped the puck as the crowd groaned. The Blackhawks goalie promptly
skated off the ice, having been injured by Howe’s vicious shot.
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“I wanted to shoot it low on his stick side, but I pulled it,” said Howe, seemingly still
frustrated. “I was unhappy with my performance because I missed that goal. I was
nervous because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. Afterwards I wondered what the
crowd would have done had I scored.”
But before the game ended, Howe’s name was announced again on the loudspeaker,
prompting a thunderous roar. Three minutes after Red Wings defenseman Reed Larson
gave the Wales Conference a 5-3 lead, and with four minutes left in the game, Howe
stole the puck twice before threading the needle on a perfect pass from behind the net.
The puck went to Real Cloutier, who fired it past goalie Pete Peeters.
Howe’s last assist in All-Star competition capped a wondrous evening for the crowd.
Gretzky didn’t figure in the scoring for the Campbell Conference that night, but nearly
all, including Howe, knew they were in the presence of a special player. Although
Gretzky broke most of Howe’s NHL records and acquired the nickname “The Great
One,” Mr. Hockey still holds the records for games played (1,924) and All-Star Game
appearances (23). Including the WHA, Howe played in 29 All-Star Games in five
decades.
Howe had first played against Gretzky the previous season in the WHA, and later that
season he and Gretzky played on the same line with Mark Howe when the WHA AllStars played the Moscow Dynamo.
Gretzky has said that playing on a line with his boyhood idol was one of his greatest
thrills in hockey.
“You knew right away Wayne was going to be a great player,” Howe said. “He was
extremely smart and knew where everyone was on the ice. In the locker room I once
parted his hair in the back to see if he had a third eye.”
Gretzky peppered Howe with questions before they played the Russians, and Howe
was happy to help out in the game.
“This one player kept slashing Wayne, so I told Wayne to flush him out on the left side
and when he heard me coming get out of the way,” Howe recalled. “He did it, and I
walked right over the guy. When we got to the bench, they were fixing the guy up on the
ice, and I said, ‘Oh, God.’ Wayne asked me what was wrong, and I said, ‘He’s getting
up.’ We had a great laugh.”
Howe finished his remarkable 32-year career that season with 15 goals and played in all
80 games for the Whalers. He was a 52-year-old grandfather when he retired.
“I really wanted to play one more year and help out coaching, but the Whaler
management didn’t want me to,” Howe said. “Looking back, they were right because I
was beginning to lose parts, although at the time they weren’t right in my mind. I still had
pride and a love for the game.”
On that frigid February night 25 years ago at Joe Louis Arena, the game was still
Gordie’s.
FAME GAME
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The 1980 NHL All-Star Game at Joe Louis Arena featured 15 future Hall of Fame
players — 16 if you count Toronto defenseman Borje Salming, who was selected for the
game but didn’t play. The future Famers:
WALES CONFERENCE
Marcel Dionne, center, Los Angeles
Bob Gainey, left wing, Montreal
Gordie Howe, right wing, Hartford
Guy Lafleur, left wing, Montreal
Gil Perreault, left wing, Buffalo
Jean Ratelle, center, Boston
Larry Robinson, defense, Montreal
Darryl Sittler, center, Toronto
CAMPBELL CONFERENCE
Bill Barber, left wing, Philadelphia
Mike Bossy, right wing, N.Y. Islanders
Phil Esposito, center, N.Y. Rangers
Tony Esposito, goalie, Chicago
Bernie Federko, center, St. Louis
Wayne Gretzky, center, Edmonton
Bryan Trottier, center, N.Y. Islanders
OTHER ALL-STARS
Wales Conference: D Dave Burrows, Toronto; C Real Cloutier, Quebec; G Don
Edwards, Buffalo; RW Danny Gare, Buffalo; C Butch Goring, Los Angeles; D Craig
Hartsburg, Minnesota; D Reed Larson, Detroit; G Gilles Meloche, Minnesota; LW Mike
Murphy, Los Angeles; LW Steve Payne, Minnesota; D Jim Schoenfeld, Buffalo; D Ron
Stackhouse, Pittsburgh.
Campbell Conference: D Norm Barnes, Philadelphia; D Ron Greschner, N.Y. Rangers;
LW Reggie Leach, Philadelphia; D Lars Lindgren, Vancouver; LW Morris Lukowich,
Winnipeg; LW Blair MacDonald, Edmonton; RW Rick MacLeish, Philadelphia; D Mike
McEwen, Colorado; C Kent Nilsson, Atlanta; G Pete Peeters, Philadelphia; D Robert
Picard, Washington; C Brian Propp, Philadelphia; D Jimmy Watson, Philadelphia.
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Gordie Howe remembered for inspiration and charity work
John Wisely, Detroit Free Press 4:05 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
In 2003, Lucy Oakleaf was trying to raise money for the family of an amateur hockey
player whose father needed a heart transplant.
As she spread the word through hockey circles of a planned fund-raiser, she picked up
her phone to hear the voice of Gordie Howe.
"He introduced himself and obviously, you could tell it was him," Oakleaf said. "He said
he wanted to donate some items to us for the charity."
Howe provided some autographed merchandise, which sold almost immediately, said
Oakleaf, who now runs Hockey has Heart, a Farmington Hills nonprofit group that helps
hockey families facing large medical bills.
"He contacted us, not the other way around," Oakleaf said. "You just don't expect
someone like that to contact you. He will be missed."
Howe was a frequent guest at charity golf-outings, dinners and other events, signing
countless sticks and photos to raise money for various causes.
Oakleaf joined people across Michigan and beyond in mourning the passing of an
athlete who transcended his sport.
Gov. Rick Snyder said in a statement today that Howe garnered universal respect for
toughness and durability.
"He represented Detroit with pride and class," Snyder said. "In a city that cherishes its
many champions, Howe was perhaps the most beloved."
Snyder offered his condolences to Howe's family and fans, noting that the Canadianborn Howe's name will be immortalized over the Detroit River.
“His legacy in Michigan will carry on through the Gordie Howe International Bridge,
which will stand as a united symbol between his home country and his adopted country,
representing the teamwork he always embodied," Snyder said.
Bill Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., remembers hanging Howe's picture
on his wall after attending the Gordie Howe Hockeyland school in St. Clair Shores.
"He made a personal effort to know every player by name," Ford said in a statement.
"“Throughout life, when asked who my role models were, I always replied Henry Ford
and Gordie Howe. I am grateful for his deep friendship over the years.”
Other elected leaders offered their condolences as well.
“We have lost a true legend. Gordie Howe was a champion whose toughness and
sportsmanship on the ice was matched only by his resilience and kindness off of it," said
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn. "Gordie Howe was a cherished friend to John and I,
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and it was an honor to be with him just a few short weeks ago at the Governor’s Fitness
Awards where he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award."
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, said in a statement that he can remember taking
the bus and a street car with his brother, Carl, to the Olympia on Grand River to "see
Gordie's magic."
"Gordie Howe was one of our greatest heroes growing up," Levin said. "I can still
remember, as clearly as yesterday, some of his goals that only Gordie Howe could have
accomplished.”
Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield, said Howe set the standard for
excellence.
"His remarkable career contributed to Detroit’s nickname, Hockeytown," Lawrence said.
Congressman Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, called Howe an inspiration and a role
model.
“From my childhood years playing backyard pond hockey to being one of the captains of
my high school hockey team, I idolized Gordie and his career with the Detroit Red
Wings," Kildee said in a statement.
Kildee said he remembers when Howe would attend minor league hockey games in
Flint, where Howe's son coached at the time.
"He was as nice as can be – and I know everyone played the game a bit harder when
‘Mr. Hockey’ was around," Kildee said.
Ronna Romney McDaniel, chairwomen of the Michigan Republican Party, called Howe
a great ambassador for Detroit and Michigan.
“Mr. Hockey’s legacy has left a tremendous impact both on and off the ice, especially
here in Michigan," she said.
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Monarrez: The night I gave Mr. Hockey an assist
Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press 11:45 a.m. EDT June 10, 2016
I once saved Gordie Howe during dinner.
In 2001, when my wife worked for a business I shall refer to only as “another newspaper
in Detroit,” Howe and his wife, Colleen, were being honored at a fancy dinner.
There were other honorees, like Detroit mayor Dennis Archer. But my wife and I sat with
the Howes and their incredibly tiny and polite dog, who cuddled almost invisibly in
Colleen’s lap the entire dinner. (Yes, they brought a dog to a fancy restaurant. And who
was going to tell Mr. Hockey he couldn’t do that?)
I had moved to Detroit in 1999 after growing up in Los Angeles a rabid Kings fan. The
only thing I really knew about Howe was that he was a legend and Wayne Gretzky
spoke of him and the Red Wings’ Production Line the way a literary scholar discusses
Norse saga.
But there I was. At a table with a legend. And the legend didn’t seem all that
comfortable.
There were about 10 of us at the table and everyone tried to make small talk with the
Howes, who were polite and gracious. But Gordie was also a farm boy from
Saskatchewan and small talk didn’t come easy, at least on this night while sitting mostly
with egghead newspaper editors.
No one knew it at the time, but Colleen was in the early stages of the dementia and
Pick’s disease that would claim her life in 2009. Gordie seemed a little nervous and the
Howes were mostly quiet during dinner.
I’ve always been wary of talking shop with athletes and celebrities, unsure of how much
they enjoy their fame and reliving their glory. But I had to ask about the dog, who had
turned into the elephant in the room. Everyone was pretending he didn’t exist, but I
couldn’t resist and had to ask his name.
“Rocket,” Gordie said.
“After Maurice Richard?” I asked.
Gordie’s face lit up like he had just scored a hat trick.
Just like that, I saved Gordie from an evening of awkward silence. We spoke the same
language and soon we were chatting about The Rocket and the Canadiens, about Ted
Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio, about Terry Sawchuk and Jacques Plante and the
Original Six.
I ran into Howe a few times over the years at various Wings events. He didn’t remember
me and I didn’t expect him to. But I guess I can always say I once gave Gordie Howe an
assist.
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Contact Carlos Monarrez:
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Remembering Gordie Howe: Mr. Hockey to generations
By Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press
SHARE THIS STORY
He played one of the world's most demanding games until he was 52 years old, and
many fans argue that no one played it better.
His pro career of 2,421 games ran from World War II through Vietnam, Truman to
Carter, Sinatra to the Sex Pistols.
He lasted so long that he played professionally with his children.
Gordie Howe, who died today at age 88, combined skill, savvy, strength, meanness and
longevity like no other hockey player. He was among the greatest sports stars of the
20th Century, and he had reigned in the trinity of Detroit's paramount athletes, with Joe
Louis and Ty Cobb.
Howe died in Toledo, Ohio. He had been staying there with his son, Murray. Howe had
suffered from dementia in his later years, and suffered a stroke in October 2014. Stem
cell treatment helped him rally from near-death, and celebrations for his last birthday,
March 31, included a visit to Joe Louis Arena.
Howe spent 25 years as a Red Wing and lived in southeast Michigan for most of his
long retirement. He was an extraordinarily public person who encountered thousands of
people over the years. He remained a megastar who happened to be unassuming,
playful and patient, and he often had a kind word or gentle gibe for every fan.
Howe had a dry wit, and he frequently used it to disarm awestruck audiences. Speaking
to French Canadians, he would say, "I'm bilingual: English and profanity."
Many of his public appearances were organized by his late wife, Colleen, who carved
out a groundbreaking role for herself as Gordie's agent, promoter and business partner.
In addition to their half-century-long love story, the Howes rewrote the book on how a
star athlete and his wife capitalize on stardom, even decades after his final game.
At 6-foot and a little more than 200 pounds, Howe had a lumberjack body and a Paul
Bunyan reputation. He was said to sign autographs at the rate of 1,000 an hour. Fans
talked about him scoring goals with either hand, how he could hit batting-practice
pitches into the stands at Tiger Stadium and how he rearranged the face of a bully, Lou
Fontinato, during a 1959 game that was so memorable Life magazine covered it with a
three-page spread.
"Howe's punches went whop, whop, whop, just like someone chopping wood," a Red
Wings teammate told the magazine.
"I never had to fight again," Howe said years later, adding that in retirement he
socialized with Fontinato at the suggestion of Colleen.
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The debate over who was the greatest hockey player — Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Maurice
Richard, Mario Lemieux or Bobby Orr — might never end, but there is little question
Howe was one of the most beloved NHL stars. Growing up in Ontario, Gretzky idolized
him and wore No. 99 on his back because Howe wore No. 9. In Quebec City, owners of
a bar called GH 9 assumed the name required no explanation. In Los Angeles,
producers of "The Simpsons" made an image of Howe a part of one 1992 plot, then ran
his career statistics during the closing credits.
Howe's on-ice persona, like his understated personality, was subtle. He was not a water
bug-like skater, as Gretzky, or a fiery competitor, like Richard. He understood the
game's rhythms, and he quietly excelled at every skill it demanded, from skating to
shooting. He was far more durable than any other star, and he was one of the league's
strongest players, as well. Howe stopped being a fighter after he had established
himself as a star, but he played with an attitude. He was famous for the expert — and
inconspicuous — use of his elbows and stick. A goal, assist and a fight during a game
for one player became known as a "Gordie Howe hat trick."
During his long career, Howe received some 400 stitches, mostly in the face. He broke
his ribs, his nose and underwent surgery on both knees. He lost several teeth, including
three that were knocked out in his first NHL game. He once arrived at a hospital in
critical condition.
Mordecai Richler, the late Canadian novelist, once wrote that Howe, like a true artist,
made it look easy. "During his vintage years, you seldom noticed the flash of elbows,
only the debris they left behind," Richler wrote. "He never seemed that fast, but
somehow he got there first. He didn't wind up to shoot, like so many of today's golfers,
but next time the goalie dared to peek, the puck was behind him."
“He never seemed that fast, but somehow he got there first. He didn't wind up to shoot,
like so many of today's golfers, but next time the goalie dared to peek, the puck was
behind him.”
Howe starred at right wing for the Red Wings from 1946 to 1971. In that quarter-century,
they won nine regular-season league titles and four Stanley Cup championships. He led
the league in scoring six times, was selected most valuable player six times and made
the All-Star Game 23 times. He finished in the top five in NHL scoring for 20 straight
seasons. He teamed with Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel during the Stanley Cup years on the
famed "Production Line," a trio as prolific as Detroit's car factories at their post-war
peak.
Howe retired after the 1970-71 season and became a club vice president. The Wings
retired his jersey in March 1972 during an elaborate ceremony at the Olympia that
featured Vice President Spiro Agnew. But Howe chafed at the do-nothing role the Wings
assigned him, reportedly calling it the "mushroom treatment" in which they keep you in
the dark and occasionally throw manure on you. When Howe told the story, he used an
earthier word than manure, and always got a laugh.
In 1973, Howe became a pro hockey player again. The Houston Aeros of the upstart
World Hockey Association offered him a chance to play with sons Marty and Mark, and
the Howes became stars and hockey promoters in the Sun Belt, then all three moved to
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the New England Whalers in 1977. When four WHA teams merged with the NHL in
1979, Howe — at 51 — started one final season.
He played in all 80 games, scoring 15 goals. Selected by coach Scotty Bowman to the
1980 All-Star Game at Detroit's new Joe Louis Arena, Howe seemed to tear up when a
crowd of 21,002 give him a 21/2-minute standing ovation and chanted his name.
During his long retirement, Howe and Colleen barnstormed North America, making
appearances, launching businesses, running hockey schools, publishing books and
doting on their grandchildren.
He eventually became caregiver to Colleen, who suffered from Pick's disease, a
debilitating form of dementia. One of the toughest men in a rugged sport fed his wife,
prepared her medication and watched over her as she existed in an ever-thickening fog.
She died in 2009, about a month short of their 56th wedding anniversary.
Speaking of his wife's death later that year, Howe told the Associated Press: "You can
think you're a big strong guy, but if something like that happens, it makes you weak as a
kitten."
Born in tiny Floral, Saskatchewan, Howe grew up during the Depression in nearby
Saskatoon, the fifth of nine children of Ab and Katherine Howe. Ab Howe was an
American who had traveled north from Minnesota to homestead on the Canadian
prairie, which was so flat that Gordie would later say you could watch your dog run
away for three days.
His mother was a German immigrant who gave birth to the future Mr. Hockey in the
family home after drawing water from the well and heating it, concluding the process,
Howe said, by tying the umbilical cord herself.
The family struggled, sometimes eating oatmeal three times a day. Howe learned to
skate and stickhandle in frozen potato patches, often using frigid horse chips for pucks.
Shy, big and clumsy as a kid, his schoolmates taunted him, calling him "dough head."
But he dreamed of greater things and practiced signing his autograph at the kitchen
table.
He left school after eighth grade, certain that hockey would be his ticket out of the wheat
fields. He signed with the Wings in 1944 at age 17 for $2,300 and a team jacket —
which he didn't receive until more than a year later. He spent a year at Detroit's junior
affiliate in Galt, Ontario, working in a war munitions factory when he wasn't playing
hockey, and scored 22 goals the next season for the minor-league Omaha Knights.
In 1946, Howe came to Detroit with a $5,000 contract. He was the youngest player in
the league. "Away from the ice he is a typical teenage youngster," the Wings' press
guide said of its bonus baby. "He enjoys swing music and malted milks. He is shy and
afraid of the opposite sex."
Wings general manager Jack Adams already had assembled the nucleus of a great
team. Within a few years of Howe's arrival, the Wings were on their way to becoming
the only sports dynasty in Detroit history until the Wings of the 1990s and 2000s.
Starting in 1949, the Wings finished first seven straight seasons and won four Stanley
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Cups at a time when the city was reaping the fruits of the postwar economic boom,
peaking in population, wealth and power.
In 1949-50, Lindsay, Abel and Howe finished 1-2-3, respectively, in scoring; Abel won
the most valuable player award. In the playoffs, the Wings met the Maple Leafs, the
defending Stanley Cup champs. Howe was involved in an on-ice accident that almost
ended his career — and his life — when he attempted to check the Leafs' Ted (Teeder)
Kennedy. Howe fell head-first into the boards, although some witnesses claimed
Kennedy helped him fall by butt-ending him with his stick.
Howe hit the ice, unconscious, blood covering his face, his skull fractured, his
cheekbone broken and eye lacerated. Fearing the worst, the team summoned his family
from Saskatoon. Surgeons operated to relieve the pressure on Howe's brain.
He made a quick recovery but missed the rest of the playoffs. Stirred by Howe's injury,
the Wings defeated the Leafs in overtime of the seventh game and beat the New York
Rangers in another seventh-game sudden death. The Olympia crowd cheered Howe,
his shaved head wrapped in bandages, as he gingerly walked onto the ice to touch the
trophy.
In that era, many of the Wings lived in a boarding house near Olympia run by a woman
named Ma Shaw. Howe once wrote that Lindsay was "the most important presence in
my life" before he married, but the friendship suffered when Howe refused to support
Lindsay's attempt to organize a players' union.
Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings 1969-1970.Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
1969-1970.
And... Howe!
As a young Red Wing, Howe was painfully introverted. Alone in the big city, he slept on
a cot in the bowels of Olympia and killed rats with a hockey stick. To kill time, he would
walk along Woodward Avenue, people-watching, and hang out at the Lucky Strike
bowling alley on Grand River, watching people bowl.
During the 1951-52 season, someone at the Lucky Strike introduced Howe to Colleen
Joffa, a 17-year-old secretary who had graduated from Mackenzie High School. She
had never heard of Gordie Howe. It was Gordie's first serious romance, and he was
smitten.
In a letter to Colleen from 1953, which she saved, Gordie concluded, "So I'll leave you
with the thought in your mind that there's a fisherman up north who is missing you like
crazy. As ever, Love and all, Gord."
Colleen and Gordie eventually formed one of the most remarkable husband-wife teams
in the history of professional sports. Colleen took over Gordie's business affairs and
began cutting deals in the 1950s. At one time or another, the Howes owned a
restaurant, a hockey arena, a travel agency, 350 head of pedigreed cattle, apartment
buildings, a herd of llamas and a firm selling silo preservative.
They produced award-winning hockey instructional videos, published several books,
sold life insurance, managed a platoon of hundreds of Amway distributors and started a
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charitable foundation. She registered as trademarks the names Mr. Hockey, Mrs.
Hockey and Gordie Howe.
Howe and other former players filed a lawsuit in the early 1990s that charged the league
had shortchanged them over pension benefits. In 1994, the players won a ruling in the
Canadian courts that NHL had to put $32.6 million back into the pension fund for players
who retired before 1982.As a young star, Howe made little money; early in his career,
he hauled cement bags in the summer. In "Net Worth," an authoritative 1991 book,
authors David Cruise and Alison Griffiths asserted that Howe's reluctance to demand
more from the Wings made him the most underpaid player in the history of professional
sports and helped keep the salaries of other hockey players well below those in other
major league sports.
When he was suing the league, Howe recognized the irony that he had refused to join
the nascent players' union in the 1950s. Howe's membership would have boosted the
union's status, but he was afraid of alienating Adams, the Wings' paternalistic general
manager.
Cruise and Griffiths wrote: "It is a measure of how genuine was Howe's humility, off-ice
geniality and love of hockey, that he isn't the most hated man of his era."
Not all of the Howes' off-ice business adventures were successful. Colleen once said
they lost the equivalent of a life savings in the cattle herd, and a $90-million real estate
project in Brighton that was to include a hotel, condos and four ice arenas never got off
the ground.
After the death of Colleen and even after Howe began showing symptoms of dementia
himself, he toured North America, raising millions for Alzheimer's research. In recent
years he spent time with his children and grandchildren, went ocean fishing, hit golf
balls, walked and raked leaves — sometimes for hours. But he often could not
remember the next day what he had done. In October 2014, Putnam published his most
recent autobiography, "Mr. Hockey: My Story."
The death of Gordie, after the passing of Colleen, brings to a close a unique chapter in
Detroit sports history.
Once, at a dinner, Gordie was talking in his usual, self-deprecating way when Colleen
interrupted.
"Gordie, don't talk with your hands in front of your mouth," she said.
"Dear, don't give me orders," he responded. "People will get the wrong impression that
you're the boss."
There was no acrimony in the exchange, just tenderness and a little irony. Their children
said they still held hands in their 70s when they walked on the beach or attended a
movie.
"It's been a mutual agreement, a partnership," Gordie said. "I married a strong lady who
has been very, very good for me because there are a lot of departments where I know I
lack."
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Bill McGraw, who worked full-time at the Free Press for 32 years, wrote Gordie Howe's
obituary before his departure in 2009. Among his many beats at the Free Press,
McGraw covered the Red Wings and the Howe family. McGraw was inducted into the
Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2014.
Free Press sports reporter Helene St. James contributed to this report.
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Detroit Lions Hall-of-Famer Joe Schmidt: 'I was amazed' at Gordie Howe
Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press 4:26 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Joe Schmidt wasn't much of a hockey fan when he came to Detroit as a seventh-round
pick of the Detroit Lions in 1953, but it didn't take long for Schmidt to gain an
appreciation for the sport, thanks in part to Gordie Howe.
Schmidt, like Howe one of Detroit's greatest sports legends of the 1950s and '60s, said
he and Howe occasionally spent time together on the banquet circuit during their
playing days. And like many across the country, the Hall-of-Fame linebacker mourned
Howe's passing today.
Howe was 88.
"The first time I went to a hockey game to see the Red Wings play, I was just amazed at
their ability and how they got around on the ice, almost like they were walking it was so
natural to them," Schmidt said. "Of course, Gordie was a great skater, a great defensive
player, all-around hockey guy. He was just – when you dealt with him he was just an
ordinary guy and quiet, didn’t say much. He was very nice to people when they come up
to him. He was just a great guy."
Schmidt won two championships in 13 seasons with the Lions, made 10 straight Pro
Bowls and went on to coach the team from 1967-72.
His playing career - 1953-65 - overlapped with some of Howe's best seasons with the
Red Wings.
"I was amazed just like everybody else," Schmidt said. "I was a fan."
Howe, nicknamed Mr. Hockey, played for the Red Wings in 1946-71, and led the team
to four Stanley Cup championships.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972, and a statue of him graces the
concourse of the Red Wings' Joe Louis Arena today.
Schmidt said he doesn't have any specific recollections of the 20 or so times he and
Howe spent time together socially - "Christ, I'm 84, what do you expect?" Schmidt said but he appreciated the mark Howe left on hockey, the city of Detroit and the people he
came in contact with.
“He was sort of a quiet guy when we’d get together," Schmidt said. "It was almost like
he never wanted to talk about himself or say anything. You almost had to drag things
from him in regards to his playing career and his playing ability. But I found him to be a
fine gentleman and a great guy.
"He was always very respectful and very nice to me, and I respected him for his ability
and the way he conducted himself."
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Mr. Hockey made strong impression on Wings’ Larkin
Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News 6:35 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Detroit — The thing that stands out the most for Dylan Larkin was the respect.
When Gordie Howe visited Joe Louis Arena for what turned out to be the last time in
March, both the Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres stopped training and getting ready for
that night’s game when Gordie Howe walked past both locker rooms.
“It was like the president was walking through,” said Larkin, 19, the Waterford native
who starred for the Red Wings in his rookie season. “Just the respect from both teams,
everyone just stopped what they were doing and paid their respects to Mr. Howe.”
Despite growing up in the Metro Detroit area and being around hockey his entire life,
that evening was the first time Larkin met Howe.
“I was able to get a picture and we talked for a brief moment, it was a special memory
I’ll have,” Larkin said.
The impact of players such as Howe, Ted Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio, among others,
is leaving an impression with Larkin at this stage of his young career.
Larkin respects the way the revered Red Wings alumni carry themselves around other
people.
“You watch them, how they interact, and they really set an example,” Larkin said. “A guy
like Mr. Howe, you see his popularity in Detroit and all the things he accomplished and
his popularity, how people love him and how highly people think of him, it really leaves
an impact.
“You know about the Stanley Cups he won and all he did (in hockey), but just the way
he treated people, it was pretty amazing.”
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Emrick, NBC hockey colleagues praise Howe
Detroit — When Mike Emrick was growing up he was a fan of Gordie Howe’s.
But even more than the hockey player, Emrick was impressed with Howe the man.
“Gordie’s personality, his character, and how he served as an ambassador for the
league,” said Michigan resident Emrick, one of the premier announcers in sports, in an
NBC Sports statement. “Gordie was a major reason why many who weren’t athletes still
loved the sport. They shook that hand, got one of those legible autographs, and for a
few seconds fashioned a lifetime memory.
“Like the sport he played, Gordie Howe was a mixture of imposing brawn and polite
character. There were generations of fans who bought tickets to see ‘Mr. Hockey’ and
his skill that they too wore No. 9.”
Emrick’s partiners Mike Milbury and Pierre McGuire were also awed by Howe’s grace
and personality.
Said Milbury: “Gordie Howe was ‘Mr. Hockey’ because he was the embodiment of all the
qualities we admire in a player — skilled, beyond tough, durable, reliable and teamoriented. More importantly, and what made him most endearing, was that he was simply
a very nice guy.”
Said McGuire: “Gordie Howe is probably the most iconic No. 9 of all time, along with
Maurice “Rocket” Richard and Bobby Hull. Gordie was the personification of the power
forward position — he was fast, rugged, skilled, and dominated the game. He was
feared by his opponents, and respected by his teammates.
“I got to know Gordie during my time as the head coach of the Hartford Whalers, and as
fierce as he was on the ice, he was a better gentleman off the ice. It was a pleasure and
privilege to know him and his family, and he’ll be missed by the National Hockey League
and the entire hockey community.”
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Kupelian: Howe the measuring stick for all ages
Vartan Kupelian, Special to The Detroit News 5:34 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
It was just before Christmas during the 1977-78 hockey season. The assignment from
the editor was to travel to Hartford to spend a couple days chronicling Gordie Howe’s
first season with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association.
Howe had left the Red Wings six years earlier, and after four seasons with the WHA’s
Houston Aeros, the franchise moved to Hartford.
Imagine that. Spend a few days watching Howe and writing about him.
Talk about being wide-eyed, and it’s not something that happened easily or often for me.
But this was special. This was Gordie Howe.
I grew up in Detroit and Highland Park. Going to Red Wings games with my father was
a ritual. He was a factory worker, but back then, even blue-collars could afford to sit in
the upper deck or buy standing room and sit on the steps. That was a different time, in a
lot of ways, but always special because we were privileged to see Howe, the greatest
athlete I ever covered, and nothing was an inconvenience.
Howe could hit a baseball a mile. He could hit a golf ball two miles. And if somebody
dared challenge him on the ice, he could throw that poor guy unfortunate enough to be
wearing an opposing jersey into the cheap seats. His nickname among teammates was
“Power.”
‘Kind, gentle soul’
I was sitting in a Greek mythology class at Wayne State years ago when the lecturer
began talking about contemporary heroic figures, those among us who the Greeks
would turn into myths. He surveyed the class, looking for responses. There were none.
Disappointed, the professor continued.
“Think about it,” he said. “Somebody with super-human strength. A powerful physique.
Someone who combines a menacing appearance with a kind, gentle soul.”
Still, no response from the befuddled students. Exasperated, the professor said, “Isn’t
anybody here a hockey fan? Doesn’t anybody here know about Gordie Howe.”
Of course, I was too embarrassed to admit I was a Howe fan, but clearly that lecture
made such an impact on me that I remember it today, some 50 years later. And I
thought about it that first day in Hartford when I sat alongside Howe in the Whalers
dressing room to tell him the purpose of my trip.
Even at an age nearing 50, the muscles rippled. The powerful sloping shoulders and the
forearms were imposing, and the elbows, yes indeed, they were sharp. I remember that
menacing is the word my old college professor used.
The mythic hero
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Howe was as gracious and nice to a young reporter in Hartford as anybody possibly
could be. Charming. The gentle side of the mythic hero in our midst. Everybody I’ve
ever encountered over the years who has had a Howe story always talked about that
tender side, how he would shovel snow for neighbors or push stalled cars out of harm’s
way or greet fans and obligingly sign autographs.
And on the ice, he was simply the greatest, even in those waning years. In Hartford
during the 1977-78 season, he scored 62 points (34 goals) in 76 games.
In Detroit, the vote always has been unanimous.
Who’s the greatest hockey player ever? Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr or Godie Howe?
In my book, it was always Howe because he offered so much more to his team than
goals and assists and statistics. He was a protector. He was the man who always
evened the score, with a shot or a pass or an elbow to the noggin.
On those bus rides with the Red Wings, to and from hotels and airports, back in the day
when writers were allowed to travel with the team, I heard all the stories.
Like the young Red Wings players, I listened and absorbed when the veteran players
told Howe stories. I’d even hear Howe tales from opposing players whose admiration for
his abilities was unparalleled. The opponents who had to take him on did so with the
ultimate respect for who he was and what he did. I never heard any animosity directed
toward him that lasted longer than a well-timed upper-cut.
Heroes never die
I have another cherished personal story.
Years ago, and well after the Howe era in Detroit, I was walking through the Wings
dressing a couple days before the start of the season. As was the habit, I strolled into
the trainer’s room for a cup of too-old and too-strong coffee. There, the equipment
manager was sorting through the new equipment — jerseys, pants, socks, sticks.
Suddenly, he hurled something into a large trash bin. I said, “What are you doing?”
His reply: “I’ve been telling (the equipment manufacturer) for years not to send me any
more practice jerseys with No. 9. But they keep sending. I just throw them out!”
That’s when I began to stammer. He looked at me and said, “Why, do you want it?”
Sure, I did. He pulled that gold practice jersey out of the bin and tossed it to me.
I still have it, of course, and it may be the last No. 9 with a winged-wheel crest on the
chest the manufacturer ever delivered. It’s in a very safe place, and whenever I see it, I
think of a legendary and mythic figure that was so cherished in our midst.
Heroes never die.
Gordie Howe will be with us forever.
Vartan Kupelian was a reporter for The News for 34 years and the Red Wings beat
writer from 1974-88.
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‘You don’t get many legends:’ Fans mourn Howe
Holly Fournier, The Detroit News 6:21 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Detroit — His name was Gordie Howe and he wore the No. 9.
But to his fans, he was Mr. Hockey.
Howe’s death early Friday at age 88 prompted lifelong Red Wings fans to remember the
man who played in five decades and won four Stanley Cups.
“I don’t know why, but I wanted to walk down to this area,” Detroiter Richard Ramsdell
said, standing underneath the Fox Theatre marquee and near the Hockeytown Cafe. “I
wanted to get the feel of it, I guess.”
As he spoke, a black and white tribute flashed onto the marquee, depicting a young
Howe alongside the words, “Thank you, Mr. Hockey.”
“I was hoping to see (Howe) inaugurate that arena someday,” Ramsdell said, gesturing
up the street to the new stadium, still under construction.
During a Red Wings game about 10 years ago, Ramsdell stumbled upon Gordie Howe
giving a stick-handling lesson to a young boy, he said.
“It was just something that stuck in my mind. He was so patient; it just seemed so
natural for him to be taking the time,” Ramsdell said. “You could tell the boy didn’t know
who he was, but his parents sure did.”
After the impromptu lesson, Ramsdell, now 78, gathered to courage to approach Howe.
Awestruck, he barely managed introductions, he said.
“I shook hands with him,” Ramsdell said. “But I couldn’t get anything out except ‘Mr.
Hockey.’ ”
Detroiter Nick Thornton, 37, said his father raised him to be a Howe fan from a young
age.
“It was stuff I heard from my dad, just that (Howe) was really tough and exciting to
watch,” Thornton said.
He added that Howe’s death was “a little shocking” after more recent news reports
indicated the former player was recovering well from a series of strokes.
“He was a legend, and you don’t get many legends,” Thornton said. “He was Mr.
Hockey in Hockeytown. It’s a huge loss.”
Reaction also has poured in from officials in all corners of the state, including Red
Wings brass, politicians and other sports figures:
■ Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch: “Today is a sad day for the Detroit Red Wings and the
entire hockey world as together we mourn the loss of one of the greatest hockey players
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of all time. The Red Wings organization and the National Hockey League would not be
what they are today without Gordie Howe. There is no nickname more fitting for him
than ‘Mr. Hockey.’ He embodied on and off the ice what it meant to be both a Red Wing
and a Detroiter. He was tough, skilled, and consistently earned success at the highest
level. His achievements are numerous and his accomplishments immeasurable. It is
truly a blessing to have had him both in our organization and our city for so many years.
He will be deeply missed.”
■ Red Wings general manager Ken Holland: “Gordie Howe was an incredible
ambassador for the game of hockey. He was as fierce and competitive as they come
but away from the rink he was truly engaging and personable and always enjoyed his
interaction with the fans. Gordie set the standard for this franchise during the Original
Six era, winning four Stanley Cups, capturing numerous awards and setting an
abundance of league records. We will miss Mr. Hockey, who was the greatest Red Wing
of all time. Our deepest sympathies go out to Mark, Marty, Murray, Cathy and the rest of
the Howe family during this difficult time.”
■ Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg: “To me, he is Detroit. The thing that really
stands out was, he made it easy. He made it so easy. You’re talking with him, and you’re
thinking to yourself ‘This is Mr. Hockey’, but he joked and smiled and he made the
conversation pretty easy.
“You’re kind of nervous, you don’t know what to expect, but he just talked with you and
you made you feel comfortable and that meant a lot.”
■ Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin: “A guy like Mr. Howe, you see his popularity in
Detroit and all the things he accomplished and his popularity, how people love him and
how highly people think of him, it really leaves an impact.
“You know about the Stanley Cups he won and all he did (in hockey), but just the way
he treated people, it was pretty amazing.”
■ Gov. Rick Snyder: “Gordie Howe will forever be remembered as ‘Mr. Hockey,’ but he
could also be known as ‘Mr. Detroit’ or ‘Mr. Michigan’ for the years of thrills he gave Red
Wings fans in our state and around the world. He represented Detroit with pride and
class. In a city that cherishes its many champions, Howe was perhaps the most
beloved.
“Howe became universally respected for his tough play and durability in a career that
spanned decades, setting records that stood for years, and some that likely will never
be broken. After eventually hanging up the skates, Howe continued living in Michigan
and served as an ambassador for his sport and Detroit.
“His legacy in Michigan will carry on through the Gordie Howe International Bridge,
which will stand as a united symbol between his home country and his adopted country,
representing the teamwork he always embodied.
“Sue and I extend our condolences to the Howe family, and also a heartfelt thank you to
a legend who epitomized the word ‘champion’ on and off the ice.”
■ Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan: “Few sports figures were more beloved, more idolized
than Gordie Howe, a man whose greatness went far beyond the rink. He will be
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remembered as much for his kindness off the ice as for how he was feared on it during
his incomparable career with the Red Wings. No one played the game harder or better.
Our entire city mourns the passing of this great man, and our hearts go out to his friends
and family and all who loved Mr. Hockey.”
■ Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak: “Like for so many, for my brother Carl and me,
Gordie Howe was one of our greatest heroes growing up. As kids we enjoyed often
taking a bus and a street car to then climb up the many stairs into the balcony of the
Olympia to see Gordie’s magic. I can still remember, as clearly as yesterday, some of
his goals that only Gordie Howe could have accomplished.”
■ Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company: “Throughout life, when asked
who my role models were, I always replied Henry Ford and Gordie Howe. Growing up,
his picture hung on my wall and when attending his Gordie Howe Hockeyland school in
St. Clair Shores, he made a personal effort to know every player by name. His passing
is profoundly sad to the entire community, yet I am grateful for his deep friendship over
the years.”
■ Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio: “I just know him as a legend. It’s a
tragedy when our country loses legends … it’s a part of our lives, growing up with
them.”
■ Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh: “Never had a chance to meet Gordie Howe.
Would have loved to. Muhammad Ali the greatest and Gordie Howe is the greatest.
Muhammad Ali infused a whole world with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind and
Gordie infused a toughness unknown to mankind. Both of those men have been heroes
of mine and my family, all of us. Sorry to hear that news.”
■ Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson: "We're all saddened by the news. We knew
this was coming but still the reality sets in, that a player like Gordie Howe doesn't come
around this often, a player that plays as well and as long as he did. He may have been
the most well rounded athletic player that I've ever seen. I got to play with him and
against him and I got to know him really well after we both retired."
■ Steve Yzerman, former Red Wings captain and current Tampa Bay Lightning vice
president and general manager: "It was very saddening to hear the news of Gordie's
passing this morning. He has been an icon not only in Detroit, but throughout the entire
hockey world for as long as I can remember. As one of the greatest players to ever play
in the NHL, the majority of his career being in Detroit, it was an honor to wear the same
uniform, spend time with, laugh, joke and seek advice from him. Gordie's humility and
kindness left a permanent impression on me, greatly influencing how I tried to conduct
myself throughout my career.
“His impact on the Red Wings organization is still evident today. I travel the world and
constantly hear stories from people who love the Wings and share memories of the
glory days when Gordie and his teammates ruled the NHL. For all players fortunate
enough to play for the Wings, we should take time to thank and honor Gordie, for he is a
significant reason why Detroit is such a special place to play.
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“To Gordie's surviving family, I offer my sincere condolences, in particular to his son
Mark, my former teammate and colleague, who cannot help but remind me of his father
every time I see him."
■ NASCAR driver and Rochester Hills native Brad Keselowski: “Being in Detroit it is a
huge deal if you are from this area, his passing. I know he lived really close to me when
I was growing up and it is a big deal for all my friends and family. That is a guy that left a
tremendous legacy on his sport. I am thinking about him and his family.
“He retired before I had a chance to really be a hockey fan but just being a Detroit
person in general I don’t think you can group up in this area and not be a hockey fan of
the Red Wings. Looking at that, I think he had more than just the respect of just his
community. He had the respect of his entire sport which is hard to do for anyone. He
had such admiration from the fan base and it has been almost 40 years since he retired.
That really says something about someone.”
■ NHL play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick: “Gordie’s personality, his character, and
how he served as an ambassador for the league. Gordie was a major reason why many
who weren’t athletes still loved the sport. They shook that hand, got one of those legible
autographs, and for a few seconds fashioned a lifetime memory.
“Like the sport he played, Gordie Howe was a mixture of imposing brawn and polite
character. There were generations of fans who bought tickets to see “Mr. Hockey” and
his skill that they too wore No. 9.”
■ NBC hockey analyst Mike Milbury: “Gordie Howe was ‘Mr. Hockey’ because he was
the embodiment of all the qualities we admire in a player – skilled, beyond tough,
durable, reliable and team-oriented. More importantly, and what made him most
endearing, was that he was simply a very nice guy.”
■ NBC hockey analyst Pierre McGuire: “Gordie Howe is probably the most iconic No. 9
of all time,a long with Maurice “Rocket” Richard and Bobby Hull. Gordie was the
personification of the power forward position – he was fast, rugged, skilled, and
dominated the game. He was feared by his opponents, and respected by his
teammates.
“I got to know Gordie during my time as the head coach of the Hartford Whalers, and as
fierce as he was on the ice, he was a better gentleman off the ice. It was a pleasure and
privilege to know him and his family, and he’ll be missed by the National Hockey
League and the entire hockey community.”
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‘Icon’ Howe left lasting impression on ex-Wing Yzerman
Detroit — Steve Yzerman has a special place in Red Wings history but even Yzerman
calls Gordie Howe an “icon” in the game and Red Wings organization.
“It was very saddening to hear the news of Gordie’s passing this morning,” said
Yzerman, general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, in a released statement. “He
has been an icon not only in Detroit, but throughout the entire hockey world for as long
as I can remember.
“As one of the greatest players to ever play in the NHL, the majority of his career being
in Detroit, it was an honor to wear the same uniform, spend time with, laugh, joke and
seek advice from him. Gordie’s humility and kindness left a permanent impression on
me, greatly influencing how I tried to conduct myself throughout my career.”
Howe’s impact on the Red Wings organization, said Yzerman, will not be forgotten.
“His impact on the Red Wings organization is still evident today,” Yzerman said. “I travel
the world and constantly hear stories from people who love the Wings and share
memories of the glory days when Gordie and his teammates ruled the NHL.
“For all players fortunate enough to play for the Wings, we should take time to thank
and honor Gordie, for he is a significant reason why Detroit is such a special place to
play.
“To Gordie’s surviving family, I offer my sincere condolences, in particular to his son
every time I see him.”
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Wojo: Mr. Hockey stood for greatness
Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News 2:58 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Before sports became glamorized and specialized, before the biggest stars did the
flashiest work, Gordie Howe did it all. He did it with magical hands and pointed elbows,
with incomparable toughness and irresistible kindness.
There’s a reason Mr. Hockey stood alone, and stood longer than anyone, spanning 32
seasons across two leagues and multiple generations. He endured longer than anyone
could have imagined, past a normal retirement date, past an ordinary mortality date, all
the way to Friday, when he passed away at the age of 88.
In a sport without the cross-country appeal of others, in an era when the NHL had six
teams, Mr. Hockey’s fame extended well beyond Detroit. He’s the Red Wings career
leader in goals, points, games and goodwill, guiding the team to four Stanley Cup titles,
and his No. 9 sweater is the most famous in our city’s history.
Think about this. There’s no Mr. Football, no Mr. Basketball, no Mr. Baseball, at least not
in unofficial American lore. Each icon in those sports stood for something different,
maybe the greatest hitter, maybe the greatest scorer.
But few stood for everything.
Gracious perseverance
When a legend passes, we often say we’ll never see another like him. Sometimes it’s
true, sometimes it’s not. It’s true of Muhammad Ali, whose funeral Friday was
commemorated by millions. It will be true of Howe, not for social reasons, but as the
ultimate symbol of gracious perseverance.
Gracious? Oh, yes, even after he’d complete a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, an
assist, and a fight in the same game — he’d often apologize to whichever poor sap
suffered the broken nose. Some of it was legend — Howe actually only fought 22 times
in a career that went from 1946-80 before he retired at the age of 52 — and some of it
was unequivocally astounding.
Wayne Gretzky eventually passed Howe as the NHL’s career leader with 894 goals, and
the Great One defined scoring and playmaking prowess. Howe finished with 801, and
played the most games in NHL history.
Among Howe, Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux and others, you can debate the
game’s Greatest of All Time. I suppose you even could debate the Wings greatest, with
Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom ruling for 22 and 20 years, respectively. But I’d say
Howe wins by his sheer force of presence and fearsomeness.
There’s no debating the moniker that befit Hockey’s first family — Mr. Hockey, Mrs.
Hockey (wife Colleen, who passed in 2009), sons Mark, Marty and Murray, and
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daughter Cathy. Mark and Marty followed their father into the sport, and all became
caretakers of his history and his health.
Two years ago, it appeared the end was near for Howe, as he suffered from the effects
of stroke and dementia. Eulogies were written and people mourned. But did anyone
believe a guy who scored 23 goals in the last of his 25 seasons with the Wings in 1971
would slip quietly away?
His family took Gordie to Mexico for revolutionary stem cell treatment, and it bought
time, and even bought him a farewell. He was honored at a Joe Louis Arena birthday
celebration in March, his voice silenced by the ravages of nature, but the memories so
strong.
Revered and feared
Red Wings players long have spoken in awe of the man they’d see in the halls of the
Joe, stopping to chat or share a joke. It was part of the allure of the storied franchise, as
old greats like Howe and Ted Lindsay sat on stools in the locker room and spun tales to
the young players.
When you met Howe, you were struck by two things. He wasn’t as big as you’d expect,
about 6-foot, 205 pounds when he played. And there wasn’t a hint of the meanness he
could show on the ice. He had charm and wit, captured in one of his famous quotes:
“I’m bilingual: English and profanity.”
If someone can be revered and feared at the same time, that was Howe, famous for
sticking up for teammates and never forgetting to avenge an on-ice transgression. He
once said he’d rather set up a goal than score one, and he’d rather rough up an
opponent than anything. It was the hard work, the dirty work, the type of work that
connected him with Detroit and with a sport where players proudly counted up stitches
and missing teeth.
Howe never could leave the game, and the game never left him. He actually played one
more time in 1997, taking a shift with the minor-league Detroit Vipers at the age of 70.
Some thought the publicity act was unbecoming for a legend, but I actually believe it
enhanced his tale. It introduced the story to a generation that might not have fully
understood the breadth and depth of his career.
No one will forget the humble man from Saskatoon who scored a goal in his first game
with the Red Wings in 1946, and scored 15 his final season with the Hartford Whalers in
1980.
No one elevated a sport for a longer stretch than Mr. Hockey, the man who earned the
title by doing it all, in ways no one ever did, in ways no one ever will.
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Ted Lindsay on Howe: ‘Greatest player that ever played’
Detroit — The news of Gordie Howe’s death only compounded what was already
shaping to be a dreary day for Ted Lindsay.
Lindsay was spending most of the day Friday at the hospital with his wife Joanne, who
was undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
Lindsay, 90, was in the waiting room for an update on his wife.
“I’m a believer,” Lindsay said. “My wife, that’s who I’m thinking about.”
But Lindsay also had a moment to reminisce about his former teammate Howe, who
died Friday morning at the age of 88.
The last time Lindsay really talked to Howe, said Linday, was about three years ago.
And there’s a reason when Lindsay says that.
“The last few years, that wasn’t Gordie, that wasn’t him,” said Lindsay, of Howe’s
dementia. “It was about three years ago when I remember talking to him.
“It was Gordie.”
The line of Sid Abel, Lindsay and Howe was one of the most productive and well-known
trios in NHL history, nicknamed the ‘Production Line.’
The line had skill, toughness, grit and goal-scoring ability, nearly every hockey
component a coach or scout would want.
As for Howe, specifically, Lindsay left no doubt Friday morning, while remembering his
friend and teammate.
“The greatest player that ever played,” Lindsay said. “He was the best out of all of them.
No one better.”
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Red Wings mourn loss of Hall of Famer Howe
Detroit — The Red Wings’ organization is what it is today largely because of what
Gordie Howe did.
The hockey legend, who tied Friday morning at age 88, was a unique person and
player, according to owner Mike Ilitch.
“Today is a sad day for the Detroit Red Wings and the entire hockey world as together
we mourn the loss of one of the greatest hockey players of all time,” said Ilitch, in a
statement released by the Red Wings. “The Red Wings organization and the National
Hockey League would not be what they are today without Gordie Howe. There is no
nickname more fitting for him than ‘Mr. Hockey.’
“He embodied on and off the ice what it meant to be both a Red Wing and a Detroiter.
He was tough, skilled, and consistently earned success at the highest level. His
blessing to have had him both in our organization and our city for so many years. He will
be deeply missed.”
Howe was the longest-tenured player in Red Wings’ history. His playing career spanned
five decades, Howe playing in 2,421 games until the age of 52.
Howe played his minor hockey in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and was signed to his first
professional contract with the Red Wings prior to the 1945-46 season.
Howe spent one season with the USHL’s Omaha Knights before joining the Red Wings
for the 1946-47 season.
Upon Howe’s arrival, the Red Wings went on to win four Stanley Cups in the 1950s
(1950, 1952, 1954, 1955), while Howe led the NHL in scoring four consecutive seasons
beginning in 1950-51.
For the next 20 seasons, Howe would finish in the top-five in scoring.
Howe was the Hart Trophy winner, as the NHL’s most valuable player, six times (1952,
1953, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1963) and NHL First All-Star team selection 12 times (nine
times Second Team).
“Gordie Howe was an incredible ambassador for the game of hockey,” Red Wings
general manager Ken Holland said. “He was as fierce and competitive as they come but
away from the rink he was truly engaging and personable and always enjoyed his
interaction with the fans.
“Gordie set the standard for this franchise during the Original Six era, winning four
Stanley Cups, capturing numerous awards and setting an abundance of league records.
We will miss Mr. Hockey, who was the greatest Red Wing of all time. Our deepest
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sympathies go out to Mark, Marty, Murray, Cathy and the rest of the Howe family during
this difficult time.”
Howe is survived by his four children Marty, Mark, Cathy and Murray, and nine
grandchildren.
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Hockey great Gordie Howe dies at 88
Gregg Krupa, The Detroit News 2:44 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Gordie Howe, a legendary figure in Detroit sports and widely acclaimed as one of the
greatest hockey players in history, died shortly before 8 a.m. Friday, the Red Wings
confirmed. He was 88.
Howe died surrounded by family at his son Murray's house. He suffered a series of
strokes in recent years.
Howe combined strength and mobility, brute intimidation and prolific scoring, a blend of
skills rare in the NHL, which he performed with transcendent ability.
A winner of four Stanley Cups, six scoring titles and six MVPs, Howe is third in NHL
history with 1,850 points, including 801 goals and 1,049 assists, despite playing in a
defensive era.
He tallied 20 or more goals in 22 straight seasons, 1949-71. He ranked among the top
five scorers 20 times.
Both Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr, sometimes heralded as the greatest hockey
players in history, say Howe topped them.
Scotty Bowman, winner of nine Stanley Cups as a coach, said, “If you could make a
mold for a hockey player it would be him. I never thought there was another player close
to him.”
In 1980, at the age of 52, Howe became the oldest player in NHL history, and the only to
play in five decades. He also is the only one to play with his sons.
“When winter arrived, it always just felt like time to put on my skates,” Howe said in his
autobiography, “Mr. Hockey, My Story.”
“It didn’t matter whether I was a kid or a grandfather. The feeling never changed.”
In 1947, Howe first played with Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel on what sportswriters in the
industrial city called “The Production Line.”
They drove the Red Wings to eight consecutive first-place finishes through 1955, with
Alex Delvecchio replacing Abel. Those teams won four Stanley Cups in six years.
Such was Howe’s greatness, however, many noted his humility and humanity, the love
story that was his marriage, the accomplishment of raising fine children and the
construction of a hockey facility in St. Clair Shores that helped jump-start Michigan kids
in the Canadian game.
“I like to think of myself as a family man first and a hockey player second,” Howe said.
His most triumphant playing days occurred as the city reached the apex of its
commercial and industrial might in the 1950s. Howe is an icon of the era.
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Among the most-feared men in NHL history, Howe amassed 1,685 penalty minutes.
“It was all about letting the other guy know not to take any liberties with me,” Howe
wrote in his autobiography. “The math was simple in my mind. Respect equals space.”
From humble beginning to glory on the ice, much of his life seems the stuff of myth.
Growing up in the Canadian portion of the Dust Bowl, poor nutrition complicated the
development of his spine. But a concerted program of exercises and chores, such as
hauling large bags of cement for his father, strengthened him.
By age 15, Howe was 6-feet tall and 200 pounds, large, even for a man, in the 1940s.
Hockey consumed Howe from the time he was a small boy.
A neighbor, seeking money for milk for her family, sold Howe’s mother, Katherine, a
gunnysack filled with household goods. When she dumped the contents on the floor, a
pair of adult skates fell out.
They were well-used.
At 15, the Rangers invited Howe to a camp in Winnipeg. But he said he was so shy, his
homesickness left him less than fully engaged.
The next summer, the Red Wings invited him to a camp in Windsor, and long-time
general manager Jack Adams signed him.
Large and bustling, Detroit nearly overwhelmed him, Howe said. But he lived with
Lindsay and Marty Pavelich in a boarding house near Olympia Stadium run by Ma
Shaw. At a bowling alley in the neighborhood, he met his future wife, Colleen Joffa.
By 1950, the 22-year-old Howe had begun to make a huge mark in the NHL.
But in the first game of the playoffs, Howe suffered a near-fatal injury. Pursuing Maple
Leafs captain Ted Kennedy to prevent him from receiving a pass, Howe careened
headlong into the boards.
He sustained an injured eye, broken cheekbone, broken nose, fractured skull and a
severe concussion. His brain swelled, and that night, a surgeon drilled a hole in his skull
to relieve pressure.
A few days later, in street clothes and walking a bit unsteadily, Howe joined his
teammates on the ice for the Stanley Cup celebration.
Two seasons later, after the 24-year-old Howe tallied 86 points and 47 goals as the Red
Wings ran the table in the playoffs, sweeping the Maple Leafs and Canadiens to
become the first NHL team with a perfect record in a postseason.
But not all was happy for Howe during his career in Detroit.
After winning the Cup in 1955, the last for the Red Wings for 42 years, Adams traded
eight players, almost half the roster, including a transaction with the Blackhawks so
lopsided it appeared to fans that owner Bruce Norris intended to help half-brother,
James, who owned lowly Chicago.
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“To this day, his reasons for blowing up our championship squad defy explanation,”
Howe said.
For years, Howe also relied on word from Adams he was the highest paid player in
Detroit, and probably the NHL.
He was anything but.
But with the personal betrayal still largely unknown to Howe, for two years in the late
1950s, Lindsay secretly and meticulously tried to form a players’ union. Howe’s eventual
decision not to participate helped thwart the effort.
“Looking back, it’s easy to say now that we should have shown more resolve when the
owners tried to crack us,” Howe said. “I also accept that the situation might have turned
out differently, if I had taken on a larger leadership role.”
It was not until several years later that veteran defenseman Bob Baun arrived in Detroit
in the mid-1960s and told Howe his $45,000 salary was not the highest on the roster
and far from the top in the NHL. Howe approached Norris and demanded $100,000.
Norris, Howe said, immediately consented.
Howe retired shortly before the 1971 season, and received a showcase job in the front
office, which he detested.
He came out of retirement two years later to play with his sons, Mark and Marty, for the
Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association, winning the MVP award and
championship his first season.
When the WHA folded in 1979 with Howe playing for Hartford, the franchise was
accepted in the NHL and, at age 51, he returned to the league where he started 32
years earlier, for one last season.
He played in all 80 games.
Gordie Howe is survived by his three sons, Mark, Marty and Murray; a daughter, Cathy
Purnell; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
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Rubin: Gordie Howe, golf and the art of the game
Neal Rubin, The Detroit News 11:27 a.m. EDT June 10, 2016
The first time I met Gordie Howe was at a golf course. It was a brief encounter, but it
was a useful reminder of what made him Mr. Hockey and what made the rest of us
something other than that.
The setting was Indianwood Golf & Country Club in Lake Orion, before one of those
charity scrambles where every group gets a celebrity added to its foursome.
If you were a major sponsor, you got Gordie Howe, an ex-Tiger or a TV anchor. If you
were a minor sponsor or your check bounced, you got a newspaper columnist with
tendinitis in his right wrist and an elastic sleeve around it that doesn’t really do much to
help.
Howe, who died Friday at 88, was a valuable golf partner for more than just a lifetime of
good stories to tell. He liked the game and could hit the ball a long way.
There must be a correlation between slap shots and tee shots, because most hockey
players can bomb the ball. Former Red Wing Shawn Burr, who died three years ago at
47 after a fall in his home, would stand on the tee box at outings and bet right-handers
that he could borrow their driver, turn the club over, hit it left-handed and belt a ball
farther than they could. It was a bet you didn’t want to take.
Howe was less flamboyant but equally skilled. Budd Lynch, the late Red Wings
announcer who lost his right arm to a tracer in World War II, liked to tell a story about
shooting an 82 to beat him one day at Plum Hollow CC in Southfield.
“Gordie,” Lynch said, “was so steamed he wouldn’t talk to me.”
At Indianwood, Howe and I happened to check in at the celebrity desk at the same time.
In a proper world, there would have been one line for celebrities and another marked
“Alleged Celebrities” or “Outright Disappointments,” but all they had was the one line
and there we were.
This was 16 or 17 years ago, which puts him in his early 70s. He looked at the bandage
on my wrist, held out his forearm and said, “You got the arth-a-ritis, too?”
I didn’t correct him. Arth-a-ritis, tendinitis, who cares. What I mostly did was gape at the
leg of lamb taking up the space between his elbow and his hand. Deep into retirement,
he still had forearms so massive that my wrist would have fit into the crevices.
We’d chat a bit at other outings. Neither of us seemed to improve, golf- or inflammationwise, but it was always nice to be there.
When I could, I’d talk to his partners after the round. They all said the same thing: great
guy, good player, not at all impressed with the fact that he was maybe the best hockey
player to ever skate.
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Oh, and if he hit a couple of bad shots in a row? He’d grumble at himself – not so much
that he’d come close to spoiling the mood, but enough to make it clear he cared.
He never stopped competing, age and arth-a-ritis be damned.
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Howe, Orr, Gretzky best of best in NHL history
Gregg Krupa, The Detroit News 2 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
They played in different eras, Gordie Howe when the game was more tightly checked,
Bobby Orr as the NHL expanded and the style of play changed, and Wayne Gretzky
when the approach was wide open.
Each possessed singular abilities and produced remarkable results.
But who was “the greatest” — Howe, Orr or Gretzky?
Families at dinner tables, friends at bar rails and fans in stadiums will debate it until a
fourth name is added to the question — or the game is no longer played.
Howe was an icon of the World War II generation. Powerful and big, especially for his
era, used the threat of violence to create playing space, so Sid Abel and Alex
Delvecchio, brilliant playmakers, readily could pass the puck to him and Howe could
deftly maneuver.
Shooting from either side with equal aplomb, including back-handed with the straightblade sticks of the era, the puck often arrived hot and accurately propelled by Howe’s
seemingly unparalleled strength.
Orr arrived at 18, five years before Howe retired from the Red Wings. A darling of the
baby-boom generation, he revolutionized the game — and no one has quite played it
like him since.
A defenseman, he produced points at a rate equal to the best scoring forwards of his
era.
His approach took the historic styles of playmaking, offensive defensemen like Eddie
Shore, Doug Harvey and Pierre Pilote to dimensions so elevated and pioneering that
purists objected.
Who did this 18-year-old fresh-faced kid with a crew cut think he was, a fourth forward?
His rushes were magnificent. His playmaking, unparalleled at his position and among
the several best NHL forwards, was nothing short of revolutionary.
As for “getting back” on defense? Orr skated like the wind.
Orr did help drive a transition to a more free-flowing, unbridled style of offense. But no
one has appeared since who combined Orr’s unique array of skills.
Gretzky arrived the year after Orr retired, and saw the game with new, gifted eyes.
Participants and observers assert he was more perceptive than anyone who played.
His goal-scoring skills largely were unrivaled, even with turbo-charged offensive play
dominating the league. But Gretzky’s playmaking ability was even greater. The
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incomparable talents were well-coordinated. Such was his adroit improvisation that
comparisons to the genius of jazz musicians are entirely apt.
Scrawny in a physical game, opponents thought they could neutralize him with constant
pounding. But Gretzky’s creativity, wisdom and skating transcended them.
Each player’s dossier is replete with greatness. Many observers say any comparison is
ultimately futile because of the vastly different era in which Howe, in particular, played.
But the fact of the matter is, Orr and Gretzky assert publicly Howe is “the greatest.”
Gordie Howe
■He won four Stanley Cups, six Hart Trophies as MVP and six Ross Trophies as leading
scorer.
■He surpassed Maurice Richard’s NHL goal-scoring record of 544, and went on to
score almost 50 percent (257) more, plus 174 in the World Hockey Association.
■He garnered 1,049 assists in the NHL, 334 more in the WHA.
■An NHL All-Star 23 times, his records for games and seasons played still stand.
■He ranked among the top 10 in scoring 21 consecutive seasons, and his 95 points in
1952-53 was a record.
■In 157 playoff games, he tallied 160 points (68-92).
His prolific offense occurred in a far-more defensive era. The red line at center ice was
introduced three seasons before the 19-year-old arrived in Detroit as an initiative to
expedite the proceedings. Passing out of the defensive zone had been prohibited.
It all took some time to sink in.
Howe also shot only against five of the six best goaltenders in all of Canada, and a
highly exclusive club of players on rosters that expanded from only 15 to 18 across the
course of his career, assuring a continuously high level of play.
At the start of Howe’s career, the average tally was 4.8 goals per game. By the end, it
was 8.0.
Meanwhile, his defensive abilities and dedication to the task were stellar.
Bobby Orr
■The only defenseman ever to win the scoring title, Orr did it twice.
■He won two Stanley Cups, eight consecutive Norris Trophies as best defenseman and
three consecutive Harts as MVP.
■He was the first defenseman to score 30 goals. Then, he scored 40.
■He was the first player at any position to garner 100 assists.
■In 1970-71, Orr scored 37 goals and added 102 assists. He was a plus-124 for the
season, an NHL record.
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Despite the outsized performance, observers say Orr played when the NHL — in a huge
mistake, in the minds of many — expanded from six to 12 teams in one season. Long
before the huge influx of Europeans and well before the lifting of the Iron Curtain, many
rosters resembled their AHL counterparts for several seasons.
He also played during the introduction of curved sticks, which remarkably enhanced
players’ ability to control and fire the puck, leaving goaltenders scrambling for both
masks and new techniques to cope.
But Orr’s greatness was such that the detractions seem mere quibbles.
Wayne Gretzky
■Such was “The Great One’s” offensive prowess that he has more assists than any
other NHL player has points.
■He won four Stanley Cups, nine Hart trophies, as MVP, and 10 Ross trophies as
scoring champ.
■The leading scorer in NHL history, he is the only player to tally 200 points or more in a
season. Gretzky did it four times.
■He scored more than 100 in 13 straight seasons, and in 16 of the 20 he played.
■At the time of his retirement, Gretzky held 61 NHL records, including career goals
(894), assists (1,963) and points (2,857).
■In 1981-82, he scored 92 goals in an 80-game season.
■In 1985-86 he assisted on 163 goals, in an 80-game season, on his way to tallying a
record 215 points.
Gretzky played at a time when games were high-flying, often comparatively defenseless
affairs. If he was possessed of much in the way of defensive skills, it was unusual to
have to brandish them.
Just several years later, with the advent of more systematic defenses emphasizing, in
effect, zone play, scoring declined.
Gretzky would have excelled regardless, and his performance likely would have been
similar, but the statistics are not quite so gaudy.
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Green: Gordie Howe showed us how legends are made
Jerry Green, Special to The Detroit News 3:07 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Gordie Howe played hockey with a gliding stride, a marksman’s touch — and flailing
elbows.
And when he felt it was necessary, he played with the shaft of his stick.
Off the ice, Howe, who died at the age of 88 on Friday, offered a droll bit of humor,
plenty of wisdom — inspirational guidance.
On it, however, everything seemed effortless.
Especially the fighting.
He was motivated by revenge — with the stick, elbows and fists. All while playing
peerless hockey.
Take one night in 1959.
On one side was Rangers defenseman Louie Fontinato, regarded at the time as the
heavyweight champion of the NHL. He was tough. He was strong. He was large. He
could fight.
On the other side, Howe.
It all started when Red Wings legend Red Kelly and Rangers Hall of Famer Eddie
Shack were involved in a scrum behind the New York net. Howe went to Kelly’s aide
and Fontinato entered the fray with a wild punch.
Sticks and gloves were dropped, and Howe and Fontinato went at it.
“You could hear Howe’s punches land on Louie, whomp, whomp, whomp, like he was
chopping wood,” said the late Gump Worsley, then the Rangers goaltender.
It ended with Fontinato bloodied and defeated, his nose battered and out of place.
“The first punch was what did it,” Howe said. “It broke his nose a little bit.”
Howe, by the way, also scored two goals that night.
Timing is everything
It was during those moments when Howe provided the hockey world a glimpse of the
man who became a legend.
Sure, Howe was a scorer — he finished with 1,850 points and 801 goals.
And while intimidation was part of his game, so, too, was sportsmanship.
Bobby Baun, a rugged defenseman, once hammered his stick into Howe at Olympia
Stadium. Baun played for the Maple Leafs, the rival most hated by the Red Wings.
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But it just wasn’t nice to aggravate Howe.
Howe, patient as always, waited for his chance. Late in the game, he checked Baun
behind the Toronto goal. With his right elbow snug against Baun’s head, Howe rode his
adversary around the backboards and flush against the glass partitions.
And when it over, Baun’s head was gashed, dripping blood.
But this was hockey, and Howe and Baun later would became teammates in Detroit.
“Bobby Baun turned out to one of my best friends,” Howe once said. “He was a very
kind-hearted man.”
All about respect
Early in his career, Howe and Canadiens legend Maurice “Rocket” Richard engaged in
a bitter rivalry.
The Red Wings and Canadiens disliked each other, so fighting was common. Even for
Richard, a player with an ego who resented Howe’s talent.
They fought only once, during Howe’s rookie season in 1946.
In many ways, they were opposites — as players and people.
Richard was fiery and flamboyant and skated with flourishes. His eyes would light as he
zoomed in on goaltenders. And his emotions spilled over.
Howe was quiet, most times. His skating style was smoother than Richard’s, and he
was much more subtle.
One night at Olympia, Howe surpassed Richard as the NHL’s career goals leader with
No. 545 — against the Canadiens. The drama couldn’t be better.
The fans went nuts, and the Red Wings jumped over the boards to smother Howe with
hugs and congratulations. The Canadiens sulked at their bench — their “Rocket” had
been surpassed by an enemy rival. You could see it and feel it from the pressbox.
All of them sulked — except one.
Jean Beliveau, always dignified, skated up the ice to shake Howe’s hand.
Something special
After playing 25 seasons, Howe took a nondescript, do-nothing position in the Red
Wings front office.
“I was given the mushroom treatment,” Howe once said. “You know what I mean —
where they keep you completely in the dark and every once in a while they come in and
throw manure on you.”
Howe grew tired of that role. He soon would be 45, and still had an itch for the sport he
loved.
So, he put his skates back on and headed for a second career with the Houston Aeros
in the new World Hockey Association. He also would be a teammate to his two sons —
Mark and Marty.
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They played well together.
“Look, Marty and Mark and Gordie, they’re all fighting out there,” said Colleen Howe,
Gordie’s wife and mother to the boys.
And now, as we celebrate Howe’s life, he’s still out there.
The toughest, most skilled, most memorable and most humane player for the ages.
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Krupa: Howe’s greatness made of strength and humility
Gregg Krupa, The Detroit News 12:28 a.m. EDT June 11, 2016
Detroit — Gordie Howe was square-jawed, authentic and credible.
There was not a splinter of pretense about him.
The great Red Wings player was also humble and capable of enormous grace. He was,
off the ice, what other men used to like to call “a true gentleman.”
In his era, for men now of a certain age, he established an archetype of masculinity:
Physical strength paired with kindliness, significant accomplishment with
unpretentiousness, mastery with respect, aggression with compassion.
It was what fathers and mothers wanted to see in their sons.
For a post-World War II generation of baby boomers, he was a role model worthy of
emulating.
To watch him on and off the ice was to learn important lessons in life, especially for boys
growing towards manhood in Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s.
Howe was partly like the Marlboro Man, that silent, rough-hewn pitchman for cigarettes
in television commercials that catapulted the brand to the top of sales by 1972. He was
also a bit like Gary Cooper, the late movie actor of the 1930s through the 1960s who
contributed to a paradigm for the American male, the strong, silent type.
Howe lived a hard life on the Canadian prairie of the Great Depression. He was the
toughest guy in a hard-hitting, dangerous sport.
When he took to the ice, it was as if one of Cooper’s characters, perhaps Will Kane, the
marshal “High Noon,” showed up on a dusty main street of some Old West town with a
badge on his chest, a long-barreled revolver in the holster at his side. A man capable of
handling whatever the situation required, a look of restrained danger in his eyes.
Like Cooper, Howe was natural and genuine.
But it was how Howe was different that evidenced his greatness as a man, a height he
achieved coincident with his greatness on the ice.
Deflecting praise
Howe had a mischievous sense of humor, which he sometimes inflicted on himself,
especially in response to the praise he so justly deserved for his domination of the
National Hockey League from just after the end of World War II through the 1960s.
Sometimes self-deprecating and almost always self-effacing, Howe acted as though
one might have accomplishments worthy of boasting, but to do so was ignoble.
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In receiving praise, he deflected it gently to those who helped with the achievement that
engendered it, or made a humorous reference to some recent failing to help restrain the
ego and show the world a greater understanding of humanity.
He was the doting, successful father, who raised offspring of accomplishment and
character.
The son of famous men sometimes have it rough. But one of Howe’s, Mark, is in the
Hockey Hall of Fame, among the few greatest defensemen of his era.
Another, Marty, played the game to considerable effect. The third, Murray, is a doctor.
He was a husband so loyal that he pushed his wife Colleen’s strengths to the fore,
whether as his agent, his business partner or a candidate for Congress.
She spurred no insecurity in him because Howe knew himself.
He also was the guy who after scoring a milestone goal in his career posed with a puck
with “700” painted on it, later handing the puck that actually went into the net to a
longtime season ticket customer who struggled with his sight and other complications of
diabetes.
Upon hearing of his death Friday, Allen Moore of Northville, the nephew of the man who
received the puck, e-mailed, “A true gentleman off the ice and a legendary player on it.”
Encounter to remember
In the early 1960s, my brother had a chance encounter with Howe, while playing hockey
at the old outdoor rink that used be part of the Butzel parks and recreation facility on the
West Side.
As my brother Tim leaned over lacing his skates, he recalls seeing two large men’s
shoes suddenly in front of him and hearing a voice.
“Excuse me, young man.”
It was a different era and my brother rose immediately to greet an adult, making his
mother proud.
“It was Gordie Howe and he was speaking to me,” my brother said.
“Do you know where the Lamplighters are?” he recalled Howe asking.
“I was awestruck, simultaneously stunned by my hero’s voice and the softness and the
gentlemanliness of that voice and his demeanor. This was Gordie Howe and I guess I
was not expecting such a gentleman.
“It was a Saturday morning and I was 11 years old and was getting ready to play a peewee game. It was snowing at Butzel rink that day.
“ ‘The Lamplighters, do you know where they are?’
“ ‘They are on the ice, Mr. Howe. They are playing now, sir.’
“ ‘Thank you, young man.’ ”
We later learned Marty and Mark Howe were playing for the Lamplighters.
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“In one move, he put out his hand and shook mine and with his other hand grabbed my
forearm,” my brother said. “He turned to the rink and stepped out into the snow.
“He was gone. That quick.
“My hand, hell, the lower part of my arm had disappeared into his huge hands. They
were bigger than my Dad’s!
“Gordie Howe had spoken to me. Gordie Howe had been nice to me!
“I don’t recall the name of my Pee-Wee team, but that meeting of my hero, my Gordie, is
as crystal clear as if it just happened. I can hear the voice, I can feel that grip.
“I remember the niceness of our encounter.”
Lesson learned by an 11-year-old. No matter how big you get, how formidable you are
or the loftiness of your accomplishments, kindness and compassion are key elements of
life.
It was Howe’s expression of manhood, and his singular gift to many young men who are
no longer young.
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Howe’s presence is too much for one player to possess
Gordie Howe had just finished making the rounds in the Red Wings locker room, and
Chris Chelios grinned.
Chelios, a Hall of Famer like Howe, was asked about “Mr Hockey’s” abilities, and he
was blunt and to the point.
“You’re talking about one of the greatest, if not the greatest, player of all time,” Chelios
said.
But what made Howe so special?
Some players could have had — or have — one or two unique qualities that allow them
to rise above all others.
Howe, however, had all the breathtaking offensive skills and a physical presence that
made him one of the most feared players in the game — past, present, and maybe
future.
“I don’t think there is anyone even close to him,” legendary coach Scotty Bowman once
said. “Some say Bobby Orr, but he only played 10 years. Gordie was the ultimate
forward, and he could play center. He could play wing and he could play defense.”
Red Wings general manager Ken Holland ranks Howe among the greatest players and
“certainly the best power forward who’s ever lived.”
The endless numbers and statistics really don’t do Howe justice when taken into
account the type of a player he was, one with an unequaled passion for the game and
the life around it.
He loved being a hockey player, loved his family, and loved life.
Head (thinker, hockey instincts)
Pavel Datsyuk
Howe was much more physical, ornery, and bigger. But Datsyuk, the Red Wings center,
like Howe, has the ability to think two or three plays ahead and react. Datsyuk has that
special “feel” for the game, just like Howe.
Arms/stick (shooting)
Zdeno Chara
Many players can shoot the puck better than 100 mph, but few can do it accurately, get
it on net, and create offense. Chara, the 6-foot-9 Bruins defenseman, has the powerful
body to propel those shots into the blur category. You can’t even see the puck.
Legs (power skating)
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Sidney Crosby
Crosby probably is the closest to a Howe replica, but one attribute stands out — power
skating. Crosby’s tree-trunk-like thighs can drive him up and down the ice with speed,
power and leverage, and help with endurance. Like Howe, Crosby’s a powerful athlete
who can play endlessly — and can’t be knocked off the puck.
Upper body (power)
Jaromir Jagr
Howe was powerful, head to toe. Jagr is like that, too. Even at age 42, Jagr is a unique,
special athete, arguably the best-conditioned player in the game. Jagr trains year-round
and plays a power game similar to Howe’s, impossible to get the puck from.
Hands (ability to fight)
Milan Lucic
Lucic isn’t nearly the player Howe was. But in term’s of today’s power forwards,
blending power and skill, Lucic has the unique ability to fight and protect himself and his
teammates, while also being a force around the net and score some goals.
Feet (pure skating ability)
Erik Karlsson
The Senators defenseman is a blur on the ice, with his breathtaking speed and ability to
get to a necessary scoring spot in a blink of an eye. Karlsson isn’t nearly as strong as
Howe was — few players ever will be — but the skating leaves you awestruck.
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Following the footsteps of a legend
Chris McCosky, The Detroit News 10:48 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
It didn’t matter when or where you grew up — Sweden or Russia, Canada or the United
States — if you were a hockey fan, you grew up in awe of Gordie Howe, his
achievements on the ice and his humble, gentlemanly nature off it.
Howe already had scored 1,000 professional goals and was playing in World Hockey
Association when Pavel Datsyuk was born in Russia in 1978. By the time Henrik
Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall were born in 1980 and 1981, respectively, Howe had
retired from the NHL — he was 52 years old.
Yet, when those players got to Detroit, Howe’s presence in the dressing room would
leave them stunned.
“He would always joke around with the guys, kept it really simple and easy for us,”
Zetterberg said. “I was really young when I met him the first time. I was real nervous but
he made it a lot easier than I thought it would be. He’s done so much for hockey and for
our club.”
Howe’s hockey career spanned six decades, and though some of the statistics and
records he established have been surpassed, his legacy and contribution to the sport —
and Detroit — never will be.
He is and will always be, Mr. Hockey.
March 31, 1928
Howe is born in Floral, Saskatchewan. A week later, his mother Katherine and father
Albert move the family to Saskatoon.
1941-44
Howe plays high school hockey for King George in Saskatoon.
Aug. 22, 1943
Howe has a tryout with the Rangers. He is 15 years old, stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 200
pounds.
Oct. 6, 1944
Howe is invited to try out for a spot on the the Red Wings roster.
1944-45
Howe joins the Galt Junior Red Wings of the Ontario Hockey Association, but is
restricted to playing exhibitions only because of association rules.
Nov. 1, 1945
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Howe signs his first pro contract with the Omaha Knights of the United States Hockey
League, the semi-pro farm team for the Red Wings. He plays in the 1945-46 season.
Oct. 8, 1946
Howe signs his first contract with the Red Wings, and is given sweater No. 17.
Oct. 16, 1946
Howe scores his first NHL goal during his first game against Maple Leafs goaltender
Turk Broda.
Oct. 19, 1946
Howe posts his first NHL assist, on a goal by Adam Brown, against the Maple Leafs. He
also receives his first major penalty for fighting Bill Ezinicki.
Nov. 1, 1947
New Red Wings coach Tommy Ivan places Howe at right wing on a line with center Sid
Abel and left wing Ted Lindsay. The line, dubbed “The Production Line,” becomes one of
the most potent in history.
Oct. 29, 1947
Howe changes sweater numbers from 17 to No. 9 after Roy Conacher, who wears No.
9, is traded to the Blackhawks. Howe is told the lower numbers get better bunks on the
train.
1949-50
The Production Line finishes 1-2-3 in the NHL scoring race.
March 28, 1950
Howe suffers a head injury in a playoff game when he is checked awkwardly into the
boards by Maple Leafs captain Ted Kennedy. Howe suffers a fractured skull,
concussion, broken cheek bone and a broken nose. The skull fracture requires lifethreatening brain surgery.
April 23, 1950
The Red Wings win the first of four Stanley Cups during Howe’s playing days.
Jan. 17, 1951
Howe scores regular-season goal No. 100 against Canadians goaltender Gerry McNeil
in Montreal, on Maurice “Rocket” Richard night, no less.
April 15, 1952
The Red Wings sweep the Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup, Howe’s second. They win
all eight playoff games required, which prompts a fan to throw an octopus on the ice —
and a Detroit tradition is born.
Feb. 15, 1953
Howe scores his 200th goal, against Blackhawks goaltender Al Rollins.
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April 15, 1953
Howe marries Colleen J. Joffa at Calvary Presbyterian Church on Grand River Ave. in
Detroit, near Olympia Stadium.
Oct. 10, 1953
Howe records the first of two career “Gordie Howe hat tricks” — goal, assist and a fight.
The other comes March 21, 1958.
Feb. 18, 1954
Howe’s first son, Marty Gordon, is born.
April 16, 1954
The Red Wings beat the Canadiens for Howe’s third Stanley Cup.
April 14, 1955
Howe scores the Stanley Cup-winning goal in a 3-1 victory over the Canadians. It is
Howe’s fourth and last Cup.
May 28, 1955
Howe’s second son, Mark Steven, is born.
Feb. 7, 1956
Howe scores his 300th goal, against Blackhawks goaltender Al Rollins.
Oct. 11, 1958
Howe wears the “C” for the first time as Red Wings captain.
Dec. 13, 1958
Howe becomes the second player to score 400 career goals when he slips one past
Canadians goaltender Jacques Plante.
Feb. 1, 1959
Rangers tough guy Lou Fontinato challenges Howe to a fight — and Howe destroys
him. It is the last time any opponent willingly challenges Howe to a fight.
March 3, 1959
“Gordie Howe Night” is celebrated at the Detroit Olympia. It is the first time during his
13-year career Howe’s father, Albert, sees him play in an NHL arena.
March 24, 1959
Howe’s daughter, Cathleen Jill, is born.
Feb. 16, 1960
With a goal and an assist, Howe surpasses Maurice “Rocket” Richard as the NHL’s
career leading scorer.
Sept. 15, 1960
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Howe’s third son, Murray Albert, is born.
Nov. 26, 1961
Howe becomes the first NHL player to play 1,000 regular-season games.
March 14, 1962
Howe becomes the second NHL player, behind Maruice “Rocket” Richard, to score 500
goals, netting No. 500 against N.Y. Rangers goaltender Gump Worsley.
Oct. 27, 1963
Howe scores his 544th goal, tying Maurice “Rocket” Richard’s career NHL regularseason record.
Nov. 10, 1963
Howe scores his 545th goal, surpassing Maurice “Rocket” Richard’s career mark.
Nov. 14, 1964
Howe becomes the NHL’s career goal-scoring leader, including playoffs, when he beats
Montreal goaltender Charlie Hodge. t is Howe’s 627th goal and comes in his 1,233rd
game, including the playoffs.
Nov. 27, 1965
Howe scores his 600th goal, against Montreal goaltender Gump Worsley.
Dec. 4, 1968
Howe scores his 700th goal, against Pittsburgh goaltender Les Binkley.
June 25, 1971
How is made an officer of the Order of Canada.
Summer 1971
Howe’s mother, Katherine, dies suddenly of a head injury.
Sept. 8, 1971
Howe announces his retirement.
March 12, 1972
Howe’s No. 9 jersey is retired by the Red Wings.
June 7, 1972
Howe is elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
June 5, 1973
Howe, along with sons Marty and Mark, signs a four-year deal with the Houston Aeroes
of the World Hockey Association.
May 19, 1974
Howe wins his first World Hockey Association championship with the Houston Aeros.
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June 1977
Howe signs as a free agent with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey
Association.
Dec. 7, 1977
Howe, playing for the Plymouth Whalers, scores the 1,000th goal of his career, against
Birmingham goaltender John Garrett.
Oct. 11, 1979
Howe returns to the NHL, playing with sons Marty and Mark with the Hartford Whalers.
Feb. 29, 1980
Howe becomes the first player in history to reach 800 career goals during a 3-0 victory
over St. Louis.
April 9, 1980
Howe scores his final NHL goal, a backhander from the top of the circle against
Montreal.
April 11, 1980
Howe plays his final NHL game, becoming the oldest person to play in an NHL game at
52 years and 10 days.
June 4, 1980
Howe announces his retirement. He finishes with 1,850 points (801 goals).
Feb. 18, 1981
“Gordie Howe Day” is celebrated in Hartford, where the Whalers retire Howe’s No. 9.
When the Whalers move to North Carolina, the Hurricanes agree to keep Howe’s
number retired but do not have a banner recognizing it.
Oct. 15, 1989
Wayne Gretzky records two points — an assist and a goal against Edmonton — to
surpass Howe’s career points mark.
Oct. 3, 1997
Howe plays a shift with the International Hockey League’s Detroit Vipers, extending his
record of consecutive decades played in pro hockey to six.
2002
Colleen Howe is diagnosed with Pick’s disease, an incurable neurological disease that
causes dementia.
March 6, 2009
Colleen Howe dies at the age of 76.
2010
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Howe begins to experience memory loss, and is found to be in the early stages of
dementia.
Oct. 26, 2014
Howe suffers a stroke while visiting his daughter in Lubbock, Texas. He loses use of his
right arm and leg, and his speech is slurred.
December 2014
Howe undergoes stem cell treatment at Clinica Santa Clarita in Tijuana, Mexico. The
clinical trial is offered to Howe by Novastem, a regenerative medicine company.
Week of March 22, 2015
The week before his 87th birthday, Howe goes fishing.
Sept. 24, 2015
Howe is with his sons, Mark and Murray, at a Red Wings exhibition at Joe Louis Arena,
approximately 11 months after the hockey legend suffered a stroke and dealt with a
major setback.
March 29, 2016
The sellout crowd at a Red Wings game at Joe Louis Arena stands and sings “Happy
Birthday to You” to Howe, who is in attendance. He turns 88 two days later.
June 10, 2016
Howe dies at the age of 88.
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Zetterberg feels impact Howe had on Wings, Detroit
Detroit — Henrik Zetterberg is the captain of the Red Wings, and has established
himself among the organization’s great players.
Talk of Gordie Howe’s impact resonates deeply with Zetterberg. Zetterberg feels Howe’s
place in hockey, and the city of Detroit, is on another level.
“To me, he is Detroit,” said Zetterberg, who while in Sweden, heard about Howe’s
passing Friday.
Zetterberg recalled fondly the first time he met Howe, when Zetterberg was still a rookie
in the NHL and still learning about the history and tradition of the Red Wings.
Howe joked and laughed with Zetterberg, and for a young Swede who was somewhat
reserved at the time, Zetterberg appreciated the conversation.
“The thing that really stands out was, he made it easy,” Zetterberg said. “He made it so
easy. You’re talking with him, and you’re thinking to yourself ‘This is Mr. Hockey,’ but he
joked and smiled and he made the conversation pretty easy.
“You’re kind of nervous, you don’t know what to expect, but he just talked with you and
made you feel comfortable and that meant a lot.”
Zetterberg saw Howe for the last time when Howe visited Joe Louis Arena for a game in
March against Buffalo.
Howe met with both teams, was alert, seemed enthused about being in hockey
surroundings again, and that all left an impact with Zetterberg.
“It’s going to be good memory for me,” Zetterberg said. “I remember I was able to get a
picture with him and that’s going to be a real special (possession) of mine and we shook
hands and talked for a bit.
“That was real cool, the whole evening. We all knew about the problems with his health,
and to know he was coming to the game and he was going to see us before the game, it
was real special.
“It was something we’ll never forget.”
The impact alumni such as Zetterberg, Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio and Steve
Yzerman have had — and continue to have — on the Red Wings make the organization
unique, Zettreberg said.
“It’s pretty incredible when you go into the locker room, and you see one of the older
players there, and you chat with them, they tell you something about their careers, it’s
something you remember,” Zetterberg said. “This is the only organization I’ve been with,
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so I can’t speak to what the others do, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t many others that
you can do this.
“There’s a lot of history.”
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UM’s Berenson got recruiting assist from Howe
David Goricki, The Detroit News 7:19 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Red Berenson’s relationship with Gordie Howe goes back 45 years when the two were
teammates with the Detroit Red Wings.
It was during the 1970-71 season that Berenson was traded by the St. Louis Blues to
the Red Wings and Howe was playing the final year of his brilliant career with the
organization.
Howe later had a hand in helping Berenson land a prized Canadian recruit in one of
Berenson’s first seasons as head coach at Michigan in the mid-’80s.
Berenson marveled at Howe’s ability when they played against each other and when
they were teammates.
“I remember how athletic he was, how he made the game look easy for a dominant
player, where other players it was all they could do to get up and down the ice at his
pace, and yet he looked like it was effortless for him,” Berenson said.
“I remember the athleticism. I remember the skill level he had to make plays, score
goals, his backhand, his forehand. He was a right-handed shot, but he would also
switch hands and shoot from the left side and I saw him score goals left-handed, which
was amazing. And, then his strength and toughness and that was before there was any
off ice workouts or weightlifting. He was just naturally strong and he was mean-tough
when it came right down to it. He was the whole package and that’s why he was so
great.”
Berenson talked of the time he was with a recruit in Toronto and the two had a long
conversation with Howe.
“There was a time I was up in Toronto and I was talking to a recruit in the airport and we
ran into Gordie,” recalled Berenson. “We had a couple of hours to wait (before the flight)
and Gordie said ‘Come on in the lounge here,’ since he had a ticket to get into the
lounge. We sat in there and talked for at least two hours to this recruit who is from
western Canada, who could relate to Gordie Howe, who is also from Saskatchewan.
“He was so good and his connection with Michigan at that time was (Howe’s son)
Murray, because Murray had gone to grad school or medical school so he had a feel for
Michigan and he always liked the idea of education. He even said I kind of wish I would
have had the chance to go to school like you guys, but it was a different world then. He
was terrific. After that, every time I would see him we had something in common.
Obviously, we played together (1971), but mostly against each other over the years.”
And, yes Berenson did land that recruit, defenseman Myles O’Connor, who became in
All-American in 1988-89 before playing in the NHL.
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Wayne Gretzky: Gordie Howe 'was the greatest player that ever played'
By Brendan Savage | on June 10, 2016 at 4:04 PM, updated June 10, 2016 at 4:05 PM
Wayne Gretzky is known as "The Great One" but as far as the NHL's all-time leading
scorer is concerned, the greatest player ever to lace up a pair of skates was Detroit Red
Wings legend Gordie Howe.
Gretzky grew up idolizing Howe as a youngster in Brantford, Ont., and he wore No. 9
before switching to No. 99 – a tribute of sorts to Howe – after a teammate was wearing
Howe's famous number when Gretzky began playing junior hockey.
Howe was the NHL's all-time leader in goals (801), assists (1,049) and points (1,850)
before Gretzky came along and broke those records. Today, Howe remains second on
the NHL's all-time list for goals, is third in points, ninth in assists and first in games
played with 1,767.
During an interview today with the NHL Network, Gretzky expressed his admiration for
"Mr. Hockey" and touched on a number of subjects after Howe died at age 88.
On Howe's death: "I had gotten word from his son a couple weeks ago that he had been
put into hospice ... so unfortunately we saw this day coming. Until it actually gets here,
you don't ever think it's ever going to happen. Obviously it's a bad day for his family and
friends. It's a tough time. It's a celebration, too, in the sense that he did so many great
things and so many wonderful things for so many people."
On first meeting Howe: "I tell people all the time when I was 10 years old I got to meet
Gordie Howe. Sometimes when you meet your idol, people have bad days and you kind
of walk away saying 'Oh, it was OK' or 'That was all right.' My dad said to me, 'How was
it meeting Gordie Howe?' and I remember saying 'Oh my gosh. He's bigger and better
and nicer that I even had imagined in my mind.' He was just so sincere and I was lucky
enough over the years to develop the relationship with him and his family. I played
Junior B hockey with his youngest son, Murray, in Toronto and that was a lot of fun."
On skating alongside Howe: "I got to play in the WHA All-Star Game with Gordie Howe,
which was really unique. I was a 17-year-old kid and got to center Gordie and Mark
Howe. And then over the years, some special moments. I got to witness first-hand the
(1980) All-Star Game at Joe Louis Arena. I was telling somebody the other day if they
didn't start the national anthem, I think the people would be still be standing and
cheering today. It was one of the most powerful appreciations of an ovation that I've
ever witnessed. I was just so proud of it and to be out there."
On Howe's kindness: "I just can't say enough about he was the greatest player that ever
played and from our point of view in the hockey world we're just lucky enough that he
happened to be the nicest superstar that maybe ever lived and that made him pretty
unique. Off the ice, he tried to be kind to everyone. He always had time. He was the first
guy that was sort of around that everybody recognized. And I remember thinking 'Wow,
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everybody in the world knows this guy.' Whether he walked through an airport or at a
golf course, it was pretty unique at the time for me."
On Howe signing autographs: "My dad always used to say to me, 'Watch Gordie Howe's
signature.' And if you ever look at Gordie Howe's signature over the last 50 years, you
could always read what he wrote. You could always read, 'Gordie Howe.' And
sometimes my dad gets so upset with athletes of this day and age, that you read their
autographs and you go 'I don't even know what that says.' So he always took the time
for everyone."
On getting advice from Howe: "Off the ice and on the ice, one thing he said to me when
I signed as a 17-year-old, he said 'I'm just going to tell you one thing – work hard and
when you think you've worked hard, you gotta work harder now that you've signed. Love
the game and if you love the game, a lot of good things will happen.' So he didn't say a
whole lot. Gordie was kind of quiet man but he was very sincere so when he did talk you
knew he meant what he was saying."
On the greatest players ever: "First of all, I idolized him so I'm kind of biased, and I tell
people this all the time, that the two greatest players ever to play were Gordie Howe
and Bobby Orr and you can have your opinion as to who was the better of the two. One
was a defenseman, one was a forward. The best player I ever played with was Mark
Messier and the best player I ever played against was Mario Lemieux. So I was lucky
enough to be part of that generation, seeing guys play and playing against some of the
best players."
On Howe's all-around game: "Gordie did everything. He was like a Mark Messier. He
was strong defensively. He was physically strong as a man. He was tough. He was
engaging. He loved the game. And he happened to be one of the smartest players who
ever played the game. He was always thinking. If you look at what he accomplished
between the ages of 42 and 49 years old, it's pretty amazing. Although the WHA wasn't
quite as good as the NHL it was still a good professional league and still had some great
players. He was a little bit like me in the sense that he would get fired up to play if
somebody said 'Oh, maybe it's time to retire' or 'Gordie Howe is not that good.' He took
it personally and it kind of motivated him to show people and prove people wrong."
On Howe and the media: "The other side of things where it's changed today is he had
personal relationships with a lot of the media people. He'd go fishing with the great TV
announcers like Dick Irvin and Danny Gallivan. He was friends with the beat writers in
Detroit, Free Press' Joe Falls and the great Canadian writer at the Toronto Star, Frank
Orr. He was friends with those guys and they idolized him and they became friends. It
wasn't just the players he played with and the fans he got to know. He really went out of
his way to be kind to the media people and I think I learned that from him also."
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Steve Yzerman: It was honor to wear same uniform as Gordie Howe
By Ansar Khan | on June 10, 2016 at 3:03 PM
Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman are linked in Detroit Red Wings history as the
franchise's all-time greatest players.
Their careers did not overlap, but they knew each other well. Howe, whose final season
in Detroit was 1970-71 and who retired from hockey in 1980, attended many games at
Joe Louis Arena and greeted players in the dressing room.
Yzerman retired in 2006, following 22 seasons with the Red Wings, including 20 as
captain.
Howe and Yzerman rank 1-2 on the Red Wings' career list in goals (786 to 692) and
points (1,809 to 1,755). Yzerman is first in assists (1,063) and Howe second (1,023).
Yzerman, the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, released a statement on
the passing of Howe Friday at age 88.
"It was very saddening to hear the news of Gordie's passing this morning," Yzerman
said. "He has been an icon not only in Detroit, but throughout the entire hockey world for
as long as I can remember. As one of the greatest players to ever play in the NHL, the
majority of his career being in Detroit, it was an honor to wear the same uniform, spend
time with, laugh, joke and seek advice from him. Gordie's humility and kindness left a
permanent impression on me, greatly influencing how I tried to conduct myself
throughout my career.
"His impact on the Red Wings organization is still evident today. I travel the world and
constantly hear stories from people who love the Wings and share memories of the
glory days when Gordie and his teammates ruled the NHL. For all players fortunate
enough to play for the Wings, we should take time to thank and honor Gordie, for he is a
significant reason why Detroit is such a special place to play.
"To Gordie's surviving family, I offer my sincere condolences, in particular to his son
every time I see him."
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Brad Keselowski: Gordie Howe leaves a tremendous legacy
By Taylor DesOrmeau | on June 10, 2016 at 2:17 PM, updated June 10, 2016 at 2:35
PM
BROOKLYN, MI – NASCAR driver and Michigan native Brad Keselowski took time to
talk about former Detroit Red Wing Gordie Howe, 88, who died Friday, before a press
conference.
Howe retired in 1980, four years before Keselowski was born, but the driver said Howe
was a pillar of the community years after he stopped playing hockey and left a
"tremendous legacy."
"There's such a fan base admiration and it's almost 40 years since he's retired,"
Keselowski, a Rochester Hills native, said. "That really says something about
someone."
Howe played 25 seasons for the Red Wings and was a 23-time NHL All-Star. He still
has the most goals in Detroit Red Wings history, with 786.
"Just being a Detroit person in general, and of course I don't think you can grow up in
this area and not be a hockey fan of the Red Wings and more," Keselowski said. "He
had more than just the community, he had the respect of his entire sport, which is hard
to do for anyone."
Keselowski said the loss is a big deal to his friends and family, many of which are at
Michigan International Speedway this weekend to watch him race in Sunday's
FireKeepers Casino 400.
"I know he lived really close to me when I was growing up," he said. "That's a guy who
left a tremendous legacy on his sport. I'd like to say we're thinking about him and his
family."
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Jim Harbaugh calls Gordie Howe the 'greatest' and 'toughest' hockey player ever
By Matt Wenzel | on June 10, 2016 at 1:27 PM, updated June 10, 2016 at 6:39 PM
DETROIT – When Jim Harbaugh arrived at the Sound Mind Sound Body camp on
Friday in Detroit, he hadn't heard about Gordie Howe's death until asked about it by a
media member.
The Michigan coach made it clear where "Mr. Hockey" ranks on his list of all-time
greats.
"I wish I would have met him," Harbaugh said. "I think he's the greatest hockey player
that ever lived and for sure the toughest. Always inspired by his strength and his
toughness and his talent and his effort at the highest level."
Condolences to Howe family, friends & fans on passing of greatest to play hockey,
Gordie Howe. Proud to wear #9 in my short time with Lions.
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) June 10, 2016
Howe died Friday at the age of 88, the Detroit Red Wings announced. He spent the first
25 years of his 26-year NHL career with the Red Wings and ranks second in goals
(801), ninth in assists (1,049) and third in points (1,853) in league history.
Howe's death marked the second iconic sports icon to pass away in the last week.
Muhammad Ali died last Friday at 74 after a longtime battle with Parkinson's disease.
"Muhammad Ali changed the world, with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind,"
Harbaugh said. "I was personally inspired, lifelong inspiration for Muhammad Ali, and
also Gordie Howe.
"I think I've thought about Muhammad Ali or something that he said every day, every
day since I can remember because I've always had a poster of Muhammad Ali, I've
always memorized things that he said, watched all of his fights. ... I look at him as the
greatest competitor of all time, and also somebody who changed the world with an
enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Very sentimental and just appreciative."
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Talented, tough and warm Gordie Howe left indelible impressions
By Ansar Khan | June 10, 2016 at 1:32 PM, updated June 10, 2016 at 2:49 PM
DETROIT – Gordie Howe was a legend on the ice because of his unmatched
combination of talent and toughness. He was beloved off the ice because of his warmth
and humility.
Many in the Detroit Red Wings organization played with him or against him, others
watched him dominate the NHL during his prime in the 1950s and '60s and continue to
flourish later in a career that spanned five decades.
Howe died Friday in Ohio, where he was living with son Murray. He was 88.
"Certainly a sad, sad day for the hockey world," Red Wings general manager Ken
Holland said. "Gordie was called Mr. Hockey for a reason. We've lost one of the greatest
players in the history of our league, the greatest Red Wing of all-time."
Holland was a goaltender in the Hartford Whalers organization when he met Howe in
1980, his final season.
"He was Mr. Hockey. I was a player in the American League," Holland said. "He was
incredibly respectful. He was humble. He was kind. He made you feel warm and
welcome. He was a fierce competitor on the ice. Off the ice he was gentle, caring, a
great father. Obviously, the relationship with his children his entire life speaks to the
man. Just an incredible human being."
Holland got to know Howe more in-depth during his three seasons in Binghamton, the
Whalers AHL affiliate. That's where son Marty, a defenseman, was playing after he had
played with his father and brother, Mark, in the WHA for several seasons and for one
year in the NHL.
"He'd come down to Binghamton three, four times a year for two, three days," Holland
said. "He'd walk into the locker room; he'd joke with everybody. We were in awe. Gordie
was probably mid-50s and still strong and powerful and looked like he could still play.
"The greatest hockey player who ever lived, and he was in the locker room in the
American Hockey League and making us all feel like we're on (the same) level."
As a kid growing up in Toronto in the early 1950s, Red Wings senior vice president
Jimmy Devellano recalled watching Gordie Howe at Maple Leaf Gardens.
"You knew when you were watching him that he was the very best player in the league
and in the world," Devellano said. "Then as a hockey fan you follow his career to a
conclusion in Detroit and joining his two sons in the WHA and being able to play into his
50s.
"And then I got real lucky, I joined the Red Wings 34 years ago (as general manager)
and I had so many opportunities to spend time with Gordie and Colleen (his late wife),
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and then we have a long association with (son) Mark (the Red Wings director of pro
scouting). I got to know basically my hockey hero.
"It's a sad day. I feel bad for Mark and Marty and the family and for the hockey world.
When you think of the greatest players ever, he's right there."
Longtime Red Wings broadcaster Mickey Redmond recalled the half-season he spent
as Howe's teammate in 1970-71, Gordie's final year in Detroit.
"I'll never forget he and I spent some very wonderful times together by ourselves on the
ice at Olympia with only the goaltender," Redmond said. "Gordie was showing me I'd
call it the art of goal-scoring and reading goaltenders.
"We were both right-handed shots. We're standing about 20 feet in front of the net and
he asked me, 'Over the left catching glove, how much do you see?' I said maybe three
of four inches. He said, 'All right, take your left hand and put it on the nob of the stick
and move over behind the puck and the blade and now how much do you see?' There
was about 18 inches there. And he said to me, 'You put that puck there and they're not
going to stop it.' "
Redmond, who twice scored more than 50 goals in a season for the Red Wings, called
it perhaps the greatest advice he has ever gotten.
"My dad (Ed) was a pro hockey player," Redmond said. "He was really responsible for
me and my brother (Dick) becoming pro players. But that one moment of time -- I only
spent half a season with Gordie -- I to this day will show young hockey players when I
go out and skate with them the same thing, teaching them what Gordie Howe taught me
45 years ago. It was an incredible memory for me to have."
Former Red Wing Paul Woods, who grew up watching Howe and played against him
during his final NHL season, also noted the tremendous shot that helped him score 801
goals, the NHL record that stood before being broken by Wayne Gretzky.
"You never really pictured Gordie with a huge slap shot, it was always the wrist shot,"
Woods said. "He'd shoot it and pass all in the same setup. If you took away his shot,
he'd just pass it to a teammate. If you go for the pass he'd just rip it.
"That wrist shot you see (Steven) Stamkos and (Alex) Ovechkin shoot now, it was the
same thing back then (with Howe). It was deadly. ... And that was without a composite
stick. He's doing it with a wooden stick, so he's getting that torque himself. It really was
something to watch him play."
Woods, the Red Wings' longtime radio color commentator, noted the passing of two
sports giants in one week.
"It's just a sad day," Woods said. "(Howe) and Muhammed Ali in the same week. They
were the greatest in their sports and commanded respect wherever they went. It's a sad
day for the game of hockey."
Howe was the toughest player of his generation, and not somebody to be messed with
even into his 50s.
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"When we were playing against Harford no one would touch Gordie, but you didn't want
to mess around with the kids either," Woods said. "If it was all in the (course) of play no
problem, but if you were going crazy then there was a problem.
"We had a guy on our team that went after Marty and was roughing him up a bit and it
went on for a while then Gordie went after him. It was funny at the time because some
guys would use their sticks and some guys were just bluffing. But there were certain
guys that weren't (bluffing) and he was one of those guys. Once he got that stick up he
was going to do some damage and this guy probably outweighed him by 20 pounds. He
was a tough guy on our team and was back-peddling away from him. (Howe) had to be
50 or 51 years old but he was not fooling around.
"And he'd always talk to you out there, on faceoffs and things, humorous stuff. He
enjoyed himself when he was out there, but a dangerous guy if you got on the wrong
side of him."
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What Dylan Sadowy can bring to the Red Wings
By Tom Mitsos | on June 10, 2016 at 9:00 AM, updated June 10, 2016 at 9:57 AM
Before the 2015-16 season was over, Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland
was looking for ways to improve the future of his team.
At the end of May, the Red Wings traded for former Saginaw Spirit forward Dylan
Sadowy, sending a third-round pick to San Jose for the 6-foot-1, 195-pound player.
Sadowy, who was selected in the third round (81st overall) in the 2014 draft, was
projected to be a first-round draft pick in this year's draft had San Jose opted not to
trade him. Players who are 20 years old or younger who are not signed within two years
after being drafted are allowed to re-enter the draft.
Sadowy likely will start next season in Grand Rapids, but the Red Wings get a
seasoned OHL veteran who can jump right into the AHL.
So what does Sadowy bring to the Red Wings?
Sadowy took more High Danger shots this year than any other OHL skater.
— Stephen Burtch (@SteveBurtch) May 26, 2016
The analysis of Sadowy, according to Hockey's Future, says:
"Sadowy has been one of the most productive forwards in junior hockey despite a
perceived lack of skating speed. His strength and conditioning compares favorably with
other young players and he has been a team leader, capable of playing in all situations.
He plays a two-way game, with an offensive toolkit that is more hustle than flash. He
often scores by out-working the opposition in the dirty parts of the ice, utilizing his
athleticism. He should consider to add power as he fills out his frame."
A hard-nosed, two-way player who can get to the high-danger areas is something the
Red Wings certainly need. He reminds me of Tyler Bertuzzi, but with more offensive
upside.
As you can see in the video, he doesn't mind playing physical but will probably have to
tone down the fighting for the Red Wings' sake.
Sadowy had a lot of goal-scoring success for the first half of the season (20 goals, 14
assists in 36 games) on a Saginaw team that struggled to score (15th out of 20 teams in
scoring).
So, we know he can score with limited talent around him, but scoring in the OHL is a lot
different than scoring in the AHL.
Let's take a look at some five on five advanced stats, thanks to Prospect-stats:
5 on 5Dylan Sadowy
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GP64
Goals30
Primary assists10
Secondary assists7
Primary points40
Points47
GF%Rel6.468
Estimated TOI14.343
eG/601.961
ePrimP/60
2.614
eP/603.072
GF%56.881
Goals created22
Goals created/game
0.344
eGoals created/601.438
As you can see, Sadowy scored 30 of his 45 goals at even strength and was scoring at
a rate of nearly two goals per 60 minutes played. The time on ice and rate statistics are
estimated based on total goals scored when a player is on the ice because the CHL
does not track time on ice.
Goals created is an algorithm used to determine a player's worth by taking playmaking
and goal scoring into effect. If you want to read the details on how the algorithm is
calculated, you can go here.
Sadowy ranks in the top 20 of the OHL in both goals created and goals created per 60
minutes.
Now, let's take a look at his power play numbers:
Power playDylan Sadowy
GP64
Goals12
Primary assists3
Secondary assists3
Primary points15
Points18
Points/game0.281
Goals/game0.188
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Goals created7.7
Goals created/game
0.12
Again, Sadowy spent half of his season on a Spirit team that struggled on the power
play (16.3 percent, 16th in the OHL), so considering that, he put up some pretty good
numbers.
He led the Spirit in power-play goals per game, goals created and goals created per
game.
To put Sadowy's production level in greater perspective, let's compare him to Keegan
Iverson, who was picked four spots after Sadowy by the New York Rangers.
Sadowy tops Iverson in nearly every statistic despite being drafted in nearly the same
position. In fact, Iverson was not offered an entry-level deal by the Rangers, so he will
re-enter the draft later this month.
Certainly, Sadowy's skill level is higher than any other player the Red Wings would have
selected in the third round, but how he performs in the AHL will determine whether he
sees time with the Red Wings in the near future.
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Red Wings legend Gordie Howe dead at 88
By Ansar Khan | on June 10, 2016 at 9:26 AM, updated June 10, 2016 at 11:39 AM
Gordie Howe's unparalleled combination of talent, toughness and longevity made him
arguably the greatest player of all-time and earned him the moniker of Mr. Hockey.
Howe died Friday at the age of 88, the Detroit Red Wings announced. He died in Ohio,
where he had been living with his son, Dr. Murray Howe, who was at his side, as was
son Mark.
"Today is a sad day for the Detroit Red Wings and the entire hockey world as together
we mourn the loss of one of the greatest hockey players of all-time," Red Wings owner
Mike Ilitch said in a statement. "The Red Wings organization and the National Hockey
League would not be what they are today without Gordie Howe. There is no nickname
more fitting for him than 'Mr. Hockey.'
"He embodied on and off the ice what it meant to be both a Red Wing and a Detroiter.
He was tough, skilled, and consistently earned success at the highest level. His
blessing to have had him both in our organization and our city for so many years. He will
be deeply missed."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement that "all hockey fans grieve the
loss of the incomparable Gordie Howe."
"Gordie's greatness travels far beyond mere statistics; it echoes in the words of
veneration spoken by countless players who joined him in the Hockey Hall of Fame and
considered him their hero," Bettman said. "Gordie's toughness as a competitor on the
ice was equaled only by his humor and humility away from it. No sport could have
hoped for a greater, more-beloved ambassador."
Howe spent the first 25 seasons of a 26-year NHL career with the Red Wings.
Including his six seasons in the World Hockey Association, Howe's professional career
spanned five decades. He was 52 when he retired as a Hartford Whaler in 1980, after
having played with sons Mark and Marty for several seasons.
Howe won the Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player six times and the Art Ross
Trophy as the league's leading scorer on six occasions.
His scoring records have been eclipsed by Wayne Gretzky, but Howe for many years
was the NHL's leader in goals, assists and points. He now ranks second in goals (801),
ninth in assists (1,049) and third in points (1,853).
The 23-time NHL All-Star continues to hold the record for games played (1,767) and
seasons (26).
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Howe won four Stanley Cups with the Red Wings in a span of six seasons from
1950-55. His famed Production Line, with fellow Hall of Famers Ted Lindsay and Sid
Abel, was the most famous in hockey history.
Howe ranks first on the Red Wings' career list for goals (786) and points (1,809) and
second to Steve Yzerman in assists (1,023).
Howe's health took a turn for the worse on Oct. 26, 2014, when he suffered a major
stroke in Lubbock, Texas, at the home of daughter Cathy, where he had been living. It
caused him to lose some function on his right side and affected his speech.
He made a rapid recovery a week later but then experienced another in a series of ministrokes. On Dec. 1, 2014, Howe was admitted to the hospital, completely bed-ridden
and unresponsive. Family began planning funeral services.
One week later, Howe received the first of two rounds of stem cell therapy treatment in
Tijuana, Mexico. It improved his physical and mental health exponentially and extended
his life.
Howe underwent a second stem cell therapy session in June 2015.
Howe had been suffering from dementia for several years. His wife of 55 years, Colleen,
died in 2009 from Pick's Disease, a rare neurodegenerative disease that causes
progressive destruction of nerve cells in the brain.
Howe was born on March 31, 1928 in a farmhouse in Floral, Saskatchewan. His family
soon moved to Saskatoon, where Howe, as a teenager, began working construction
jobs.
He left Saskatoon at age 16 to pursue a hockey career with the Red Wings, a year after
failing to make the New York Rangers during a tryout at age 15.
The Red Wings signed him and assigned him to their junior team. He was promoted in
1945 to the Omaha Knights of the minor professional United States Hockey League. He
tallied 48 points in 51 games as a 17-year-old.
Howe made his NHL debut on Oct. 16, 1945, playing right wing and scoring a goal while
wearing No. 17 for the Red Wings. When Roy Conacher left the following season, Howe
was offered his No. 9. He would wear it for the rest of his career. It is one of seven
retired numbers hanging from the rafters at Joe Louis Arena.
Howe was one of the game's best scorers and top fighters for more than two decades. A
player who scores a goal, records an assist and gets into a fight in a single game is said
to have recorded "The Gordie Howe Hat Trick."
Howe initially retired in 1971 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame the
following year. He took a front-office job with the Red Wings, but the allure of playing
alongside sons Mark and Marty in the newly formed WHA prompted him to make a
comeback in 1973.
He enjoyed four productive seasons with the Houston Aeros and two years with the
New England Whalers before the remaining four WHA franchises merged into the NHL
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in 1979, enabling Howe to have a farewell season in the league he dominated in the
1950s and '60s.
He played his final All-Star Game in 1980 at Joe Louis Arena, where he received
several thunderous ovations.
He was the inaugural recipient of the NHL Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Howe is survived by his four children, Marty, Mark, Cathy and Murray, and nine
grandchildren.
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Scotty Bowman recalls Gordie Howe's 'amazing' All-Star moment
Ansar Khan
on June 10, 2016 at 9:26 PM, updated June 10, 2016 at 9:40 PM
DETROIT – Gordie Howe received several thunderous ovations during the All-Star
Game at Joe Louis Arena, in his final season as a player, at age 51, following a nineyear absence from the NHL.
It was 36 years ago, and the man who made it possible remembers it like it was
yesterday.
"Every time I saw him he always thanked me graciously for putting him in that All-Star
Game in 1980," Scotty Bowman said told M-Live on Friday.
As coach of the Wales Conference All-Stars Bowman selected Howe as the Hartford
Whalers representative. Other Whalers were having better years, but to Bowman, this
was a no-brainer. Howe spent the first 25 years of his career with the Detroit Red Wings
and fans relished the opportunity to see him play one more time. Bowman said one of
the ovations must have lasted eight or nine minutes.
"I think it was the longest ovation I heard anybody get," Bowman said. "It was amazing.
"I got a little bit of criticism for putting him on the team. He ended up getting an assist on
the winning goal by Real Cloutier."
The legendary coach reflected on the career of the legendary player after Howe died
Friday at age 88.
"I was one of the fortunate people, having grown up in Montreal and seeing Gordie play
right in his prime," Bowman said. "I was a teenager and I watched the Red Wings come
into Montreal between 1948 and 1955, when they were in their prime; they won seven
straight (league titles) and four Cups. He and Rocket Richard were the two players in
that era that stood alone as far as the most outstanding players all-around."
Many of Howe's scoring records were broken by Wayne Gretzky, but Bowman said
some of Mr. Hockey's marks will never be touched.
"He was in the top five scorers for 20 straight seasons, a 13-time first team All-Star,
seven-time second team All-Star in an era where they had Rocket, Bernie Geoffrion,
Andy Bathgate; there were a lot of good right wingers around.
"He was one of a kind, to play as long and at a competitive level as he did was
amazing."
After Bowman arrived in Detroit in1993 he got to know Howe well because Howe's son,
Mark, was playing for the Red Wings before becoming a pro scout for the club.
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"Gordie was at a lot of our playoff games in the nine years I was with the Red Wings,
around the dressing room a lot," Bowman said. "I got my knee replaced around the
same time he did and we compared knees."
When The Hockey News solicited expert opinions while ranking the top 100 players of
all-time several years ago, Bowman tabbed Howe No. 1.
"He was a humble guy. I don't know if he realized he was the greatest," Bowman said.
"He was just a complete player. He had finesse, he had strength, he was fearless.
"He was an amazing player. I always felt that if you were going to make a mold of a
hockey player you would take Gordie Howe."
In addition to his terrific wrist shot and tremendous strength, Howe was a good,
effortless skater and could shoot right- or left-handed, Bowman said.
"He was a heck of an athlete – a golfer, he used to play baseball, he could play any
sport," Bowman said.
"It's a tough time for people ... even though he was in his late 80s he was a hero to a lot
of people of that generation."
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Pat Caputo - Gordie Howe, greatest player, even better person
By Pat Caputo, POSTED: 06/10/16, 2:24 PM EDT | UPDATED: 46 SECS AGO
There isn’t a better sports term than, “The Gordie Howe Hat Trick.”
A goal. An assist. A fight.
It summed up the career and life of the greatest hockey player of his generation, and
perhaps all time.
Wayne Gretzky had more skill, but Howe was way tougher. Bobby Orr had better speed,
but Howe was much stronger. Nobody wanted to fight Howe, especially after he rearranged the face of Rangers’ tough guy Lou Fontinato’s during an epic altercation at
Madison Square Garden in 1959.
A national magazine put a picture of a shirtless Howe, biceps bulging even without
weight training, side-by-side with a photo of Fortinato’s pummelled face.
When Howe died Friday at 88, it left a hole in the collective heart of not only Red Wings’
fans, who justifiably worshiped him in a manner like few other athletes, but for hockey.
Even though Howe’s more than two decades with the Red Wings’ didn’t end well (he
was placed in a small office at The Olympia and not consulted about hockey matters
upon retiring), and he went onto more brilliance playing with his sons, Mark and Marty
elsewhere in the World Hockey Association, Howe has always been adored in this area.
How many people first skated on an indoor sheet of ice at Gordie Howe Hockeyland in
St. Clair Shores? Howe lived with his family for years in Lathrup Village, and his children
attended Southfield-Lathrup High School.
There was a strong feeling Howe was taken advantage financially for much of his
playing career, and his late wife, Colleen, stepped in and changed that after his
departure from the Red Wings’ organization.
A genuinely great hockey moment was when Howe returned to Detroit for the All Star
game at the then-spanking new Joe Louis Arena in 1980. Howe was in his 50s, but still
an effective player for the Hartford Whalers. His NHL final season, after the WHA
merged, Howe had 15 goals and 41 points and was plus-9 on a losing team.
The ovation Howe received in Detroit still sends chills down the spines of hockey fans
recalling it.
As important as all the scoring records, individual trophies and four Stanley Cup
championships the Red Wings won in the 1950s, was Howe’s humility.
As tough as he was on the ice, he was as soft-spoken, disarming and kind off it. Howe
set the tone for hockey players not forgetting their roots, and treating people –
especially fans – with dignity and respect.
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Howe’s nickname was “Mr. Hockey,” and there will never be a sequel to his life story.
The hockey gods broke the mold after creating Gordie Howe.
“Hockeytown” can’t help, while mourning his passing, still celebrating Gordie Howe’s
exceptional and extraordinary life.
His legacy will live on forever after his death.
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Meeting Mr. Hockey a ‘huge thrill' for Draper
By Chuck Pleiness, The Macomb Daily
POSTED: 06/10/16, 2:07 PM EDT | UPDATED: 35 SECS AGO #
DETROIT >> Mickey Redmond spent only about a half a season with Gordie Howe, but
he’s still teaching what he learned from him.
“That’s an easy answer for me,” Redmond said during a phone interview when asked to
share his favorite memory of Howe. “When I was traded here in January of ’71 Gordie
was here and I’ll never forget he and I spent some very wonderful, wonderful times
together by ourselves on the ice at Olympia with only the goaltender. Gordie was
showing me, I guess I’d call it the philosophy or the art of goal scoring and reading
goaltenders etc.”
Howe, who passed away Friday morning at 88 years old, and Redmond were both righthanded shots.
“We’re standing about 20 feet in front of the net and he asked me, ‘Over the left
catching glove how much do you see.’ I said maybe three or four inches. He said, ‘All
right, take your left hand and put it on the nob of the stick and move over behind the
puck and the blade and now how much do you see.’ There was about 18 inches there,”
Redmond recalled. “And he said to me, ‘You put that puck there and they’re not going to
stop it.’ It was maybe the greatest piece of advice I got from anybody.”
Redmond still hands out that bit of information to kids.
“My dad was a pro hockey player,” Redmond said. “He was really responsible for me
and my brother becoming pro players and doing what we did, but that one moment of
time, it was an incredible memory for me to have.”
Felix Gatt, Howe’s best friend in Michigan, feels like he lost his big brother.
“My best memories are of him playing street hockey, soccer and watching my eight
grandkids play hockey,” Gatt said. “They called him Uncle Gordie. He always stayed at
our house when we travelled together. My wife always made sure she had enough.
Apple pie his favorite.
“I was in Vancouver with him for a signing and saw a bunch of people in my line,” Gatt
added. “They said Gordie told them I was the Russian goalie that stopped him on a
breakaway. They wanted my autograph.”
Howe and other former Wings legends were fixtures in the locker room when they were
in town.
“I know how lucky I was just to be able to be sitting in the Detroit Red Wings locker
room, at any time, Gordie Howe might walk through the door, Ted Lindsay might walk
through the door,” Kris Draper said. “I just remember realizing how special that was and
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that’s obviously something that being a Detroit Red Wing, it’s an added perk to be a
Detroit Red Wing.
“The first time that Gordie came by, came into the locker room, he just goes around
shaking everyone’s hand and it was my first year. I was one of the newer Red Wings, he
came up and we just started talking. It was so easy to talk to him and you just realize,
‘Wow, I just met Gordie Howe. Mr. Hockey.’ And I remember going home and calling my
dad and saying ‘I just met Gordie, shook his hand and talked to him’ and I remember
saying, ‘What a huge thrill.’”
Wings radio announcer Paul Woods remembers Howe’s wrist shot.
“He’d shoot it and pass all in the same setup,” Woods recalled. “If you took away his
shot, or try and block it, he’d just pass it to a teammate. If you go for the pass he’d just
rip it. You never really pictured Gordie with a huge slap shot it was always the wrist
shot.”
Then there was Howe’s toughness.
“When we were playing against Harford no one would touch Gordie, but you didn’t want
to mess around with the kids either,” Woods said. “If it was all in the game of play no
problem, but if you were going crazy then there was a problem.
“We had a guy on our team that went after Marty a little bit and was roughing him up a
bit and it went on for a while then Gordie went after him. It was funny at the time
because some guys would use there sticks and some guys were just bluffing. But there
were certain guys that weren’t and he was one of those guys. Once he got that stick up
he was going to do some damage and this guy probably outweighed him by 20 pounds,
he was a tough guy on our team, and was back peddling away from him. He had to be
50 or 51 years old back then, but he was not fooling about. He was a serious guy and
wasn’t messing around.”
But then there was his humbling demeanor off the ice.
“He would come up to you and initiate the conversation,” Woods said. “The humility was
so much and what a lesson for guys to see that. He would sign every autograph. Bobby
Orr is the same way. He’s a great teacher in that regard.”
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Gordie Howe’s grace off the ice belied his ferocity on it
By Kevin Paul Dupont
JUNE 10, 2016
There was a wonderful, charming contradiction about Gordie Howe. He starred in the
Original Six NHL, a league that was both guts and glory, and Mr. Hockey was every bit
of all of that. Especially the guts. On the ice, his game face fixed before the puck
dropped, he was mean, fierce, unrelenting.
Other players feared him. No doubt some fans did, too. As a player, he was a brutalist.
Off the ice, he was everyone’s favorite uncle. Built like a boxer, he was startlingly polite,
humble, self-deprecating, and gracious. He smiled all the time.
Howe always had time for the media. He always had time for the little kid who held out
the autograph book. Though he was king of a sport that could be downright nasty and
often cruel, there was a serenity and gentle kindness about him that totally belied that
impostor who wore the No. 9 sweater with smudges of blood — some of it his and some
of it not — often on the sleeves and shoulders.
When I first met Howe, he was already in his early 50s, finishing up his third hockey life
with the Whalers, who finally entered the NHL for the 1979-80 season. He had had his
long run in Detroit, followed by four years with WHA Houston, playing alongside sons
Mark and Marty.
In a Whaler locker room full of twentysomethings, he was the old man, older than most
of the league’s coaches.
I walked into that room following a game with the Bruins, expecting he would growl
when I asked a question. Why would he be any different than the player? Instead, he
politely looked up and answered, at one point even inviting me to sit down next to him.
So I did. We chatted for all of two minutes, maybe less — deadline awaited — and I can
only remember what he said as I got up to leave.
“Thank you,’’ he said. He was that polite.
Going on 40 years later, that still resonates with me. The guy whose name was
synonymous with the sport, the guy I presupposed would talk and act the way he
played, instead was soft-spoken, considerate, and so polite as to thank some freshfaced reporter from Boston for asking a couple of innocuous questions about the game.
That moment seems even more remarkable today.
At that stage of his life, obviously, Howe was not the on-ice force or terror he had been
during his legendary career with the Red Wings. In Hartford, he was an icon in
residence, a box office name, having arrived there in the Whalers’ WHA days to give
them credibility.
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He played that one NHL season (1979-80) with the Whale, then retired. I trust it wasn’t
our two-minute conversation that convinced him it was time to go.
Years earlier, at the start of the ’60s, Howe played in the first NHL game I ever attended.
I was 10, and more than a half-century later, what I remember of that night is the
spectacle of seeing a giant sheet of ice indoors (we only skated outside), the dazzling
white brilliance of it under the Garden lights, and those blood-red Detroit sweaters with
the Winged Wheel on the chest.
I cannot tell you that I remember Howe, although he was still the Red Wings’ top scorer
at the time. I do remember my father telling me to watch for Howe and for Alex
Delvecchio, another great Red Wing, but I was more interested in the Bruins —
specifically John Bucyk and Tommy Williams.
Williams was both a great skater and an American, which was an NHL anomaly in those
days. The league then was virtually a private all-Canadian league, for men like the
Saskatchewan-born Howe (wherever Saskatchewan was). But Williams was one of us,
and that mattered, at least to me. My father, a superb skater himself, was more taken by
Williams’s speed and fluidity. He saw skating as an art, something I grew to understand
and appreciate.
Otherwise, I remember only that the game ended in a tie. Hockey was OK, but I still
much preferred baseball and the Red Sox. Even with Lou Clinton and Ike Delock.
In the years following Howe’s playing days, I often would see him at league functions,
be it a draft, the playoffs, or an All-Star Game. He never changed. He had an ease of
manner, yet a confidence. If asked an opinion, he had it, but he quickly would turn a
question into a conversation, always speaking softly, politely.
I know that sounds basic, or simple, but it was not true of all his contemporaries, and it
is all but absent in much of today’s sports world.
Gordie Howe was a singular talent, imbued with a grace and dignity, a manner and
serenity all equally unique as his playing excellence.
Boston Globe LOADED: 06.11.2016
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Gordie Howe,‘Mr. Hockey,’ was the game’s greatest ambassador
By Mike Harrington
Updated 9:53 PM
June 10, 2016
SAN JOSE, Calif. – You can pore through the statistics, the grainy highlight reels and
listen to the words spoken all around hockey Friday upon the death of Gordie Howe.
One of my first thoughts was to go to YouTube to again watch one remarkable moment
near the end of his time on the ice.
When you’re talking Howe, you’re talking respect and reverence.
No single event in his legendary career defined that more than the afternoon of Feb. 5,
1980. The scene was the NHL All-Star Game at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. It was
Howe’s 23rd and final appearance in the league’s midseason showcase and, oddly
enough, the first for a 19-year-old named Wayne Gretzky.
Go check out the video of the pregame introductions. You’ve never seen anything like it.
One by one, the players are introduced until the big moment is at hand from public
address announcer John Bell: “And from the Hartford Whalers, representing all of
hockey, the greatest statesman for five decades, Number 9.”
Bell never said the name. He didn’t have to. The crowd was already on its feet roaring
for their hero who had left nearly nine years earlier. The ovation lasted nearly five
minutes, with Howe nervously shuffling his skates as he stood at the blue line and even
going to the bench briefly to speak with longtime Detroit trainer Lefty Wilson.
Then-Sabres captain Danny Gare was a Wales Conference teammate of Howe’s that
day, even sat in the stall next to him in the dressing room for his first All-Star
appearance.
“It’s my first one. I’m 23 and he’s 52 and I was like a little church mouse,” Gare said
Friday by phone. “I never said boo. Gordie was so gracious and such a gentleman. Off
the ice, he was a humble man and approachable. Then we started to kibitz and talk
about different things.
“The ovation was deafening. It was unbelievable. That was an amazing, amazing thing
to be a part of. It was a great game, back and forth, and when Gordie assisted on
Michel Goulet’s game-winner, the crowd just went nuts.”
What Howe was and always will be for this game is a legend, a statesman, a largerthan-life figure. It’s certainly the same kind of feeling you get when you talk about
Muhammad Ali’s stature in boxing. How strange to see one legend of sport laid to rest
Friday on the same day another passed away.
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Why did Wayne Gretzky wear No. 99? Because he wanted 9 in honor of Howe but a
junior teammate in Sault Ste. Marie had already claimed it. Many NHL players, past and
present, wear 9 as a tribute to Howe. Sabres winger Evander Kane tweeted Friday that
he’s one of them.
Said Gretzky, appearing Friday on the Dan Patrick Show: “For me, he’s the greatest
hockey player who ever played.”
Look at the reaction fans in The Joe had in March when the Sabres happened to be
there on the night the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Howe to celebrate his 88th three
days before it took place. Earlier in the day, Howe was visiting the Red Wings’ dressing
room following the morning skate and the Sabres arranged for what now rates as an
iconic picture in the hallway with Howe and Jack Eichel.
Every Howe appearance just about anywhere the last 30 years has engendered the
same reaction.
I think back to March 6, 1980, when Howe and his two sons on the Whalers came to the
Aud – and also with Bobby Hull and Dave Keon in the Hartford lineup at the end of their
careers. The Sabres won that game, 4-3, and Howe didn’t get a point. But Hull (assisted
by Mark Howe) and Keon both scored goals and the fans applauded Howe’s first shift
on the ice and several others.
For all the wondrous accomplishments this season of Jaromir Jagr at age 44, remember
this: As he was 51 turning 52, Gordie Howe played 80 games that season, scoring 15
goals and collecting 26 assists. Amazing.
“I don’t know if any sport had anybody that played as long as he did and had the
capability to play well with his sons,” Gare said. “No way. My father was born in
Saskatchewan like Gordie was and used to tell me stories. He said Gordie was good
enough to play pro baseball too. You’d watch him on Hockey Night in Canada and my
dad would point out stuff.”
One would imagine the pointers would include Howe’s notorious elbows. A “Gordie
Howe hat trick” is when a player scores a goal, adds an assist and gets into a fight in
the same game. It was a term actually coined after his career was over as a sort of
tribute that simply spread by word of mouth and became part of the hockey lexicon.
Oddly enough, the namesake himself somehow only had two of them in his career. Both
were against Toronto, in 1953 and 1954. The Society for International Hockey Research
lists current Leafs president and former NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan as the
all-time leader with 17 in regular-season play. Combining playoffs, Pittsburgh assistant
coach Rick Tocchet leads with 18. Gare certainly had a few in his time.
“You’re just in awe of his size and power, how tough he played and how he scored at
will and dominated games,” Gare said.
Howe’s hockey career ended with some dark moments, as he realized the Red Wings
had underpaid him for many years and finally were looking for him to retire. He did not
like an ambassador job with the team and returned to the ice with his sons for the World
Hockey Association’s Houston Aeros in 1973 at age 45, eventually leading to his return
to the NHL in Hartford in 1979. His sons were everything to him and so was his wife,
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Colleen, whom he doted upon until she died in 2009 of Pick’s Disease, the same
neurological malady that took legendary Sabres broadcaster Ted Darling in 1996.
That was the other side of Howe. Far more important to those who knew him than
simply 801 goals and 1,850 points.
“We’re at that All-Star Game and everybody is getting something signed and he asked
me if I wanted something,” Gare recalled of the 1980 affair. “I told him my family was
having a reception and he said he would come. A half-hour later, in walks Gordie and he
goes, ‘Danny, where’s your mom and dad?’ He sat and talked to them, kissed my mom
and aunt, was just such a gracious individual. That’s the type of guy he was.”
Gare learned that from a hockey standpoint, too. The Sabres Hall of Famer, remember,
played five seasons in Detroit and was captain of the Wings from 1982-86, right before
Steve Yzerman. Howe and fellow Wings great Ted Lindsay had stalls in the Wings
dressing room at The Joe and were frequently around during Gare’s tenure with the
team.
“When I was captain, he would come down and be around the guys and it was
something to see,” Gare said. “Lindsay would come down and go work out and Gordie
would come sit in the room. He just liked to be around the game. After I left Detroit, I
played in 5-6 charity games with him and he could still play. Off the ice, he was a
humble man and very approachable. On the ice, of course, that wasn’t the case.”
Howe is immortalized with a bronze statue of him taking a slap shot that was erected in
the Joe Louis concourse in 2007. It’s certainly going to take a prominent place up the
street when the Red Wings move to their new arena in 2017.
As Hall of Famer and St. Louis Blues executive Brett Hull tweeted Friday, “There’s no
Mr. Baseball or Mr. Football but there was one Mr. Hockey.”
Said Gare: “He was a guy who you won’t ever see again. He was a builder and the
greatest ambassador for our game.”
Buffalo News LOADED: 06.11.2016
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Former Sabres/Wings captain Gare on Mr. Hockey: 'He was a builder and the
greatest ambassador for our game'
By Mike Harrington
Updated 1:59 PM
June 10, 2016
LAS VEGAS AIRPORT -- While awaiting the flight to San Jose for Game Six of the
Stanley Cup final, I called Danny Gare for his thoughts on the death of Gordie Howe
and he was effusive in his reverence for Mr. Hockey. The Sabres Hall of Famer,
remember, played five seasons in Detroit and was captain of the Wings from
1982-1986, right before Steve Yzerman.
Howe and fellow Wings great Ted Lindsay had stalls in the Wings dressing room in Joe
Louis Arena and were frequently around during Gare's tenure with the team.
"When I was captain, he would come down and be around the guys and it was
something to see," Gare said. "Lindsay would come down and go work out and Gordie
would come sit in the room. He just liked to be around the game. After I left Detroit, I
played in 5-6 charity games with him and he could still play.
"Gordie was so gracious and such a gentlemen. Off the ice, he was a humble man and
very approachable. On the ice, of course, that wasn't the case."
Gare laughed at that thought, referring to Howe's penchant for beating up on his
opponents by scoring goals with his stick and using his fists. Gare also had a rare
moment with Howe as part of the Wales Conference team for the 1980 All-Star Game in
the Joe. Then 52 years old, it was Howe's final All-Star appearance and he was greeted
by a roaring 5-minute standing ovation during introductions.
"The ovation was deafening. It was unbelievable," Gare said. "That was an amazing,
amazing evening. ... You have to remember there was some animosity when he left the
Red Wings Hartford but that crowd loved Gordie Howe in Detroit. 'Mr. Hockey' is
Forever and I was proud to be a part of it.
"He was a guy who you won't ever see again," Gare said. "He was a builder and the
greatest ambassador for our game."
Buffalo News LOADED: 06.11.2016
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When Mr. Hockey last visited Rochester
Kevin Oklobzija, 12:51 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
VICTOR — The knees of Mr. Hockey, both already rebuilt long ago, make more noise
than a 20-year-old car that was never rustproofed.
"But that's a good thing," Gordie Howe said. "If they don't make a noise, it's bad."
Depending on his movements, pain stabs like a knife in three different spots in his left
shoulder.
Arthritis has made it difficult for him to tightly grip a golf club — or a hockey stick for that
matter.
His elbows are just fine, though.
So the golfers in Thursday's Gordie Howe Golf Classic learned. Rather than swat a ball
around the Ravenwood Golf Club layout, Mr. Hockey did a meet-and-greet at the 10th
tee.
He chatted with the golfers, posed for pictures — and showed that his once razor-sharp
left elbow is still quick and still sharp.
As he posed with players, Howe threw an occasional playful elbow to the ribs.
"You haven't been elbowed until you've been elbowed by Gordie Howe," Ed Douesnard
of Cardinal, Ontario, said proudly.
Douesnard, like all the golfers, was caught off guard. No one ever suspected this 80year-old man would be jabbing them with the same elbow he threw 60 years ago while
making space for himself and his linemates on the ice.
"It was a cheap shot," laughed Curran O'Brien, 14, of Greece after he was poked.
Could there be a better way to spend a summer afternoon than on the golf course and
talking hockey at the 10th tee with Mr. Hockey?
"When I saw this tournament was coming, I said, 'I have to go.' Where else am I going
to meet Gordie Howe?" said Ryan Welch, 25, of Rochester, a Detroit Red Wings fan
who appropriately wore a Red Wings golf shirt.
After their picture was taken, golfers had to prove they could hit the ball. Patrick Kane,
the NHL rookie of the year from the Chicago Blackhawks, failed miserably under the
pressure of Mr. Hockey's eyes.
His tee shot may have killed a dozen earth worms.
"Not good," Gordie said.
But Brian Bailey and Nick Ventura, both 16-year-olds from Fairport, were great off the
tee. And much better than their fathers, Kevin Bailey and Dennis Ventura.
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"My heart was pounding," Nick Ventura admitted after a drive worthy of television.
Bailey, sporting his Fairport High School Golf Team shirt, did the program proud with a
bomb of a drive that virtually split the fairway in half.
Pressure? What pressure?
"I've been in more nerve-racking situations, I guess," Bailey said, referring to tiebreaking
shootouts at hockey tournaments.
► Remembering Gordie Howe
Howe seemed to be enjoying every minute of the interaction. He doesn't do many of
these outings anymore. He is slowing down a little, and he also doesn't want to be away
from his wife, Colleen.
Mrs. Hockey suffers from Pick's disease and is for the most part bedridden at their
home near Detroit. Gordie's connections to hockey usually come at night, on television,
"after I tuck her in at 8 o'clock."
He came to Rochester to help with fund-raising for Howe Hockey Development, a
worldwide program for elite players ages 13 to 16 that is co-owned by his grandson,
Travis.
Howe Hockey Development helps with funding for underprivileged players.
"There may be a great hockey talent whose parents can afford skates but can't afford to
send him to Rochester for our camp," said John St. Pierre, another of the co-founders.
"We're using this to raise money for that fund."
… When Howe was a teenager growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, he didn't
spend many summer days on the golf course.
"You gotta be strong," Howe recalls his father telling him. "Take the garbage out."
Albert Howe was a foreman on the city street crew and got Gordie a job helping to build
curbing and gutters when he was 15.
"They told me if you can't stay with the men, they'd give me a different job," Howe said.
"Those bags of cement weighed 95.6 pounds," he said. "I had no problem lifting them.
All I was after was the strength it gave me."
That might be why Howe was never afraid on the ice. Not even when he was 45 and
playing against the notorious Hanson Brothers of Slap Shot fame — in real life they
were the Carlson brothers playing for the WHA's Minnesota Fighting Saints.
"I tripped one of them," Howe recalls of his days with the Houston Aeros, "and he told
me, 'Hey, don't do that. I have a hard enough time skating.' "
Democrat and Chronicle LOADED: 06.11.2016
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Memories of Gordie Howe flood back for former NHL and WHA teammates, foes
Jim Matheson, Edmonton Journal
Published on: June 11, 2016 | Last Updated: June 11, 2016 12:19 AM MDT
Hockey writer Jim Matheson on the passing of Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe at age 88 on
June 10, 2016.
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Few people knew Gordie Howe better than Bruce MacGregor, the Detroit Red Wings’
No. 2 right-winger for more 600 games.
He was the guy who would come on when Howe came off.
“I had the best seat in the house for about 10 years,” said MacGregor, who played the
seventh-most NHL games with Howe.
“For an overall player, there was nobody like Gordie because of all the things he could
do. I certainly have no argument when they call him Mr. Hockey.”
His strength was prodigious.
“Gordie’s hands were so big that he could put his hands on the heads of Mark and
Marty (sons) when they were really small at the rink and he’d pick them right up,” said
Howe’s teammate and the one-time Edmonton Oilers assistant general manager.
“That was Gordie just fooling around with them. He had such huge paws.”
Soft hands around the net, too. Twenty straight years of 20 or more goals.
Howe scored 801 NHL goals, a good number of them against legends. Glenn Hall,
Jacques Plante, Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower, Gump Worsley, Harry Lumley. He was
not picking on, say, Richard Sevigny or Pokey Reddick.
“He was trying to score against goalies who made the Hall of Fame,” said MacGregor.
When he wasn’t scoring, in MacGregor’s eyes, Howe was the toughest player in the
league, a welcome wagon elbow delivered or a healthy slash. He did it buy room or to
sometimes say hello to a young player new to the NHL.
Al Hamilton — who has his No. 3 Oilers’ banner hanging at Rexall Place, who played
against Howe in the NHL and in the WHA, and who was a teammate on the 1974 WHA
Selects-Soviets super series — came upon Howe very early in his pro days.
“My first NHL game was against Gordie, and he gave me a quick whack, broke his stick
and my arm … I wasn’t doing anything to do him,” Hamilton recalled with a laugh. “I was
carrying the puck, I was 19 years old and I guess that was my introduction to the NHL.”
“He was a great guy (as a teammate and off the ice), a humble person. I grew up
thinking Gordie Howe was the greatest player there was. My first pair of skates when I
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was nine and living in Flin Flon were ordered from Eaton’s, I believe, and they were
Gordie Howe signature. Then I got to play against him. Those sloped shoulders, the
Popeye forearms, the big legs. One of a kind, so strong.“
Only one time did anybody get the best of Howe physically, in the WHA, when ex-Oilers
tough guy Frank (Seldom) Beaton and Howe, deep into his 40s, squared off.
It could have been very ugly.
“Frank had the upper-hand on Gordie as they fell to the ice after they dropped their
gloves and Beater had his fist cocked and could have hammered him, but stopped,”
said Hamilton. “Wasn’t a good idea, beating a guy 49 years old.”
No man ever had more hockey tools than Howe.
“It starts with his over-all makeup. He had a body that nobody else had,” MacGregor
said 18 months ago when Howe was ailing and people though the end was close.
“Bobby Hull was strong, but Gordie? His arms were logs. “
MacGregor on Friday talked of the measure of the man, specifically how tough it was for
the massively built Howe to get clothes that fit.
“I remember when we were in Montreal, he’d go this tailor to make him a suit and they
had a heckuva time fitting him because he had these big arms, muscular and no
shoulders. The sloped shoulders,” he said. “Real challenge for a tailor.”
Howe was the model of decorum off the ice, but on it, he was all business.
“If somebody did something to Gordie, they better be careful. You knew it was coming
back to them,” MacGregor said, laughing. “There was a rookie in Boston who took a run
at Gordie. Bit later in the game, the kid’s down and we’re wondering what happened.
And the thing was Gordie never had any fear about doing something like that. Every
time we’d go back to Boston after that and the fans would be yelling ‘Hey Howe, you
wookie killa.”
Howe was like the nice rancher in the Western movie who minds his own business but
don’t dare hurt his wife and kids, or try and steal his horses.
“Yup. Exactly,” said MacGregor.
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Wayne Gretzky: Gordie Howe was the 'best player ever'
Jim Matheson, Edmonton Journal
Published on: June 11, 2016 | Last Updated: June 11, 2016 12:32 AM MDT
Hockey writer Jim Matheson on the passing of Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe at age 88 on
June 10, 2016.
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Wayne Gretzky was The Great One, but Gordie Howe was The Greatest.
“Best player ever, and I’ll say that to the day I die,” said Gretzky, who knew the end was
near for his hero a couple of weeks ago when the 88-year-old Howe went into a hospice
before passing away Friday morning.
If the otherworldly Gretzky, who has scored the most goals and most points in National
Hockey League history and holds more than 60 NHL records, says Howe was No. 1 in
his books, that’s a resounding endorsement.
Gretzky knows his history and knows the man, though.
“I said to my son the other day ‘you know how good Gordie Howe was? They named a
hat-trick after him,” said Gretzky. “I asked my son ‘you know how many hat-tricks
Gordie Howe had?’ My son says ‘I dunno. Fifty, 60? I said ‘he had one. That’s when you
know you are a really good player.’
“Gordie did it all. He was a special player who happened to be smart and tough, and
longevity comes into play too (playing in the NHL in his 50s, playing very well in the
WHA in his 40s, coming into the NHL at 18),” said Gretzky.
“One year in the WHA, Gordie played centre (not right-wing) … He said ‘kid, if I’d known
the centre position means stopping at the high-slot and you come back into your end
and do it again, Christ, the rink’s 40-feet shorter. I could have played another 40 years.’ I
always laugh at that.’’’
He first met Howe at a sportsman’s banquet in Brantford when he was 10 years old.
“Same feeling as winning the Stanley Cup for the first time,” said Gretzky. “Great thing
about photography is they take you back, and I always see that picture (Howe’s stick
around Gretzky’s neck). It’s like it was taken yesterday, and it was 45 years ago.”
“Gordie was retired then, not playing … I think he was vice-president of the Red Wings
and they put him in an office and he really wasn’t doing anything. He never wanted to
take anything from anybody. When the WHA came along, he said ‘geez, I’m going to get
a chance to play with my boys (sons Mark and Marty). He jumped at it,” said Gretzky.
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And a few months after Gretzky joined the WHA in the late 1970s, he was on a line with
Mark and Gordie at the WHA Selects-Moscow Dynamo exhibition series. That moment,
to this day, was Gretzky’s endearing highlight.
“One of my greatest thrills … part of the reason I made the team was because the
series was in Edmonton. I mean, I was doing OK, but not a top 20 player in the league.
When I went down to the morning skate the first day, I was just excited about being in
the team picture. I thought I wouldn’t play one shift and I was fine with that,” he said.
“I got to the rink, and they said (coach) Jacques Demers wants to talk to you. I was 155
pounds. Jacques said ‘god, you are small.’ He said ‘listen, you’re going to centre Mark
Howe and the old man.’ I said ‘are you kidding me?’ That’s when I got nervous,” he said.
“We had a picture of Gordie and I at centre ice that circulated forever. My jersey was so
big that Gordie said ‘you look like a bantam hockey player.’ He grabbed my jersey, got a
needle and thread and sewed the one side to make it smaller. I was thinking ‘this is
something my mom would do.’ I’ve still got that jersey,” said Gretzky.
Their love for one another was cemented at the Brantford banquet and the all-star
series, and five years ago, Gretzky was at a Kinsmen banquet in Saskatoon — which
then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended, too — and surprised the 3,000 people by
flying in Howe because it was his hometown.
“I remember the RCMP official telling me ‘the Prime Minister doesn’t like surprises.’ I
said ‘OK, no problem.’ Then I got to thinking ‘oh my lord, I can’t lie to the Prime Minister,
so I told him Gordie was coming in. He says to me ‘now I’m nervous.’ The Prime
Minister of Canada,” said Gretzky.
Gretzky and Howe went back to his hotel room afterwards with Gordie’s friends and told
stories for hours.
“Gordie was smiling and giggling. That’s the best day I’ve had,” said Gretzky.
Gretzky also remembered being with Howe at the 1980 NHL all-star game in
Washington, when Howe made a short comeback to the NHL after his fun journey with
his boys in the WHA.
“We had a luncheon at the White House that day and (then-Chicago Blackhawks’
owner) Bill Wirtz had arranged that Gordie would be sitting beside President Ronald
Reagan, and I was lucky enough to be beside Gordie,” he said.
“They were talking about Russian hockey because President Reagan knew a fair bit
about hockey because he’d made a hockey movie once. My dad asked me later how it
went, and I said ‘Gordie told the President that he didn’t know about the Russians.’
President Reagan said ‘Gordie, I don’t trust those offing Russians.’ I heard the President
of the United States swear, and only Gordie Howe could get the President to feel
comfortable enough to do it. Pretty cool.”
Gretzky knew that Howe off the ice wasn’t the same as the competitor on it, of course.
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“Gordie would always tell you he had no friends on the ice. If his sons were playing
against them, he’d hit them. There was one thing to do and that was to get the puck into
the net. He didn’t care how,” said Gretzky.
“Off the ice, though … everybody knew who Gordie Howe was. When I signed with
Indianapolis in the WHA, I went to New York to do a little PR with Gordie and Bobby
Hull, and coincidentally, Muhammad Ali was in the lobby and he came over to say hello.
This is pretty wild, even Muhammad Ali knows Gordie Howe,” said Gretzky.
Gretzky was taught by Howe to be polite to people and to sign autographs the right way.
“If you notice, every autograph you ever got from Gordie says ‘Gordie Howe.’ You don’t
have to say ‘who’s that signature?’” said Gretzky. “You look at jerseys and sticks now
and you say ‘who’s this guy?’
“Gordie took the time for every person.”
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Gordie Howe: a ‘gentle giant’ off the ice
David Shoalts AND Eric Duhatschek
Published Friday, Jun. 10, 2016 7:34PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Jun. 10, 2016 7:37PM EDT
A common thread ran through the tapestry of reflections about the man known as Mr.
Hockey: Somehow Gordie Howe combined a sweet, gentle nature with a fierce, even
nasty disposition when he was on the ice.
“He was a gentleman, but he was also a very tough guy,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
said on Friday in Oshawa, Ont., where he was participating in an announcement by
General Motors of Canada Ltd.
That dual personality “showcased the best of what Canadians like to think of
themselves highlighting our national sport and our national identity on an international
stage,” Mr. Trudeau said, noting that the hockey great left “an incredible legacy.”
Mr. Howe died on Friday morning at the age of 88, setting off a mixture of mourning and
reminiscence about the man who was considered among the three or four greatest
players to ever play in the National Hockey League.
When it comes to the debate about the best player of all time, Mr. Howe, Wayne
Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux are usually the subjects of the conversation. But
there is never any debate when it comes to longevity, as Mr. Howe did not retire from
the NHL until he was 52 years old.
“It’s a tough day for everyone,” Mr. Gretzky said in an appearance on TSN. “I had so
many great memories. Just being around him and getting to know him – a 10-year-old
child who gets to meet his idol.
“As I tell people all the time, he was nicer and better and bigger than I could have ever
imagined. From my point of view, I picked the right idol. He was the greatest player that
ever lived and happened to be maybe the nicest athlete that I’ve ever met. And I’ve met
a lot of nice ones. He might have been the nicest. …
“I had signed at 17 years old and the WHA [World Hockey Association] wanted me to go
to New York with Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe to promote the WHA,” Mr. Gretzky told
TSN. “Of course, nobody knew who I was in New York. I was a young kid. We were
standing in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel and I remember Muhammad Ali came walking
over to Gordie and Bobby. I remember thinking, ‘My goodness, even Muhammad Ali
knows Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull.’
“He [Mr. Howe] could talk to and get along with each and every person. It didn’t matter if
you were a celebrity or just a person walking by. My dad always said, ‘Just watch how
Gordie Howe handles people. He talks with them. He looks them in the eye.’”
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Mr. Howe died surrounded by his family at his daughter’s home in Sylvania, Ohio. “Mr.
Hockey left peacefully, beautifully, and [with] no regrets,” his son Murray said in a text to
The Associated Press, adding that his father died simply of “old age,” not another stroke
like the one he had in October, 2014.
For two years in the early 1960s, just before his career ended because of an eye injury,
Doug Barkley was Mr. Howe’s roommate on the road with the Detroit Red Wings.
“In that time, I just learned so much – not only about hockey, but how to treat people,”
Mr. Barkley said. “He would never turn down anybody for an autograph. It used to be,
after the games, we’d get on the bus and there’d be Gordie at the door, signing
autographs, and the guys would be yelling at him, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’ But he would stay
until he signed the last one.”
Even though he retired 36 years ago, Mr. Howe is still at, or near, the top of many NHL
all-time lists. He is the all-time leader in regular-season games played with 1,767, 11
ahead of Mark Messier. He is fourth all-time in points, with 1,850, behind only Mr.
Gretzky, Mr. Messier and Jaromir Jagr.
That is why those who knew him well say Mr. Howe was the sort of player who could
play in any era. And he straddled several, from his NHL debut in 1946 until his final
game in 1980.
Bill Torrey, the architect of the New York Islanders’ dynasty teams, first met Mr. Howe
more than half a century ago.
“The game changes every 10 years,” Mr. Torrey said in a 2014 interview with The Globe
and Mail. “The players are different, they’re bigger, they’re stronger.
“But then there are some players that transcend any era. Gordie would transcend any
period. Now, it’s even more true because of the size and strength factor. There are
players from the 1940s, 50s and 60s that probably would have a hard time playing
today, or certainly displaying the skills they displayed back then.
“Gordie wouldn’t. He could have played in every era. Skating, he would keep up with
these guys. Physical size, he would keep up. Skill-wise, he could compete. Gordie, with
all the years he played, he would transcend about three 10-year periods.”
Mr. Barkley agreed that the combination of Mr. Howe’s physical gifts put him years
ahead of his contemporaries.
“We always said, he could score goals, play the power play, kill penalties and, on the
other side of it, could be effective in a fighting sense,” he said. “He could do anything. In
any era, he would have been great. He had such stamina, he could play a lot. He never
seemed to slow down. He had that steady pace, just like a thoroughbred. You could
catch him, but most times, you didn’t want to.”
Mr. Barkley’s reference, delivered with a hearty chuckle, was to the other side of Mr.
Howe’s personality. If Mr. Howe was Dr. Jekyll off the ice, he could morph quickly into
Mr. Hyde once play started.
“I saw both sides of it,” Mr. Barkley said. “I recollect playing in Montreal, when Gordie
scored his 600th goal and there was a standing ovation for him, which wouldn’t happen
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very often in most cities for a visiting player, and especially not in Montreal. Then, on the
next shift, he goes out and takes J.C. Tremblay into the corner and just plasters him into
the boards and now there’s a standing boo. That’s just the way he was. Getting his
600th goal didn’t mean anything more than taking out one of their most important
players in the corner.”
Rick Dudley, senior vice-president of hockey operations for the Montreal Canadiens,
saw both the hard-nosed and humorous sides of Mr. Howe when he ran into him,
literally, in the early 1970s, when both men played in the WHA.
“I went to the WHA. The first game we played against Houston, I crossed the blue line
and he clipped me with his stick on the forehead,” Mr. Dudley said. “I remember the
puck was dumped in [later] and he went back to get it. I ran him. I figured I’ve got to let
him know not to do that. From about 20 feet, I ran him and hit him. He bounced off the
boards and we both went down. He just kind of looked at me.
“After the game, a lot of reporters came down and asked, ‘Why didn’t you fight him?’ For
once in my life, I thought fairly quickly on my feet and said, ‘Well, it seemed like a no-win
situation. If I beat him up, then I just beat up a 50-year-old man. If I get the shit kicked
out of me, which was quite conceivable, I just got the hell kicked out of me by a 50-yearold man.’
“We played them next a month later and I had made Sports Illustrated for quote of the
month for saying that. He tapped me on the shin pads and said, ‘You’re getting a lot of
mileage out of me, aren’t you kid?’ That was kind of a thrill.”
Mr. Barkley first met Mr. Howe after he had been traded from the Chicago Blackhawks
to the Red Wings.
“I think it was the third day of training camp and they had a golf tournament and
somebody asked me if I was going to go. I said no, because I didn’t have any gear.
Gordie was right next to me and he says, ‘You can take my clubs.’ Then he says, ‘What
size are your shoes?’ I said, ‘10 and a half,’ and he said, ‘Well, mine will fit you.’ That’s
just the way he was with everybody.
“It didn’t matter if you were a rookie or a veteran, he treated everyone the same – the
trainers, all the personnel. He was just that kind of guy. He didn’t know how to be mean
to anybody off the ice.”
That, too, is what Jim Devellano remembers about Mr. Howe. Now the Red Wings’
senior vice-president, Mr. Devellano was a young fan when he first saw him play in the
mid-1950s at Maple Leaf Gardens, where his parents had season tickets. He said he
quickly realized that Mr. Howe and Maurice (Rocket) Richard were the two best players
in hockey.
Thirty years later, Mr. Devellano became general manager of the Red Wings and came
to know Mr. Howe personally. He also hired Mr. Howe’s son Mark as a pro scout for the
team.
“I’d say the biggest things I loved about Gordie Howe were two things: his lack of bigshot-itis and his simplicity,” Mr. Devellano said. “Gordie Howe treated the parking-lot
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attendant as well as he would treat the owner of the team. He was respectful of kids,
everybody.
“He was a gentle giant off the ice. He certainly was not a gentle giant on the ice. He had
that mean streak that gave him a lot of room to play.
According to Mr. Barkley, Mr. Howe’s values were forged by his hardscrabble prairie
upbringing.
“He used to tell us about his times as a younger person,” Mr. Barkley said. “Nowadays,
we talk about how everybody’s in the gym 11 months a year. Well, he used to work on
the farm. The people who owned the grain elevators had a couple of drivers that used to
transport it – and in those days, they unloaded them by shovel. Gordie was driving one
and they’d get to the terminal and they had to shovel it off and Gordie said, ‘You guys
just sit there,’ and he’d do all three trucks – and then go back and get some more.
That’s where he got his work ethic and the strength he had for his whole career.”
Former NHL player and assistant coach Brent Peterson first met Mr. Howe when they
were in the Hartford Whalers organization together and remembers a charity exhibition
game in which he played on a line with Gordie and Mark Howe.
“We were playing the police team and this young kid from their team was running all
over the place, hitting everybody,” Mr. Peterson recalls. “Gordie yells, ‘Hey son, this is a
charity game.’ Gordie let it go for about three minutes and nothing changes. So he
jumps over the boards, goes into the corner with this guy, and boom, gives him three
elbows, broke his nose. Gordie was 61 years old. As they’re carrying him off the ice,
Gordie says, ‘Hold on’ and skates over and says, ‘I tried to tell you kid. I warned you.’”
Paul Henderson, who is best known for playing on Team Canada and scoring the goal
that beat the Soviet Union in 1972, played against Mr. Howe a lot in the NHL and WHA
but also with him for a time on the Red Wings.
“He wasn’t a holler guy. He was pretty quiet in the [dressing] room,” Mr. Henderson said.
“He would just sit there and [say] ‘Okay, we’ve got a job to do,’ and then he’d pick up his
stick [and say], ‘Let’s go out and do it, boys.’”
Mr. Henderson said Mr. Howe’s violence was just as calculated as it was emotional.
“When he came into the league, around every team, he took on the toughest guy and
beat the snot out of him, [sending the message]: ‘Don’t mess with me,’” he said.
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PART OF GORDIE HOWE’S LEGACY HAS NEW ENGLAND CONNECTION
By Joe Haggerty June 10, 2016 12:04 PM
The Hall of Fame legend is best known for his days winning Stanley Cups with the
Detroit Red Wings, of course, but Howe also played for the WHA’s New England
Whalers for two years, and then one season for the Hartford Whalers in the NHL in
1979-80. Howe turned an amazing 52 years of old that season with the Whalers, and
posted 15 goals and 41 points in 80 games, playing with sons Mark and Marty, in his
final full season of professional hockey.
“Gordie Howe was a true legend in every sense of the word, and we are proud that he
and his sons are a part of our organization’s history,” said Francis in a released
statement. “I was lucky to have the opportunity to take the ice with him during my time in
Hartford, and his impact on our sport is immeasurable.
“The Carolina Hurricanes organization sends its deepest condolences to the Howe
family and everyone affected by his loss.”
Gordie Howe played three seasons with the Whalers in the World Hockey Association
(WHA) and the NHL from the 1977-78 season through 1979-80. He totaled 180 points
(68 goals, 112 assists) and 178 penalty minutes for Hartford, and never played a full
season of professional hockey again after that final season in 1979-80.
Howe won six Hart Trophies in his legendary NHL career, has four Stanley Cups while
with Detroit, still holds the NHL record with an amazing 23 All-Star Game appearances,
and is the only player to ever suit up for at least one professional hockey game in six
different decades from the 1940s through the 1990s. Wayne Gretzky eventually broke
Howe’s records for goals, assists and points in his amazing career, but Howe still holds
the NHL record in two categories that will likely never be broken: most games played
(2.421) and most games played (1,687) with the same team.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman paid tribute to Howe’s legacy with a lengthy statement
on Friday and there’s little doubt the NHL will produce a moving tribute to Mr. Hockey
prior to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in San Jose on Sunday night.
“All hockey fans grieve the loss of the incomparable Gordie Howe. A remarkable athlete
whose mastery of our sport was reflected by the longevity of his career and by his
nickname, ‘Mr. Hockey,’ Gordie’s commitment to winning was matched only by his
commitment to his teammates, to his friends, to the Red Wings, to the city of Detroit and
– above all – to his family,” said Bettman in a prepared statement. “His devotion to
Colleen through her illness and the fact that he extended his playing days into a fifth
decade so he could play with his sons are only two examples of that true priority in his
life. Gordie’s greatness travels far beyond mere statistics; it echoes in the words of
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considered him their hero.
"Gordie’s toughness as a competitor on the ice was equaled only by his humor and
humility away from it. No sport could have hoped for a greater, more-beloved
ambassador. On behalf of the generations who were thrilled by his play and those who
only know of his legend, and on behalf of all the young people and teammates he
inspired, we send heartfelt wishes of condolence, comfort and strength to the Howe
family and to all who mourn the passing of this treasured icon of our game.”
On a personal note, this humble hockey writer was far too young to remember anything
of Howe’s career firsthand except for Images of his final NHL season, and watching on
TV as he suited up for the Whalers as a 50 plus year old man. He seemed more like a
grandfather than a professional hockey player to me at six years old, but even then he
could still play the game at a high level when the puck was dropped.
It was still stunning for anybody that loved hockey to see Howe out and about in NHL
circles over the past 15 years as his health began to fail him. Just walking past him on
the event floor of the Bell Centre at the 2009 All-Star Game in Montreal is one of the
highlights of my career and something that immediately prompted me to call my dad
about how cool it was to see Mr. Hockey in person.
While Howe might his finally passed, his legacy, from Gordie Howe hat tricks, to Mr.
Hockey and to the generosity he showed as an ambassador to the game, will live on
forever.
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 06.11.2016
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FRIDAY, JUNE 10: A HEARTFELT FAREWELL TO MR. HOCKEY
By Joe Haggerty June 10, 2016 11:11 AM
Here are all the links from around the hockey world, and what I’m reading, while
wishing a respectful and awe-inspired Rest in Peace to Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, after
he passed away today at 88 years old. I didn’t bump into Howe much during the last 13
years covering the Bruins and the NHL, but I did feel the aura of greatness around him
as we brushed past each other for a brief moment in the bowels of the Bell Centre at
NHL All-Star weekend back in 2009.
I just remember thinking to myself that my hockey-loving dad would have been so
jealous that I was sitting there hobnobbing with Mr. Hockey, and I wished he had been
there with me for that moment. That’s what I thought of every time I saw reports about
his declining health in recent years, and when I heard about Howe’s courageous battle
to stick around for a few more years with his beloved family after some thought he
wouldn’t.
That was true to his spirit, just as all of the tributes that are pouring in now are a credit
to the larger-than-life man, just as much as the legendarily great hockey player.
*Pro Hockey Talk has the story of Howe’s passing on Friday after an amazing life and
an NHL career that spanned generations.
*Speaking of Howe, here’s a classic ESPN SportsCenter commercial that perfectly
captures his personalty and the legend surrounding the man.
*Hall of Fame hockey writer Michael Farber also recalls having a cup of tea with Mr.
Hockey in a rarified moment of delicacy and sophistication.
*Shifting gears into this week’s Stanley Cup Final, here’s video proof of what goes on
with Ron McLean and Don Cherry when they hit the road together.
*Former Minnesota Wild interim head coach John Torchetti was definitely bruised about
getting passed over the for the Wild job, and has joined the Red Wings coaching staff.
*Martin Jones is putting his name in the San Jose record books as his headstand efforts
on Thursday night pushed the Sharks to a Game 6 against the Penguins back at the
Shark Tank.
*Some of the NHL owners out there are clearly getting comfortable with the idea of
advertising on their player’s sweaters.
*Flames President Brian Burke says that Calgary might not have a head coach in place
until after the NHL draft later this month.
*For something completely different: movie composer John Williams was given a rare
honor with an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award.
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184
List: Honoring "Mr. Hockey" and other all-time greats
By: Joe Paisley June 10, 2016 Updated: Today at 11:43 am
We should always be thankful for opportunities received and while I never had the
pleasure of meeting the now late “Mr. Hockey,” Gordie Howe, I was able to learn more
about him and others when I visited the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto this past spring.
It was quite the eye-opener for someone who grew up in Montana where hockey was
not a part of the culture.
That experience also made compiling this top 10 list more difficult, because comparing
players from different eras is difficult and often unfair.
Like anyone, I am biased towards players I watched growing up. It may be most obvious
when you scroll down to No. 10.
I am sure you will disagree and note that a lot of Hall of Famers are not listed. This list if
purely subjective but it did give me a chance to post the picture of Howe and a young
Wayne Gretzky (who is now a grandfather) together. Here is the AP article on Howe and
his life.
Here are my top 10 all-time players:
1. Gordie Howe (F) – Both Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky (as recently as this morning
on the Dan Patrick Show) have said “Mr. Hockey” was the greatest player ever. Who am
I to disagree?
2. Wayne Gretzky (F) – “The Great One” used his intelligence, vision and underrated
work ethic to live up to that nickname. Imagine the pressure on him at such a young
age.
3. Bobby Orr (D) – He set the standard for how defensemen are evaluated today.
4. Mario Lemieux (F) – Super Mario was a gifted player whose career was cut short by
health problems.
5. Maurice “Rocket” Richard (F) – One of the fiercest competitors and prolific scorers of
all time.
6. Bobby Hull (F) – "The Golden Jet" is arguably the best left winger ever.
7. Guy Lafleur (F) – “The Flower” was the first NHL players to record 50 goals and 100
points in six straight seasons.
8. Eddie Shore (D) – Old Time Hockey! "The Edmonton Express" only took up the game
at age 18 but became the first superstar defenseman with a mean streak matched only
by his skill.
9. Patrick Roy (G) – These lists always focus on offense and "St. Patrick" deserves a
top-10 rating because he is arguably the greatest netminder of the modern era.
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10. Mark Messier (F) – Arguably the best two-way forward behind Howe and since
these lists are the definition of subjective, I am biased since I grew up as an Oilers fan.
Honorable mention (in no particular order) – Doug Harvey, Jean Beliveau, Joe Sakic,
Mike Bossy, Glenn Hall, Steve Yzerman, Dominik Hasek, Ray Bourque, Stan Mikita,
Paul Coffey, Jaromir Jagr, Nicklas Lidstrom, Phil Esposito, Bryan Trottier, Ted Lindsay,
Terry Sawchuk, and Howie Morenz.
Colorado Springs Gazette: LOADED: 06.11.2016
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Gosselin: Gordie Howe was -- and remains -- the measuring stick for hockey
players
By Rick Gosselin ,
I have a deep admiration for the way Jamie Benn plays hockey.
And that deep admiration can be traced back almost 60 years — back to my youth,
growing up in Detroit, watching Gordie Howe play hockey during the era of the Original
Six.
'Mr. Hockey' Gordie Howe, who played professionally in six decades, dies at 88
You can debate the greatest hockey player of all-time and the discussion will inevitably
center on three names: Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe. Gretzky owns all
the scoring records, and there has never been anyone who played the game with more
style, grace and class than Orr. But for the completeness of his game, give me Howe.
Beyond his obvious talent — 975 goals over an amazing 32-year career — what I
appreciated most about Howe was that he would clean up his own mess. If you wanted
to play hockey, he’d play hockey. And he played it with an edge. If you wanted to fight,
he’d fight. He didn’t need any teammates to come rushing to his defense — an era of
hockey that in later years spawned “goons.” Not only was Howe the best player on the
ice, he was the toughest.
I still remember the date of the magazine — Feb. 16, 1959. There was a story in that
issue of Life about Gordie Howe and the night he fought Lou Fontinato, the league’s
resident bad boy and tough guy for the New York Rangers. And Howe fought him at
Madison Square Garden in front of Fontinato’s adoring fans.
The fight lasted about two minutes — a lifetime for most hockey fisticuffs. When the two
men were finally punched out, a bloodied Fontinato was on his way to the hospital with
a broken nose. The headline of the story was: “Don’t Mess Around With Gordie.” Howe
administered a beating.
“Howe’s punches went whop-whop-whop,” a Detroit teammate said in the article, “just
like someone chopping wood.”
Let me go on record that I’m not a fan of fighting in hockey. But I’m a fan of standing up
for oneself in the sport. In all sports, for that matter.
I admired the way Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan took care of business on the mound.
You want to rush the mound when they were pitching? Gibson and Ryan would be there
waiting there for you with a welcome mat out. If there was a mess, they would clean it
up. All by themselves.
I admired the way Brett Favre went after a defender after throwing an interception. He
wound up with 23 career tackles. When he threw an interception, he felt compelled to
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go clean up his own mess — not trot to the sideline out of harm’s way like most
quarterbacks in today’s NFL.
Stars legend Mike Modano pays tribute to the late Gordie Howe, 'Mr. Hockey'
And that’s what I admire about Benn. He plays the game like the player I developed the
deepest respect for in my 60 years of watching hockey. If there’s a mess on the ice to
clean up, Benn will clean it up.
I grew up playing hockey and during my day, you always knew the best player on the
other team. He wore jersey number 9. Howe’s number. I saw a tweet today from Mike
Modano, who also grew up in Detroit, saying that he wore 9 himself because of Howe.
And it wasn’t just Detroit. There were a few generations of youth hockey players across
Canada who wore 9 because of Howe. Gretzky himself wore 99 in a tribute to Howe.
For the record, both Gretzky and Orr have given Howe their vote as the greatest player
ever. They respected who he was, his talent and how he went about playing the game.
Even today Howe remains my measuring stick for hockey — the player whom I judge all
others against.
We have now lost both Muhammad Ali and Gordie Howe in the span of a week. That’s
a lot of greatness leaving this earth at one time. There will never be another Muhammad
Ali. And there will never be another Gordie Howe.
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 06.11.2016
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Kelly: Gordie Howe was a Canadian hero
CATHAL KELLY
Published Friday, Jun. 10, 2016 9:57AM EDT
Last updated Friday, Jun. 10, 2016 11:23AM EDT
Red Kelly tells this story about Gordie Howe.
Kelly switched from Detroit to Toronto in 1960, at a time when such moves didn’t
happen. The deal was done in secret. It wasn’t a trade so much as a caper – Kelly was
smuggled into town.
He didn’t tell any of his Red Wings teammates about the move. There were no phone
calls of congratulation. The first time the two teams met, no one said anything to Kelly.
Not in the hallway. Not during the warm-up.
Roy MacGregor on the 'greatest hockey player that ever lived', Gordie Howe (The
Globe and Mail)
Early in the game, a puck was dumped into the Leafs end. Kelly took off after it. As he
neared the corner, he felt someone closing in on him fast. He slowed. It was Howe.
“He slipped an arm around my waist, like a lover,” Kelly recalled, beautifully.
Howe leaned in – and here Kelly leaned in as well, to demonstrate the intimacy of the
gesture – and whispered, “Hey, Red. How’s the wife?”
Kelly turned to answer …
“And that’s when Gordie knocked me out.”
Kelly told this story in the living room of his Forest Hill home 40 years after the fact. It
was his favourite Maple Leaf Gardens tale, and one of his favourites about the man
who’d introduced him to his wife.
Kelly shone throughout the telling of it. He was trying to convey something elemental
about Howe – his duality, and a great part of what made him special.
Off the ice, he was a gentle soul. On it, he was on a seek-and-destroy mission. His
targeting apparatus did not recognize faces, only enemy colours.
Howe typified a brand of hockey that’s long since disappeared – brutal, but not vicious;
vengeful, and never contrived.
He was the last great link with what most of us still romanticize as the authentic game. A
game played by farmers, factory workers and car salesmen, back when hockey was a
job, and not yet a vocation.
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It was a game in which civic borders were more than a liminal space. They were
absolute, uncrossable boundaries. You did not just play against men from Chicago,
Montreal and New York. You hated and suspected them.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, clubs travelled together via train between a home-andhome. One team would have to walk through the other to get to the dining car. Those
were genuinely fraught moments. A cross word here could ignite a years-long vendetta.
They were hard men, and none harder than Howe. He wasn’t especially big – six-feet
tall, a little over 200 pounds. But his hands hung at the end of his arms like wrecking
balls. His torso was cantilevered forward like some sort of industrial machine. He was
built to ruin.
Despite his reputation as one of the top pugilists in the history of the game, he averaged
less than a fight a year during his career.
The legend was based largely on one bloodbath in 1959 with Rangers enforcer Lou
Fontinato. The Rangers goaded Howe into high dudgeon. He needed to be shown the
cape before the red mist would descend. Sometimes Howe’s personal Iago, Ted
Lindsay, supplied it on the bench; sometimes an opponent was foolish enough to bait
him on the ice.
Fontinato landed the first few blows. Howe shrugged them off. Then he took hold of
Fontinato and collapsed his face, breaking his cheekbone, his nose, splitting both lips.
The day-after pictures remain some of the most gruesome in sport.
Howe fought even more rarely after that. Everyone had seen the photos. He didn’t need
to fight any more. And since Howe took no particular pleasure in beating people up, he
stopped.
He continued abusing people with the rest of his body, and at speed. Which was
probably worse. He continued to pile up points with such marvelous dependability, it
tended to obscure his excellence.
If Howe hadn’t been quite so metronomic over so many years, we’d probably talk more
about his skill. Quiet efficiency doesn’t rate on the heat scale.
Fifty years on, what we remember about Howe is his soft sense of menace. He was a
ruthless player. Dirty, even. But never thought of with malice.
That would be impossible now. We’re too binary – people are good or bad, never
nuanced. We have slo-mo replays. We’d be going over the Fontinato fight trying to pick
out the moment when Howe should have stopped swinging.
Imagine all the shots Howe delivered with those swinging elbows. He would
occasionally pin a man against the boards with his hip and ride him the length of the ice,
knocking his head back and forth like a flesh piñata. He was a terror.
But thankfully, there is no video. So instead, we get to remember Howe gauzily. Like the
time in which he played.
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Maybe he didn’t always do what we’d consider the right thing, but he damn well did it for
the right reasons. He stuck up for himself and his teammates. He gave no quarter. He
waited until you asked for it, and then he gave you a lot more than you’d anticipated.
He’s gone now, but he’d long ago become a feature of our imaginations. Howe’s name
summons up a game we’d no longer recognize and an idyllic, illusory vision of the seato-sea-to-sea.
What he represents now is Canada’s frontier spirit. We don’t have movie stars or
galloping politicians to anchor our national mythology. We have hockey players, and
none greater than Howe. He’s our John Wayne, our Theodore Roosevelt.
He is an idealized vision of ourselves – tough, decent and uncompromising.
Gordie Howe didn’t enjoy fighting, but he’d happily go to war at the right time.
On some very basic level, that’s how we’d all like to define ourselves.
Globe And Mail LOADED: 06.11.2016
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R.I.P., Mr. Hockey — Gordie Howe dead at age 88
Posted by Stu Cowan
Mr. Hockey is sadly gone.
Gordie Howe died Friday at age 88. The Hall of Famer played 32 seasons of pro hockey
and won the NHL scoring title and MVP award six times each. He helped the Detroit
Red Wings win four Stanley Cups and was a 21-time all-star.
There will never be another one like him.
R.I.P., Mr. Hockey.
Below is an article Red Fisher wrote about Howe — a man he knew well — back in
1985:
PUBLISHED ON FEB. 4, 1985
RED FISHER
MONTREAL GAZETTE
LOS ANGELES — “And here, to present the trophies . . . “
The first few words over the public address system had prompted little more than polite
applause, but now, after his first few steps along the carpet, there were no longer
merely small sounds in the arena, but a noise filling it.
“. . . is a man who is No. 1 on and off the ice . . .”
Detroit Red Wings ✔ @DetroitRedWings
Thoughts and prayers to the Howe family as Gordie Howe passes away at the age of
88. #9RIP
9:55 AM - 10 Jun 2016
25,706 25,706 Retweets 18,339 18,339 likes
The upper body remains thick and strong, the head is held high and as the fans rise to
their feet with what by now is a tremendous, ear-splitting ovation, he’s smiling from ear
to ear.
“. . . Gordie Howe!”
How many years has it been since Howe started his remarkable career? When was it
he scored the last of his 801 National Hockey League goals? Was it only yesterday or
was it a lifetime ago?
Now, there’s a blanket of snow in his hair, and little networks of lines run from the
corners of his eyes, but the boyish grin still lights up his face when the noise starts at
the mention of his name, as it did in Vancouver last Wednesday and again in Los
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Angeles on Saturday. He continues to attract a special measure of love and admiration
from the curious wherever he goes, and the wonderful thing about Gordie Howe is that
he still seems to enjoy that attention, on and off the ice.
“Don’t tell me that was really you who scored the winning goal the other night in
Toronto?” a newspaper pal mentioned to him on the weekend.
“Aw . . . I’m still getting those good passes,” Howe grinned. “I mean, there was maybe a
little more than 60 seconds left when Stan Mikita scores for the other team to tie the
game. We’re still on the same shift, and when I’m in front of the net, Henri (Richard)
gives me that good pass. All I have to do is deflect it high into the net.
It is with great sadness that the Canadiens have learned the passing of hockey legend
Gordie Howe. #9RIP
10:01 AM - 10 Jun 2016
1,661 1,661 Retweets 2,973 2,973 likes
“Amazing,” laughed Howe. “Both teams thanked me after the goal. Nobody wanted to
play overtime.”
The idea of Howe, at age 56, scoring a winning goal in the final minute of a fiercelycontested exhibition game which had sold out Maple Leaf Gardens is amazing, all right.
On the other hand, should it be? Everything linked to Howe during his years in The
Game and everything he accomplished was amazing. People remember. His name and
his presence at games in cities such as Vancouver and Los Angeles as a representative
for the Emery people still attract special attention from everyone . . . as they should.
Include me among those who still get a special feeling each time they see Howe on or
off the ice, all the more so because he still appears to be truly surprised when his
presence evokes a reaction.
“You should have seen him after he scored the goal in Toronto,” said his wife, Colleen.
‘Gordie,’ I told him, ‘you’ve got to stop doing those things. People write scripts with
endings like that.’
“You’d think he was still a kid,” said Mrs. Howe. “I guess he still is.”
Bet on it.
There’s some of the boy remaining in most of hockey’s great stars, and enough to go
around for all of us in Howe.
“He’ll never change,” said Mrs. Howe. “For a long time, hockey was his life. Then, it was
the boys, Mark and Marty. Now it’s the grandchildren. We’ve got one who’s almost
seven, and next month he’s going to Orangeville to play in a game. He told me on the
telephone the other day: ‘Honey, I’m going on my first road trip, and I’m really excited
about it.’ His grandfather is more excited about it than he is,” said Mrs. Howe.
Howe is one of a kind even to those who aren’t quite sure who he is or what he
represents.
193
He stops at a coffee shop table for a chat, and a bearded youth sitting nearby looks at
him intently and then whispers to a friend.
“I think so,” says his friend.
The youth reaches into his pocket, extracts a small card and leans over to Howe.
“Would you sign this, sir?” he said.
“Sure thing,” said Howe.
The youth looks at the signature.
“You’re a hockey player, aren’t you?”
“I guess so,” said Howe.
I guess so . . . indeed!
Montreal Gazette LOADED: 06.11.2016
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‘She was everything’: Gordie Howe held on tight to wife Colleen after a lifetime of
love and friendship
Joe O'Connor | June 10, 2016 1:51 PM ET
It was Colleen who choreographed the 45-year-old Gordie's return to the game with the
Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association in 1973.
This story was originally published in February 2008. Hockey legend Gordie Howe died
on Friday at age 88. His wife, Colleen, died in 2009 at 76. They were known as Mr. and
Mrs. Hockey.
Gordie Howe remembers falling in love. Colleen Joffa was standing with a group of girls
at the old Lucky Strike Lanes bowling alley on Grand River Avenue in Detroit. It was a
contest, a beauty contest. And the judges, well, Howe figured they must be crazy or
blind because the girl he was looking at — the girl he would later marry — was not the
one with the crown on her head.
“She just stood out like a 100-watt bulb,” Howe says. “She was by far the best looking.
“And I thought, ‘Hold on, there is something wrong here.’ I wasn’t that bold, but I thought
if I miss this chance, we’ll never meet each other, and so I went over and told her how I
felt.”
If wanting something so bad means loving it right away, then it was love at first sight for
Howe. He asked Joffa if he could give her a ride home, but she had a car of her own,
thanks, and so he left with a phone number instead.
The prettiest girl he ever saw would teach the hockey player with the two left feet how to
dance a two-step in her parents’ living room. There would be dinner dates, bowling
dates, movie dates, dances and even some quiet moments alone. It was almost perfect.
But there was a problem: Joffa had another suitor, a serious one, a real “steady” that
wanted her to be his wife.
“I didn’t want to lose Colleen,” Howe says from his home in Bloomfield Township, Mich.,
north of Detroit. “I really didn’t want to lose her.”
He did not have to worry. The strapping Red Wings star and his beautiful bride were
married on April 15, 1953, in a church about four blocks away from Detroit’s Olympia
Stadium. It was the start of a life together. And love came easy for the young couple.
It is harder now. Not the loving part — Colleen Joffa will always be Gordie Howe’s girl —
but the happily ever after.
Colleen has not spoken to her husband in two years. She can’t talk, and she uses a
wheelchair, haunting their home as a silent ghost and a heartbreaking reminder to the
man who loves her that life, even for one of the greatest hockey players that ever lived,
can take the cruelest of turns.
195
It has been almost eight years since Howe and the four children — Marty, Mark, Cathy
and Murray — found out why the woman that always remembered everything —
addresses, birthdays, graduation days, phone numbers and flight times — was starting
to forget. Pick’s disease is a rare form of dementia, similar to Alzheimer’s. There is no
cure and the stricken seldom survive 10 years beyond the initial diagnosis.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Howe Family
“I’ve gone to bed at night thinking, ‘Why,’ ” Howe says. “I know what I done in my life,
and I don’t think I earned this — and neither did she.
“She has helped so many kids in her life, and she was such a smart and attractive lady.”
Colleen Howe was ahead of her time. It was Colleen, not Gordie, who forced a raise out
of Red Wings management upon discovering her husband, a player that had captured
six scoring titles, six MVP awards and four Stanley Cups, was earning half as much
money as some of his teammates.
It was Colleen who choreographed the 45-year-old Gordie’s return to the game with the
Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association in 1973 so he could play with his sons,
Mark and Marty. She also negotiated the boys’ contracts, founded the Detroit Junior
Red Wings hockey program, trademarked the “Mr. and Mrs. Hockey” label, wrote a
couple of books, ran for Congress, sold insurance, raised llamas and Hereford cattle
and collected and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity.
“She was everything,” Howe says.
Everything: agent, business manager, personal secretary, protector and, in Gordie’s
golden years, his travelling companion. Mr. Hockey would not have it any other way. He
could not stand being apart for more than a week.
The old Red Wing still travels around to tell his stories at banquets, fundraisers and
corporate events. But he always comes home to his Colleen, to sit with her, take her
hand in his and talk about anything, really, while he waits for the smile that seldom
comes.
“Hopefully, she picks something up,” he says. “I always have hope. I have to. She still
has her smile.”
Howe is not alone in his pain. He has lost a wife and his children have lost a mother.
Cathy, the only daughter, lives out west. She doesn’t get back to Michigan much.
“She can’t take it,” Howe says. “Cathy comes here, and she is a total mess for a few
days.” Marty, the oldest, is his dad’s business manager — a job his mother used to do.
Mark, the second oldest, is the director of scouting with the Red Wings. Neither is willing
to fully accept Colleen’s illness.
It is Murray, the youngest child, who comforts his father the most.
“He was a hockey player,” his father says. “Murray was like a windstorm. He could skate
like heck, but not in a straight line.”
196
His calling was healing people, not hitting them with a pass. Murray works as a
radiologist in Toledo and lives about an hour away from his parents. He gets home as
much as he can.
Dave Olecko/Postmedia Network
“Sitting down with Murray, it helps me, he helps explain everything,” Howe says.
“Medicine is his gift. He told me when we learned what we were up against that you
better enjoy the time you have left.”
At first, Howe was Colleen’s full-time caregiver. He cooked her meals, made sure she
took her medication and helped her find her way when she found herself lost and
frightened in her own home.
There was a lot of crying then. There is nothing now.
Howe has two nurses to help him care for his wife.
“I would never put her in a hospital,” he says. “They can’t help if we can’t help, and who
takes better care of her than her family and personal friends?”
Mr. Hockey will be 80 years old in March. Mrs. Hockey turns 75 on Feb. 17. They have
been married for almost 55 years, and for much of that time, Colleen was the centre that
held all the Howe parts together.
“Everything, even as far as memory goes, I had to rely on her for that,” Howe says.
“Colleen was the anchor.”
And now she is adrift, trapped in a body she cannot make work and with a memory that
is cut off behind the veil of an untreatable disease.
But Gordie is not letting go. There is a photograph of her in the stairwell of their home. It
is six-feet wide. Colleen is 25, maybe 30, years old.
“It was pretty hard to make a mess out of her,” Howe says softly. “This love, it goes a lot
farther than playing a stupid game and fighting people.
“It has been a friendship, and a sharing of a life together.”
In the big photograph, she is beautiful to her husband. She always will be.
National Post LOADED: 06.11.2016
197
There was only one Gordie Howe, and there will never be another like him
Cam Cole | June 10, 2016 10:56 AM ET
There was only one Gordie Howe, and there will never be another like him.
That hasn’t stopped National Hockey League scouts and general managers from
scouring the junior leagues ever since he began dominating his sport, searching for that
impossible-to-find combination of physical might, speed, competitive fire, scoring
prowess, mean streak and character that defined the quintessential “power forward” …
long before the phrase was coined.
And to be sure, what Howe did on the ice — and the still-staggering total of five
decades he spanned while doing it — are the greatest parts of his legacy.
For those who grew up watching him play, or listening to his feats described on radio,
no one ever played what coaches now commonly call “the 200-foot game” better than
the larger-than-life product of tiny Floral, Sask., who passed away Friday morning at his
son Murray’s home in Ohio, at age 88, after a typically determined rebound from a
series of strokes two years ago.
But there were other pieces of Mr. Hockey’s life that continue to resonate, even now.
One was his impact on hockey in Michigan, and on the fans who made Detroit into
Hockeytown. Howe was the star — every bit as big in his day as his two Motor City
contemporaries, Tigers slugger Al Kaline and Lions quarterback Bobby Layne — who
made that happen.
Much later, playing with his sons Mark and Marty in Houston and Hartford, he lent
credibility and star power to the World Hockey Association, the rebel league which
helped drag the NHL reluctantly into a more modern era of European talent and
expansion markets … and Wayne Gretzky.
Even Howe’s gentle politeness, naivety and trusting nature — he had scored more than
600 goals before his Red Wings salary topped $40,000 — had an unintended impact,
for the Wings’ shameful treatment of their greatest player helped underline the need for
a players’ association, which his longtime linemate Ted Lindsay spearheaded against
angry opposition from ownership.
But what most people remember who met him after his on-ice heroics were over was
his effortless grace and gentlemanliness. He was one of those stately eminences grises
like Jean Beliveau and Milt Schmidt and Johnny Bower who endured as icons of their
cities long into old age and set an example for the generations that followed.
He could be caustic when he wanted to, and very funny when the spirit moved him, but
mostly he was content to be a regular guy, coming to the rink to chat and joke with the
modern Red Wings, who tried not to be in awe the first time they saw him walk into the
room.
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No single memory of Gordie Howe stands out more to me than a day in January of 1998
when The Hockey News held a press conference at the Hockey Hall of Fame to
announce results of a poll to select the greatest player of all time.
It was always going to be a close three-way vote among Gretzky, Howe and Bobby Orr,
and as these things go, the winner (Gretzky) was informed in advance so that he could
attend.
Howe, who was not quite 70, also knew the result (he finished third), but showed up
anyway, because Gretzky was his friend, and because … well, it was the decent thing to
do.
Mr. Hockey was The Great One’s hero, and many years after that famous photo of
Howe with his hockey stick hooked affectionately around the 11-year-old Gretzky’s
throat, he still was the standard against whom Gretzky measured himself.
Early in his pro career, Gretzky ducked out on an interview that had been promised to a
Denver writer, and all a veteran Edmonton beat writer had to say to him was “Gordie
never would have done that.” Gretzky turned around, found the writer, and gave him a
nice interview.
On the ice, gentility was not a Gordie Howe hallmark.
It’s out of fashion now to hearken back to days when a certain amount of savagery was
not only desirable but necessary, but those who played with or against him speak fondly
of Howe’s own code of conduct. And it’s impossible to comprehend his longevity without
understanding how he made others frightened to challenge him.
There is a black-and-white photograph of Howe, shirtless, in a fishing boat that offers an
eye-popping look at a set of shoulders that seems to start at his ears and end at his
wrists. He looked like 205 pounds of tapered sinew and steel.
“Gordie just had a big space around him because he’d earned that space, and a lot of
guys wouldn’t go near him,” Pat Quinn said one day when Howe was coming to
Vancouver for an 85th birthday celebration.
Quinn began his NHL career in the Detroit organization and idolized Howe from the
start.
“Nobody had to look after Gordie,” he said. “Gordie looked after them.” The Gordie
Howe Hat Trick is now part of the hockey lexicon — goal, assist and a fight — but Howe
himself only had two of them in a career that lasted until he was 52. He didn’t have to
drop the mitts very often after rearranging Rangers enforcer Lou Fontinato’s face in a
1959 fight at Madison Square Garden.
“He wasn’t mean to anybody who played the game the way he thought it should be
played,” said Dennis Hull. “But when somebody got out of line, he took care of it.”
Howe’s greatest years in Detroit were on The Production Line with Lindsay and Sid
Abel.
“So he had a mean little bugger (Lindsay) that started everything and Gordie would
come in and finish it,” Quinn said. “He’d get you on the ice or he’d get you in the alley.
199
“There’s been lots of changes, obviously, since the ’60s. I think where it really got stupid
for a while — and Gordie was able to play through it, because he had a very mean
streak to him — was in the ’70s when we expanded so much and the World Hockey
Association came in, and we had too many jobs and not enough good players,” Quinn
said. “So we started bringing in tough guys that infringed on the rules all the time, and
we had bench-clearing brawls, gang fights, sucker-punches were prevalent.
There were a lot of guys that did it that way, but they didn’t do it to Gordie.
“But they’d do it to his sons, and then Gordie would exact the payback.”
There is an oft-told story from WHA days when Mark Howe, who himself would become
a Hall of Famer, was piled on by an opponent, who refused to let him up. Gordie waded
in, took off his glove, stuck his fingers in the guy’s nostrils and lifted him off the pile.
“A guy will always go where his nose goes,” he told reporters.
In the 1974 WHA series against the Soviets, a Russian player cut open Mark’s ear.
Gordie got his licence plate number and later in the game broke his arm. He was the
master of patience, waiting for the referee — there was only one when he played — to
look the other way.
“You’re working a game, and you see a player down,” referee Vern Buffey once said.
“You know Howe did it, but how can you prove it?”
Brantford Expositor
“You just had to wait for the right moment. And you might have to wait a long time,”
Howe said. “Today you could never get away with the things we did.”
But to say that Howe would have spent his whole career serving suspensions under
today’s rules is absurd. He could play any way you wanted to play it.
Those who shared in the Howe era will never concede that there was a better player in
history. Gretzky, Orr, Mario Lemieux, Rocket Richard, Doug Harvey … Howe, his peers
say, could do everything they could do, and a few things each of them lacked.
“As Brad Park once said to me, there’s only one guy you could answer yes to any
question,” said Marcel Dionne. “He had everything. Mario was big but he wasn’t
physical. Wayne was not. Sidney (Crosby) is a mucker, but you see what happens when
you do that now, you get hit more.
“So I think Gordie would have had to tone down, probably, because of suspensions. But
he would have been a fierce guy out there. He was born with this.”
“Today,” said Dennis Hull, “a guy is 36 or 37 and they talk about the career winding
down. Gordie played 15 more years after that. He was a once-in-a-lifetime guy. A
beautiful skater, always in control of the puck, in position, tough, and what a wrist shot.
He had it all.”
Where Mr. Hockey is going in the afterlife, they better keep their heads up.
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Gordie Howe dead at 88: Mr. Hockey was bigger than the game, but always kept
his feet firmly on the ground
Bob Duff | June 10, 2016 11:39 AM ET
In the spring of 2004, Gordie Howe was on tour with the family’s new book, Mr. & Mrs.
Hockey, a trek which brought him to make an appearance in Windsor.
The book was filled with stories from people inside and outside of hockey telling their
tales of how the Howes had touched their lives. Among the luminaries included were
Scotty Bowman, Mark Messier, Bobby Hull, former U.S. President Gerald Ford and exABC news anchor Peter Jennings.
I was also lucky enough to be asked to include my Howe story.
“Dad took him aside after the workout and suggested he learn a trade or something, to
forget about hockey.”
— Lynn Patrick‘s memories in the Boston Daily Record of what his father, New York
Rangers GM Lester Patrick, told Howe when he sent him home from training camp in
1943.
Speaking on the phone to write a column about the book, when the interview concluded,
Gordie posed a question to me.
“You coming to the signing on Sunday?” he asked.
I told him no, that I would be in Detroit covering a Pistons playoff game, but he asked if I
would mind stopping by en route to the game.
Of course I would. Who says no to Gordie Howe?
Upon arrival, Gordie greeted me, shook my hand, and then held out a copy of the book.
“Would you mind signing this for me?” he asked.
That’s right. Gordie Howe asked me for my autograph.
It was just one of many memorable encounters between me and the Howe family.
Over the years, it seemed as if our paths were destined to cross. Murray Howe,
Gordie’s youngest son, moved to my hometown of Toronto to play junior B with the
Seneca Nats and enrolled in my high school. He ended up in my 12th grade chemistry
class and let me tell you, Murray was to chemistry was Gordie was to hockey – a
natural.
It’s no surprise to me that he went on to become Dr. Murray Howe.
“To survive in the NHL, you needed to carve out one foot of personal space around you
on the ice. Gordie got three feet.”
— Hall of Fame defenceman Pierre Pilote
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My first newspaper job was in Saskatoon, where Gordie was raised. I bought my first
home on the east side of town, a stone’s throw from Floral, the tiny farming community
where Gordie was born. I’d often drive past that staple of prairie towns, the grain
elevator emblazoned with the Floral sign.
Gordie was a frequent visitor to Saskatoon and in 1986 we had our first lengthy
conversation when I was assigned to pen a feature on him. He showed me the
neighbourhood where he was raised, the Bessborough Hotel, where he and his dad had
done much of the cement work when it was built, and the farmland upon which he
worked his first job, handed a gun at the age of 12 and hired by the farmer to ensure the
gophers did not devour his crops.
In the 1960s, when Saskatoon celebrated Gordie Howe Day, that same land was turned
into Gordie Howe Park and the football stadium where the reigning CJFL champion
Saskatoon Hilltops play was christened Gordie Howe Bowl.
When you’re a hockey player and they name the football stadium in your honour, you
know you’re kind of a big deal.
Moving to work in Windsor in 1988, Gordie was a frequent visitor to Joe Louis Arena. He
couldn’t sit in the seats because he’d get mobbed for autographs. Gordie didn’t mind
signing, but it bothered him that those around him couldn’t see the game, so he’d take
up residence in the press box, and the stories would flow, though they’d never be about
any of his legendary accomplishments.
Postmedia News files
There was night in Boston when he fractured his ribs. With no ambulance on duty at
Boston Garden, the best player in the NHL was shipped to hospital via taxi.
He talked about going to training camp with the New York Rangers at the age of 15.
Howe reminisced about skating alongside his sons against the Soviets in the 1974
Summit Series.
“His big assets are his almost super-human strength, powerful wrists, passing,
playmaking, shooting and stickhandling. There doesn’t seem to be a thing Gordie Howe
can’t do except sit on the bench.”
— Montreal Canadiens GM Frank Selke in 1960.
Like any proud parent, Howe’s favourite topic was anything to do with his kids, with his
stories about wife Colleen running a close second.
During that 2004 interview, while Colleen was battling Pick’s Disease, which would
ultimately claim her life, Gordie fondly recalled how they’d met.
He first saw her at a Detroit bowling alley, but was so painfully shy he couldn’t bring
himself to talk to her.
“I was kind of like a stalker there for a while, showing up to bowl, watching her, but
never talking to her,” Howe said.
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He didn’t lament his lot in life while Colleen endured her painful end.
“We can ask, ‘Why?’ to a million things, but this is the life we’re given,” Howe explained.
It’s a given that Howe was hockey’s greatest all-around player. He was the game’s most
complete player, capable of dominating any style of game you might choose to play. He
could intimidate via his talent or his toughness.
If you needed someone to fight, Howe could take care of that. If you needed a scorer,
he did that. If you needed a checker, Howe was strong enough to shut down anyone.
Howe dictated how the game would be played and he was capable of doing this over a
five-decade span.
Most of all, Howe was a larger-than-life legend who never let his aura go to his head.
He transcended the game, and the game will miss him dearly.
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Gordie Howe dead at 88: Hockey legend had a fearsome reputation on the ice but
always respected code of honour
Scott Stinson | June 10, 2016 2:24 PM ET
It is fitting that Gordie Howe, the Hockey Hall of Famer whose remarkable career is
remembered equally for his soft scoring touch, his hard elbows, and his uncanny
longevity, lived longer than even those closest to him expected.
Howe, known simply as Mr. Hockey, and on the very short list of greatest players in the
sport’s history, suffered a severe stroke in the fall of 2014 that left him unable to walk
and challenged to speak. He told his family that he didn’t want to live. “He was saying
‘Take me out back and shoot me,’ his son Murray, a doctor, told The Associated Press
last year. “He was serious.”
Instead, he went to Mexico, where experimental stem cell treatements produced a
dramatic turnaround. His ability to walk returned, and he travelled from his Texas home
to Saskatchewan last winter, where he was honoured by legends like Wayne Gretzky
and Bobby Hull, as well as his own hockey-playing sons.
The comeback ended this week, when Howe died at 88 years old.
A six-time National Hockey League Most Valuable Player, a six-time scoring champion
and a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he played
for 25 seasons, the right winger set scoring records that stood for more than two
decades until they were eclipsed by Wayne Gretzky. He won scoring titles 12 seasons
apart, amassed almost as many penalty minutes (1,685) as points (1,850) and even in
his 80s would shock those he met with his natural strength and firm handshake.
“For longevity of superior play nobody comes anywhere near to matching him,” longtime
NHL coach and broadcaster Harry Neale told Postmedia News in 2003, when asked to
name the sport’s greatest player. “There might have been players who had better years,
or players who had better short careers, but nobody played at the level he did for as
long as he did.” Among those who have also said Howe was the best ever: Wayne
Gretzky and Bobby Orr.
Born in 1928 in Floral, Sask., Howe was the sixth of nine children. In his autobiography,
“Mr. Hockey,” Howe says that his mother was chopping wood when she went into labour
with him. “With only a couple of kids around for company, she put some buckets of
water on the stove and got into bed,” Howe wrote. “After I was born, she cut the
umbilical cord herself and waited for my father to come home.”
A farm boy who grew up hunting, fishing and scrapping at school, Howe’s first pair of
skates came when his mother bought a sack of used items from a neighbour who
needed money. It was 1933 and the Great Depression; the woman’s husband was ailing
and unable to work. From that small act of charity was born a legend. “I know that
putting those skates on was the moment I fell in love with hockey,” Howe wrote.
204
His professional hockey career began as a teenager when clubs needed players to
replace those who had gone overseas during the Second World War. He joined the Red
Wings in 1946 and the following season formed a line with Sid Abel at centre and Ted
Lindsay at left wing that would dominate NHL scoring for many years. In 1950, the three
members of The Production Line were the top three scorers in the league, a feat never
since accomplished. Howe would go on to win the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top
scorer in each of the next four seasons, and he would finish among the top five scorers
in the league for a ridiculous 20 straight seasons. Equally skilled with his right and left
hands, Howe could switch hand position on his stick mid-shift, depending on the
approach of a defender — an incredibly deft bit of skill for a man of his strength and
size.
It is his reputation for toughness, though, that turned Howe into not just a legendary
scorer but a metaphor for an ornery player. The Howe name is synonymous with the
term “power forward,” his elbows are never mentioned without the modifier “sharp,” and
today’s player who manages a goal, assist and a fight in the same game is said to have
pulled off the rare “Gordie Howe hat trick.”
David Bier Studios, Postmedia Network files
Hall of Famer Phil Esposito once told the story of his NHL debut for the Blackhawks in
1964, which soon saw him encounter Howe — and his mean streak. “So I get out there
and I’m standing opposite Gordie, and Bobby (Hull) gets in the faceoff circle, leans over,
and says, ‘Phil, you got that old bastard?,’ ” he told Postmedia News. “I took a deep
breath and went, ‘Wow, Gordie Howe, this guy is my idol!’ And when Bobby had said,
‘You got that old bastard,’ Gordie had this little silly grin on his face. So the puck drops
and six seconds into it he gives me an elbow — poom — and I turn around and I swung
my stick at him — and in those days we didn’t swing at the head we swung at the hips
— and we both got penalties. I went in the box first and I have a towel and some ice
cubes and I’m trying to stop the bleeding … and I leaned over and said to Gordie, ‘And
you used to be my f—— idol!’ Gordie told me later on that he tested every rookie that
came into the league, and if you didn’t come back at him, he owned you, and after that
he never really bothered me.”
Other legends like Dick Duff would insist, though, that Howe respected the sport’s longsince forgotten code of honour: don’t hit from behind, don’t hit a man who was down,
and only pick fights with those of similar size.
“Our code was respect,” Duff said in 2009. “This was the stuff that men understood.”
Howe wrote in his autobiography that the toughness and violence that was part of the
sport in his era was simply a by-product of the NHL’s smaller size.
“Not too many nights went by that you didn’t have a history with at least a few guys on
the other bench. The league was hungry back then,” he wrote. “Not only was it hard to
make the NHL, but once you broke in, you also had to fight like hell to stay there.”
Howe wrote: “When there were only six teams, every player in the league came
prepared to claw over his best friend the second the puck dropped.”
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Post-retirement, the player with the fearsome reputation became known as one half of
hockey’s first couple, rarely separated from his wife, Colleen, with whom he had three
sons and a daughter. Colleen, who became Howe’s agent later in his career and
famously discovered that the Red Wings had been paying him half what they gave his
lesser teammates, also arranged his return to the game in 1973 so he could play
alongside his sons Mark and Marty in the now-defunct World Hockey Association. Howe
met his wife at a Detroit bowling alley in the early 1950s — “she stood out like a 100watt bulb,” he would say later — and the two were married for 56 years, until her death
in 2009. She had struggled with a form of dementia since 2002 and before her passing
hadn’t spoken in more than two years.
“This love, it goes a lot farther than playing a stupid game and fighting people,” Howe
told Postmedia News not long before Colleen’s death. “It has been a friendship, and a
sharing of a life together.”
Brantford Expositor
Howe, who had spent years after his wife’s diagnosis raising money for dementia
research, eventually developed signs of the brain disease himself. His memory was
particularly affected.
“I wish he didn’t have whatever he has,” his son Marty said in 2012. “I know he would be
with us longer. We’re enjoying the times we have now.”
Gretzky grew up idolizing the Red Wings icon — he took the No. 99 because Howe’s 9
wasn’t available — and later became a close friend. The two conducted an e-mail
interview upon the release of the Mr. Hockey autobiography.
Asked by Gretzky about his childhood, Howe responded: “If I wasn’t home eating I was
on the ice skating all winter. The rink was just boards and ice. In the Depression there
was no money to do much — I think we were lucky there was man-made ice to skate
on. I don’t know that any memory stands out as the fondest, but I always liked to score
and loved to win. That was what I lived for.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
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Gordie Howe was ‘tougher than a night in jail’ on the ice, and a ‘true gentleman’
off it
Sean Fitz-Gerald | June 10, 2016 3:17 PM ET
TORONTO — There is a story Brian Burke likes to tell about Gordie Howe, and it is
obvious how much he likes to tell it, because it still makes him smile. It is an older story,
from an abbreviated stay with the Hartford Whalers two decades ago, when Howe was
working a peripheral job with the team.
Burke was a first-year general manager. Howe was a retired legend, already in his 60s.
“He came into my office and he’s sitting across from me, he’s going like this,” Burke
said, mimicking the way Howe was craning his neck, as if looking for something on the
wall behind Burke.
“Is something wrong, Mr. Howe?” Burke finally asked.
Howe had actually been looking at Burke’s sizeable Irish head: “Does your barber
charge you by the goddamned acre?” Burke laughed as he retold it, helping to illustrate
a part of what Howe has bequeathed to the game he loved. During the Hockey Hall of
Fame festivities in Toronto in 2014, hockey people spoke at length of Howe’s humour,
his humility and his gentle nature off the ice.
The sport has evolved in the 36 years since Howe retired, finally, at the age of 52.
Players are bigger, faster, highly trained and better conditioned. And yet there remain, in
the faint echoes, hints of his legacy.
Howe was respectful, except on the ice, which he defended with ferocity. He was a
farm-strong forward with skill and size and strength. And in those respects, he is a
reflection of what many Canadian hockey players — and hockey fans — like to see
when they look at the game. Strong, reserved and, when necessary, capable of
delivering frontier justice.
“He was a quintessential Canadian power forward,” Burke said. “Tougher than a night in
jail, but classy.”
Practically speaking, there are not many current comparable players. Howe led the NHL
in scoring six times — for the last time when he was 34 years old — which is second in
history only to Wayne Gretzky (10). From his rookie season to the year he won that last
scoring title, he was also the eighth-most penalized player in the league.
Vancouver Sun files
Jarome Iginla probably comes closest. Known for his humility and geniality off the ice,
he is also a power forward with a touch around the net and hands accustomed to
landing the odd punch. And despite his advancing age, now nearly 39, he continues to
play.
207
Iginla, though, led the league in scoring once, and has never won the Stanley Cup.
“There isn’t going to be another one, and I’ll tell you why: He played ’til he was 52 years
old,” said long-time Red Wings executive Jim Devellano. “Who the hell plays ’til they’re
52?”
Howe played long enough to play with his sons Mark and Marty, including his final year
in the NHL, with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80. Devellano relayed a description of his
playing style from Mark Howe.
“He said that, off the ice, he was the most gentle, personable guy living,” Devellano
said. “On the ice, his son said, he was the dirtiest, meanest son-of-a-bitch he ever saw.
That’s what he said about his father.”
Keith Olbermann, a commentator with the U.S.-based sports network ESPN, told the
story of how one NHL veteran described a Howe bodycheck: “They hurt when he hit
you, then you felt better, then later, you hurt again.”
“My first year, I went in a corner with him, and I was getting ready to give him a good
check,” retired Montreal Canadiens star Jacques Laperrière said with a smile during the
hall of fame festivities. “And he elbowed me in the mouth. My nose was bruised, and I
learned.”
What made Howe a legend, though, was his elbows were just a sliver of his game.
“The thing about Gordie was, he dominated physically,” said hall of fame executive Bill
Torrey. “The players were not the same size. Today, the players are much bigger, so you
don’t have a big physical edge like he had. But for all his size and strength, he had skill
— he could move the puck, he could pass the puck, he could shoot the puck.”
Gazette files Nov 8,1958
Kris Draper was a forward for 17 seasons in Detroit before retiring, five years ago. He
said the other part of Howe’s legacy, as a “true gentleman,” was a lesson easily learned
during his many visits with the team.
“I found a great picture from the Winter Classic,” Draper said. “It was myself, (former
teammates) Joe Kocur and Kirk Maltby, and we were taking pictures with our kids.”
Draper smiled: “And Gordie Howe comes in, and he photobombs it.”
“To me, the players from that era, having met Johnny Bower and Red Kelly, the notion
of being a fierce competitor on the ice and a humble person off the ice, that was the
norm back then,” Burke said. “But I think no one did it better than Gordie.”
“He was called Mr. Hockey, and he was called that for a reason,” Torrey said. “He was
the game.”
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GORDIE HOWE'S LEGACY INCLUDES STEM-CELL TREATMENT
By Chuck Gormley June 10, 2016 12:45 PM
Other than a few handshakes and some casual conversations, I did not have the
pleasure of knowing Gordie Howe, who passed away today at the age of 88.
I did, however, get to know Mr. Hockey’s fighting spirit through many conversations with
his son, Hall of Famer Mark Howe.
As a young hockey fan, I saw Gordie Howe play in his final NHL season, when he
scored 15 goals and added 26 assists in 80 games with the Hartford Whalers at the age
of 52.
Back then, I remember Howe being slow, helmetless and gray and I was amazed at the
amount of respect he was given on the ice, where no one would come within five feet to
hit him.
I couldn’t help but think of the irony in that, since Howe played hockey the way it was
meant to be played -- fast, hard and with incredible passion.
The sixth of nine children, Howe grew up in Floral, Saskatchewan in a house with no
running water. He showered at school, often ate oatmeal three times a day, and
dropped out of high school to work in a metal factory.
The Detroit Red Wings signed him at 16 years old and he went on to play 26 NHL
seasons with the Red Wings and Hartford Whalers, recording 801 goals and 1,850
points in 1,767 regular-season games and winning the Stanley Cup four times. He ranks
second behind Wayne Gretzky in career goals and fourth behind Gretzky, Mark Messier
and Jaromir Jagr in career points.
Howe also finished with 1,685 penalty minutes, but according to a 2008 story written by
Jeff Marek on CBCsports.ca, Howe recorded just 22 fighting majors in his career and
had just two occasions when he recorded a fight, a goal and an assist in the same
game, an event that would eventually be known as a Gordie Howe Hat Trick.
Rick Tocchet (18) and Brendan Shanahan (17) are reportedly the NHL’s all-time leaders
in Gordie Howe Hat Tricks, with Dale Hunter leading all Capitals with six, according to
hockeysfuture.com.
Howe was a fearless competitor on the ice, taking on some of the toughest fighters of
his era – Toronto’s Bill Ezinicki, Boston’s Fernie Flaman, and New York’s Lou Fontinato.
He also fought twice in NHL All-Star Games 20 years apart -- in 1948 and 1968.
He reportedly suffered dozens of broken bones and more than 500 stitches during his
26 seasons, all without a helmet.
209
Howe retired briefly in 1971, but after being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame the
following year, he returned to the ice in 1973 to play alongside two of his sons, Mark
and Marty, with the Houston Aeros of World Hockey Association.
Howe played four seasons with the Aeros, two more with the New England Whalers and
one final NHL season with the expansion Hartford Whalers at the age of 52.
Howe often said playing professional hockey with two of his sons was his greatest joy in
hockey. The feeling was mutual.
The bond between Gordie Howe and his son, Mark, grew more and more evident in the
28 years I’ve known Mark, first as a player and then as a pro scout for the Red Wings.
It was in 2011, shortly after his own Hall of Fame induction, that Mark Howe shared with
me the joy and frustration of having his father, who was 83 at the time and suffering
from cognitive impairment and short-term memory loss, join him in Toronto for the
induction.
Mark Howe said his father seemed thrilled to reconnect with old friends and fellow Hall
of Famers the night of the induction ceremonies but by the following morning he had
little recollection of the night’s events or why they were in Toronto.
As Howe’s condition grew worse over the next three years, Mark would often share the
pain of seeing his father’s health deteriorate and his ability to communicate diminish.
Howe suffered two strokes late in 2014 and several family members believed it was only
a matter of time before they lost their father.
“You can see in his eyes he wants to communicate and he has a strong will to live,”
Mark Howe said at the time. “But he’s trapped inside his body.”
It was then that Mark Howe told me about how the family had been approached by the
chief executive officer and vice chairman of Stemedica, a San Diego-based
biopharmaceutical company that had conducted stem-cell research for more than 10
years.
The Howe family was told Stemedica would provide stem-cell treatment for their father
free of charge, but he would need to be transported to Mexico to receive the treatments.
On Dec. 8 and 9, 2014 in Tijuana, Gordie Howe had neural stem cells injected into his
spinal canal and received other stem cells intravenously and within eight hours of the
second infusion he began talking and walking to the bathroom.
Within weeks Gordie Howe was able to throw a football with his grandchildren and flip
hockey pucks to his sons. Most importantly, Mark Howe said, he was able to restore the
dignity he deserved for the final 18 months of his life.
Howe is survived by his four children, Marty, Mark, Cathy and Murray, and nine
grandchildren.
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Ed Willes: Howe playing alongside his boys was one of hockey's beautiful
underreported stories
ED WILLES
Published on: June 10, 2016 | Last Updated: June 10, 2016 9:02 AM PDT
When the idea first came to Bill Dineen, there were any number of obstacles that should
have discouraged the Houston Aeros’ coach and GM.
For starters, both sons were underaged and Mark, the younger of the two, had just
turned 18. There was also the sales job to consider, both to the family and to the Aeros’
owners in Houston, because signing all three represented a huge investment for the
second-year team in the upstart World Hockey Association. Finally, Gordie Howe had
been retired for two seasons and he was already 45 for pity’s sake.
Add it up and the whole thing had the potential to be a catastrophe.
But Dineen knew one thing about his former teammate with the Red Wings, something
that made him think this insane idea might just work. When he talked to Gordie about
his two sons, he saw the old man light up like a Christmas tree. Dineen knew it was a
risky venture but he also knew when Gordie made his mind up about something, there
wasn’t a force on the planet that could stand in his way.
“I knew how Gordie felt about it,” Dineen says. “I could see the look in his eyes around
his two boys. I knew there was no way they were coming to Houston without him.”
Gordie Howe, Mr. Hockey, passed away on Friday at age 88 and the legacy he leaves
behind stretches the bounds of credibility. He played in the NHL in five different decades
and still holds the league record for most games played at 1,767. Throw in his six
seasons in the WHA and he played 2,186 regular season games over 32 seasons. He
was a 23-time All-Star and six-time Hart Trophy winner. After all this time, he’s second
to Wayne Gretzky on the all-time NHL list with 801 career goals and third behind
Gretzky and Mark Messier in all time points with 1850. Throw in his 174 WHA goals and
he leads Gretzky by a wide margin.
People said I made this great comeback. Well, it’s amazing what you can do when
you’re happy. – Gordie Howe
But as surreal as Howe’s numbers are, they represent raw data, entries on the back of a
hockey card. The human story he wrote with his two sons remains one of the most
powerful and beautiful stories in the game’s history, even if it’s been under-reported
because of its connection to the WHA.
“It brought the love of the game back to me,” Howe told the author of the 2004 book,
The Rebel League. “It gave me a chance to play with my boys. I couldn’t have asked for
anything more. People said I made this great comeback. Well, it’s amazing what you
can do when you’re happy.”
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Dineen, who was Howe’s teammate with the Red Wings in the early 1950s, had been
given the keys to the Aeros’ operation in Year 1 of the WHA’s existence and, while the
Aeros finished second in the WHA’s Western Division in 1972-’73, the team lacked star
power and struggled at the gate. The Aeros’ coach and GM solved both problems with
the audacious signing of all three Howes in the summer of ’73. That spring, Mark and
Marty had led the Toronto Marlies to the Memorial Cup with Mark, the best prospect in
the game, recording five points in the Marlies’ 9-1 win over the Quebec Remparts in the
championship final. Dineen took that game in with his assistant coach, Hall of Fame
defenceman Doug Harvey, and met with Gordie and his wife Colleen after the game.
Dineen said it was a shame a player of Mark’s ability couldn’t play in the pros. Colleen
agreed her son should be paid to play. At the time, the draft-eligible age for the NHL was
20 but the WHA had already started raiding underagers. At the league’s draft that
summer, the Aeros selected Mark and Marty, then signed all three Howes to a package
worth the unheard of total of $2.2 million: $1 million over four years for Gordie and
$600,000 each for Mark and Marty over the same term.
It was the biggest contract of Howe’s career, who’d held a nothing job in the Red Wings’
front office for the two years of his retirement. Both his sons also made more in their first
deal than their father made in his best year with the Red Wings.
“I was prouder than hell the kids were making more money than I ever made and now I
had a chance to play with them.” said Howe.
Howe, who was 45 and had been out of the game for two seasons, got off to a slow
start in his first camp with the Aeros — “There were some interesting shades of purple
that first week,” said Marty — but when the puck dropped for the regular season, it
seemed, in Dineen’s words, someone hit him with a magic wand. Playing on the wing
with Mark and centre Jim Sherritt, Gordie’s once fearsome shot had been hindered by
an arthritic wrist. Undeterred, he became Mark’s set-up man and would record 100
points in 70 games en route to the league MVP and a championship for the Aeros.
“He was, hands down, the best player in the league in the first year and one of the three
or four best in the second year,” said Mark. “To do the things he could do at his age
were just amazing and I got to watch it every day. It would have been a thrill to have him
as part of the team anyway, but when it was your dad, it was just that much more
special.”
Howe Sr., it seemed, might have lost a step to old age but he still played the game with
a hard edge and everyone in the league was aware of his reputation. Mark said his
father was the best corner man he’d ever seen. Marty said he got plenty of room, both
from the opposition and his teammates, because: “the elbows would be flying and the
stick would be going and he could hit you just as easily as one of [your opponents].”
And he looked after his two sons. Everyone who played against Howe was aware there
were Gordie’s Rules and you crossed them at your peril. Roger Cote, a defenceman
with the then Alberta Oilers, had to learn the hard way. During a mixup, Cote ended up
on top of Marty with Gordie in the vicinity.
“That’s enough, let him up,” Gordie said.
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Cote, alas, didn’t heed the warning and Gordie reached over his head, stuck fingers in
each of Cote’s nostrils, and lifted him off his son.
“It was one thing to think of doing that,” said Mark. “It was another to actually do it.”
“He was the nicest person off the ice you’d ever meet,” Mark continued. “On the ice he
was the meanest SOB I’ve ever seen . . . He’d hurt you. He’d knock every tooth out of
your head. He doesn’t like hearing that but that’s the way he was.”
The Howes would play five seasons together in Houston before the Aeros, as was the
tendency with WHA teams, ran out of money. In the summer of ’77, the Howes were
free agents and the Boston Bruins pursued Mark and Marty. They weren’t as interested
in Gordie but Gordie wasn’t ready to retire. All three signed with the Hartford Whalers for
the ’77-’78 season and Gordie recorded 96 points the year he turned 50.
“I was scared to death I was going to have to be the coach who had to tell Gordie Howe
he was through,” said Harry Neale, who coached the Whalers’ that season. “Thankfully,
Gordie made sure that wasn’t a problem.”
By then, the Howe boys had settled into the routine of playing with their father. They
called him Gordie at the rink and dad away from the game. Sometimes, the lines were
blurred. Neale remembers a game in Quebec where Mark saw a hole, called out, “Dad,”
and Gordie hit him with a 60-foot, tape-to-tape pass for a breakaway goal. But the family
bond was never far away.
“He was Gordie until he got hurt,” Mark said. “Then he was dad.”
Gordie, however, had a superhuman tolerance for pain. He also refused to wear a
hemet despite the wishes of his sons and wife. During one road game, he took a header
into the boards and told his boys: “Whatever you do, don’t tell your mother. Just call her
and tell her something else.
“Mom, dad hit his head on the ice,” Mark immediately reported to Colleen.
The Howes would play the final WHA season with the Whalers — Gordie and Mark
played on a line with young Edmonton Oilers centre Wayne Gretzky as part of a series
against Moscow Dynamo — then hang for another season until the merger. Gordie
finally retired after the ’79-80 season. He was 52 when he walked away from the game.
He also scored 15 goals in that final season.
“Playing with the kids was like a tonic for me,” Howe said.
A tonic that kept him forever young.
Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 06.11.2016
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When the late, great Mr. Hockey spoke, his advice was timeless
BEN KUZMA
Published on: June 10, 2016 | Last Updated: June 10, 2016 8:49 AM PDT
I grew up in Saskatoon.
I remember Gordie Howe Day and the day a statue was erected in his honour. I played
high school football at Gordie Howe Bowl and my older brother played commercial
fastball at the adjacent Gordie Howe Park. Gordie Howe wasn’t just a player to anyone
who grew up on the prairies and dreamed of greatness on those bitterly cold days at the
outdoor rink. Gordie was everything. Bigger than life. Bigger than the game. Gordie,
who died Friday at the age of 88, was and always will be Mr. Hockey.
I had a long sit-down interview with the legend in 2008. He was sharp. His answers
were thoughtful and remain relevant today. Howe came from humble beginnings — the
fifth of nine children from a poor prairie farming family — and was an underpaid Detroit
star until his wife, Colleen, forced the Red Wings into fair compensation.
Howe was the consummate team player and was always humble and respectful of
those who played the game. What separated the four-time Stanley Cup champion was
his willingness to match effort with edge in a professional career that spanned 32
seasons.
Howe’s well-placed elbows are as legendary as his combined 2,589 career points in the
NHL and WHA, six Hart and Art Ross trophies, 25 all-star appearances and his
inductions in to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame
three years later.
Q: What do you like about today’s game and who has captured your interest?
A: “I like the quickness and I like Sidney Crosby. I shook his hand and told him if he’s
going to do anything, do something for me. I said: ‘Don’t change.’ He seems to have a
good head on his shoulders.”
Q: Do you like the fact Crosby has the skill and the will to stand up for himself when the
going gets rough?
A: “If you’ve got the edge, coaches say that might take away from scoring because
you’ll get penalties. But the roughness is 95-per-cent protection. Why should you have
to eat it [stick]?”
Q: That said, hits from behind and hits to the head have become an epidemic. Was it
worse when you played?
A: “The sticks were coming up higher and harder. But to me, 80-85 per cent of the
players got along and it was the others who raised hell — and I was one of them.”
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Q: It seemed like when you played, it was hit-for-hit and then the combatants got back
to the game. Was there more respect among your peers?
A: “I think so. At least you spoke the same language. I had a look-out contest with Eddie
Shack and he forgot that. I’d be in a position to hit him and I’d yell: ‘Look out, Ed,’ and I
would take him out. One time he caught me across the face for 16 stitches. He then
came to the hospital and said that he forgot to say look out.”
Q: That might sound vicious, but did players adhere more to a code in your playing
days?
A: “If somebody stuck a stick to me, he was going to share mine a little bit, and that’s
not bragging. It’s respect. Stan Mikita missed me once and speared my leg. I said: ‘OK,
you’ve got one coming.’ And then he gave me a little lip back from his seated position on
the bench. I then said: ‘There’s going to be a little cancelled Czech just as soon as I get
the chance.’ He cut in on me one shift and I really drilled him — I think I knocked him
out — and the next period he came by and said: ‘Are we even?’And that was it. We
became good friends.”
Q: What’s your take when you see a hit from behind when somebody is trying to finish a
check in the corner boards?
A: “If you’re two feet away from me and I turn my back on you, how are you going to
stop? My head then goes into that hard glass, but if I’m smart, I shouldn’t be in that
position.”
Q: Again, if it’s a respect issue, how do you fix it?
A: “I’d like to see present-day players get together with the older players and come up
with some common solutions.”
Q: Is something being lost in translation between coach and player? They’re taught to
forecheck aggressively, but are they really listening?
A: “Coaching has changed. They prepare players to do certain things and if they don’t,
they have to pull them. And it’s hard to be a coach because you swear the bugger is
sleeping when you told him. I don’t know how they can stand it when a kid turns his
head away from them. I would never do that, and maybe that’s why I got along so well
with the coaches.”
Q: Should the size of goalie equipment be further reduced?
A: “I don’t think so. Make it hard for the shooters. They [goalies] have enough trouble
back there. They need something to help them when there’s a guy standing in front of
the net and then there’s two and four. What is he going to see?”
Q: So, defencemen should be able to play tougher down low?
A: “Not physically rough, but you should be able to take him out and make damn sure
he can’t get his stick on the puck. They used to hold the stick. Somebody did that to me
and I’d punch him right in the nose.”
Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 06.11.2016
215
Gordie Howe's death saddens Sharks coach
By Carl Steward,
POSTED: 06/10/2016 02:05:59 PM PDT
UPDATED: 06/10/2016 02:20:46 PM PDT
SAN JOSE -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer took time out from questions about the
Stanley Cup Final Friday to pay tribute to hockey great Gordie Howe, who died at age
88 on Thursday.
"Tragic day," DeBoer said. "Losing Muhammad Ali and Gordie Howe in the same week,
a 10-day span, is incredible. You talk about two guys who were torchbearers for their
sport over the last century, those would be the names for hockey and boxing."
DeBoer said he had been watching the Ali funeral on TV before he spoke with the
media via conference call. While maintaining it was a sad day, he tried to put a positive
spin on it.
"It's also a celebration of their life, what they accomplished and how many people they
touched," he said.
DeBoer said he'd met Howe in the past but had never spent any amount of time talking
with him.
San Jose Mercury News: LOADED: 06.11.2016
216
Gordie Howe was the Canadian hockey myth come alive: Cox
By DAMIEN COX
6:20 PM, Fri., June 10, 2016
Punishing jab followed by an elbow to the chops. First Muhammad Ali, then Gordie
Howe.
A tough combination to absorb for a sports fan of a certain vintage.
These were two of the towering sports giants of my youth. With Ali, he was past his true
greatness in the ring by time he danced into my consciousness, but you could still
understand the other elements to his life and story, and then still saw him win a few of
what would become his most famous fights, or at least heard about him doing so in
distant lands.
He was a vibrant, controversial figure even when he wasn’t the boxer he once was.
Howard Cosell helped explain it to us.
Howe, on the other hand, was mostly an idea to me as far as being a hockey superstar.
He was a legend by the time this young lad from Hamilton made it to Maple Leaf
Gardens to see an NHL game live for the first time. He’d already retired. Well, for the
first time.
Howe didn’t play in the 1972 Summit Series, which left him out of the most famous
hockey story of my time. So what was he, exactly? He would show up in a hockey card
collection, not flamboyant like Bobby Hull with the big wind-up, not young and
handsome and tragic like Bobby Orr. But an older man from another time. A player from
another time.
Then, he started all over again. A second career, as it were.
He came back to play in the World Hockey Association, and suddenly, it was like we got
to see what we’d missed. Not as a player, exactly, but as a distinctive figure in this great
game.
Strong. Unrelenting. Humble. Soft-spoken. No one had to explain it to us. It wasn’t
complicated.
Howe returned to the rink as that same decent man from Floral, Sask., the player the
Rangers had missed, a man who came back to play the game with his two sons. It was
like a real-life Field of Dreams, except the father and the sons were alive, not ghosts.
We got to share it because we were supposed to.
On Sept. 19, 1974, I went to Maple Leaf Gardens with my older brother Mark to watch
the WHA all-stars take on the Soviet Union. We knew it wasn’t the same thing as two
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years earlier, but we sat way up in the corner, enthralled by the big city and the
spectacle. Howe assisted on the first goal of the game in the only contest of the series
Team Canada would win. That was as close, really, as I got to witnessing the legend.
And that’s the thing, isn’t it? These legends, these athletes, are something different to all
of us depending on our age, depending on how close their meteors brush past our
individual solar systems.
For the first 52 years of his life, Howe was, for the most part, a hockey player. For most
of the final 36, he was just Gordie Howe, beloved wherever he went. He wasn’t overtly
wealthy, never coached or managed, never bought a team, never scouted, never rejoined Detroit to turn that franchise around.
He was just himself, and in being just himself, touched another generation of people. Or
two.
“I had a nice chat with him about 10 years ago about P.E.I. and golf,” a friend of mine,
Larry Stordy, wrote from Halifax after hearing of Howe’s death on Friday.
“He loved the No. 3 hole at the Green Gables course in Cavendish. It’s the par-5 with an
elevated tee so you can see the sand dunes of Cavendish and the ocean in the
distance. What a great guy!”
You don’t have to search very long to find hundreds of similar stories. His sons would
tell of touring Canada with their dad during the 1960s as part of a promotion with
Eaton’s. They’d be at his side during the day, watch him sign autographs by the
hundreds at night, and squeeze in some hunting and fishing along the way.
“It was a nice bonding thing,” Mark told me back in 2012. “I did a lot of things with my
father that a lot of people don’t get to do with their dads.”
He was Mr. Hockey, and the combination of a rough-and-ready persona on the ice and
a self-effacing gentlemanliness off the ice served as the essence of what the Canadian
hockey myth was understood to be at its best.
Except he wasn’t myth. He was skin and bone and ligaments. And elbows. He was a
hockey dad, like Walter Gretzky. Howe was the Canadian hockey myth come alive,
shaking your hand, saying he was pleased to meet you.
He was a blessing.
Toronto Star LOADED: 06.11.2016
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Leafs president Brendan Shanahan fondly recalls Gordie Howe
By KEVIN MCGRAN
5:00 PM, Fri., June 10, 2016
When Brendan Shanahan joined the Detroit Red Wings in 1996-97, the franchise had
gone 42 years without winning the Stanley Cup.
Gordie Howe was long retired by then, but he could do his part, with a stall in the Wings
dressing room always available to him.
“I remember him coming in and giving the guys encouragement,” said Shanahan, now
president of the Maple Leafs.
“He wasn’t a guy that didn’t want us to win to protect the legacy of his team, the last
team to win. He was coming in and being supportive; it was less about what he said and
more about his presence.”
As fierce a competitor as Howe was on the ice, he was as much a gentleman off it.
“I was always struck by how humble he was,” said Shanahan. “Gordie fit into a locker
room. He didn’t ask the locker room to make space for him. He acted like a guest. He’d
come in very casually and have conversations with people, without fanfare.
“If someone has a memory of Gordie, it seems like he’s just a very comfortable, easygoing person.”
In some ways, Howe set the standard for today’s hockey players and how they handle
themselves with the media, and in public.
“When you look at the Wayne Gretzkys and Sidney Crosbys and you see how it’s
important to them how they treat kids and it’s important to them how they are seen and
viewed as polite gentlemen, you can really thank Gordie in a lot of ways,” said
Shanahan.
“When games started being televised and hockey players started being interviewed,
Gordie is one of the first Images that provided a lasting legacy and an example. Players
would think: ‘If this is how Mr. Hockey acts, then I guess this is how I should act.’ ”
It seems Howe touched about everybody in hockey in some way. Michael Babcock, the
son of the Maple Leafs coach, is 21 now and recalled on Twitter meeting Howe for the
first time when he was nine.
“First time I met Gordie, he shook my hand and elbowed me in the head. ‘Always keep
your head on a swivel,’ he said,” tweeted the younger Babcock.
“This guy maximized his time on Earth to say the least, and touched a ton of people,”
Mike Babock told NHL.com. “He just made people feel comfortable. He was great with
the fans and appreciated them.”
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9 memorable moments for Gordie Howe
By PETER EDWARDS
6:09 PM, Fri., June 10, 2016
Gordie Howe, the Detroit Red Wings’ legendary number 9, died Friday at age 88.
Here are nine moments from an outstanding career:
1. Oct. 16, 1946: Professional debut
Howe is just 18 when he breaks into the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red
Wings, and scores a goal in his first game.
He wears number 17, but later switches to number 9 when it becomes available.
“We travelled by train back then, and guys with higher numbers got the top bunk on the
sleeper car,” he recalls years later. “Number 9 meant I got a lower berth on the train,
which was much nicer than crawling into the top bunk.”
2. March 28, 1950: Suffers worst injury
During the Stanley Cup playoffs, Howe crashes into the boards at Olympia Stadium in
Detroit while trying to check Teeder Kennedy of the Maple Leafs.
Howe suffers a life-threatening skull fracture and undergoes brain surgery.
Kennedy is both vilified and distraught.
“I saw Howe lying on the ice with his face covered with blood,” Kennedy later says. “I
couldn’t help thinking what a great player he was and how I hoped he wasn’t badly hurt.
Then Detroit players started saying I did it with my stick. I knew I hadn’t, and as I’ve
always regarded coach Tommy Ivan as a sensible, level-headed man, I went over to the
Detroit bench and told him I was sorry he was hurt but that I wasn’t responsible.”
3. April 15, 1953: Begins 55-year marriage
After four years of dating, Howe marries Colleen Joffa, whom he met in a bowling alley
when she was 17 and he was 21.
Two of their children, Marty and Mark, grow up to play professional hockey with him for
the World Hockey Association’s HA Houston Aeros and New England Whalers (who
later became the NHL’s Hartford Whalers).
Colleen acts as Howe’s business advisor throughout the rest of his career. She died in
2009 at age 76.
“If Colleen Howe had been a hockey player, she would have been a centreman,” Howe
once said. “I can see her as a centreman because you can do what you want and go
wherever you want to go.”
4. Oct. 10, 1953: Earns first “Gordie Howe hat trick”
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Howe’s eagerness to fight, combined with his skill in scoring and setting up goals
brought about the term “Gordie Howe hat trick.” It refers to the combination of scoring a
goal, earning an assist and getting into a fight, all in the same game.
5. June 7, 1972: Named to the Hockey Hall of Fame
Howe appears to be retired when he’s inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
However, just a year later – at age 45 – he comes out of retirement when he and sons
Marty and Mark sign a four-year deal with the Houston Aeros of the upstart WHA.
6. Sept. 19, 1974: Second Summit Series
A second Summit Series against a team from the USSR goes badly, with the Canadian
squad (chosen exclusively from WHA players) winning just one game.
The sole Canadian victory comes in a game at Maple Leaf Gardens, where a silverhaired Howe sets up his son Mark for a goal.
“Gordie Howe playing at age 46 with his two sons on the same team. Well, it’s fantastic.
What else can you say?,” Russian star Alexander Yakushev tells reporters.
7. April 11, 1980: Last professional hockey game (part 2)
Howe retires again at age 52, after a season in which he plays all 80 games and scores
15 goals.
His career achievements include being ranked in the NHL’s top 10 scorers for 21 years,
and being named six times each as the league’s most valuable player and top scorer.
8. Oct. 3, 1997: Last professional hockey game (part 3)
Howe is 69 when he laces on his skates for the Detroit Vipers in their International
Hockey League home opener.
It’s a publicity stunt but one that is warmly received by fans.
He plays just one shift, but in doing so extends his career as a professional hockey
player to span six decades.
“I think this is it, but if I get three tonight I’ll be back,” he tells reporters before the game.
9. May 14, 2015 – Bridge named in his honour
Then-prime minister Stephen Harper and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declare that
the new bridge across the Detroit River between Windsor and Detroit will be called the
Gordie Howe International Bridge.
Harper referred to Howe by his nickname as he explained the honour.
“Mr. Hockey, one of the greatest players in the history of the game, is a proud Canadian
who led the Detroit Red Wings to four Stanley Cup victories, building extraordinary
goodwill between our two countries,” Harper said. “It is my sincere hope that this bridge,
which bears his name, will continue this proud legacy by accelerating the flow of people,
merchandise and services between our great nations for years to come.”
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Timeline of Gordie Howe’s life and career
By The Canadian Press
4:47 PM, Fri., June 10, 2016
March 31, 1928: Gordie Howe is born in Floral, Sask., the sixth of nine children.
1934: The six-year-old Howe is diagnosed with a calcium deficiency. A doctor suggests
he strengthen his back by hanging from a doorway and swinging back and forth. This
exercise helped develop power in his shoulders.
1944: Howe, then 16, signs with the Detroit Red Wings and he begins playing for one of
the organization’s farm teams in Ontario.
Oct. 16, 1946: Howe begins his National Hockey League career at age 18, scoring a
goal in his first game with the Red Wings.
1949: Howe finishes the season as one of the top five point-getters in the league, a feat
he would repeat every year for the next 20 years.
1950: The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup, the first of four championships Howe
would help them capture.
April 27, 1951: Howe plays in the first of more than 20 all-star games he would take part
in throughout his career.
1951: Howe wins the first of six career Art Ross trophies as highest regular-season
scorer.
1952: Howe wins the first of six career Hart Memorial Trophies as most valuable player.
April 15, 1953: Howe marries Colleen Joffa, with whom he would have four children —
Marty, Mark, Kathleen and Murray. Colleen Howe would go on to found the Junior Red
Wings and become heavily involved in managing the business aspects of her husband’s
hockey career.
1969: Howe discovers that he is only the third-highest paid player on the Red Wings. He
successfully demands a higher salary, but a rift develops with team management.
1971: Howe retires from the Red Wings.
1972: Howe is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
1973: Howe’s wife Colleen negotiates a deal that would see her husband join the
Houston Aeros of the newly founded World Hockey Association alongside their two
eldest sons, Marty and Mark. Gordie Howe would be paid US$1 million while the
younger Howes would receive US$400,000 each under four-year contracts.
1974: The three Howes debut with the Aeros. Gordie puts together a 100-point season
and leads his team to the championship, earning the title of league MVP for that year.
Son Mark is named rookie of the year.
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1977: Howe and his sons begin playing for the New England Whalers of the WHA.
1979: Howe begins a new NHL season after the league absorbs the Whalers. He plays
all 80 games of the season despite being over 50 years old.
April 6, 1980: Howe scores his last NHL goal, the 801st of his career. He retires for good
at the end of the season.
Oct. 3, 1997: Howe skates one shift with the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey
League, giving him the distinction of having competed as a professional hockey player
in six decades.
March 21, 2000: Howe receives a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto.
March 6, 2009: Colleen Howe dies following a long battle with Pick’s disease, an
incurable neurological form of dementia.
February 2012: Howe’s sons reveal that their father is suffering from a form of dementia.
Oct. 29, 2014: Howe’s family says the hockey legend has had a stroke that limited the
use of his right limbs and impaired his speech.
Dec. 19, 2014: Howe’s family says the hockey great has made a dramatic improvement
after he participated in a stem cell clinical trial.
May 14, 2015: Former prime minister Stephen Harper announces that the bridge
between Windsor and Detroit will be called the Gordie Howe Bridge.
March 28, 2016: Howe is feted at Joe Louis Arena a day before his 88th birthday by
more than 20,000 fans who sing “Happy Birthday” as he’s presented with a hockey puck
cake.
June 10, 2016: Howe dies at the age of 88.
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NBCSports.com / NHL mourns loss of ‘the incomparable Gordie Howe’
By Mike Halford
Jun 10, 2016, 12:30 PM EDT
Shortly after news broke of Gordie Howe’s passing Friday morning, NHL commissioner
Gary Bettman issued the following statement, honoring the life and times of “Mr.
Hockey.”
From the league:
“All hockey fans grieve the loss of the incomparable Gordie Howe.
“A remarkable athlete whose mastery of our sport was reflected by the longevity of his
career and by his nickname, ‘Mr. Hockey,’ Gordie’s commitment to winning was
matched only by his commitment to his teammates, to his friends, to the Red Wings, to
the city of Detroit and – above all – to his family. His devotion to Colleen through her
illness and the fact that he extended his playing days into a fifth decade so he could
play with his sons are only two examples of that true priority in his life.
“Gordie’s greatness travels far beyond mere statistics; it echoes in the words of
considered him their hero.
“Gordie’s toughness as a competitor on the ice was equaled only by his humor and
humility away from it. No sport could have hoped for a greater, more-beloved
ambassador.
“On behalf of the generations who were thrilled by his play and those who only know of
his legend, and on behalf of all the young people and teammates he inspired, we send
heartfelt wishes of condolence, comfort and strength to the Howe family and to all who
mourn the passing of this treasured icon of our game.”
The NHLPA added the following statement:
“With the passing of Gordie Howe, the game of hockey has lost an icon. Gordie, or ‘Mr.
Hockey’ as he was known to legions of fans, was a true legend who had an immense
impact on the game, the Players who followed him and the fans who revered him. On
behalf of the Players and staff of the NHLPA, we join Howe’s family, friends and fans on
mourning his loss.”
NBCSports.com / LOADED: 06.11.2016
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Sportsnet.ca / Gordie Howe’s way with people is his greatest legacy
RON MACLEAN
JUNE 10, 2016, 2:37 PM
As I write this, I’m on board United Airlines 5537 from Pittsburgh to Chicago.
I learned of Gordie Howe’s passing about an hour ago (11 a.m. ET).
Don Cherry is seated next to me and is recalling the time in 1963 he attended Red
Wings training camp in Detroit. As he took to the ice for the first practice, Don felt his
new jock and pants combination was binding, so he reached down into the front of his
pants to make an adjustment.
Howe skated by and whispered, “Ya having a tough time finding it?”
That is so Gordie. Always a quip, forever finding ways to put you at ease.
Gordie went on to become the greatest NHL player of his time, but he held the crown
without pretence. He was a child of the Great Depression. When he was five-years-old,
a woman showed up at the Howe home in Saskatoon with a pillow case stuffed with
clothes she was desperately trying to peddle.
Gordie's folks were just scraping by themselves, but somehow Gordie's mom cobbled
together three dollars and bought the whole bag without examining its contents.
Mrs. Howe brought the bag into the kitchen and emptied it on the floor. Out fell a rusty
old pair of hockey skates.
And that's how it began.
Gordie and his sister each wore a single skate and went gliding on a nearby slough.
Because of these humble first steps, Gordie was not an instant star. He was such a
poor skater early on he played in goal until he was 11. But he was a great all-around
athlete and he was bigger than most of the kids. By the time Gordie was a teenager he
was turning heads. On the eve of his 15th birthday, his father, Ab, arranged a tryout with
the Detroit Red Wings. He impressed Wings general manager Jack Adams sufficiently
to earn a spot with their junior farm team in Galt, ON. Sadly, the Ontario Hockey
Association had restrictions on the number of Western players Ontario clubs could
dress, so Gordie only practiced with the team that first season.
He worked in a munitions factory, played one or two exhibition games, and trained with
the team. Jack Adams admired Gordie’s willingness to stick it out, and the following
year, he offered him a contract to turn pro.
You likely know the story; bare minimum wage and the promise of a team jacket.
Gordie's impact on the game is written in the record books and enshrined in the Hall of
Fame, but it's his way with people that lingers. The greatest junior coach ever, Brian
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Kilrea, once attended Red Wings Camp. Gordie drove Brian to a few of the practices
and for the rest of his career Kilrea honoured Howe's kindness by taping the blades of
his sticks with exactly nine wraps of tape, to keep No. 9’s example at hand.
My longtime colleague Harry Neale coached Gordie in Hartford in the WHA.
Gordie and his sons Mark and Marty were on the team. The Howes always kept it
professional, never using the words “dad” or “son” in the dressing room. But one night in
Quebec City, a Nordiques defenceman fell and Mark, who was playing left wing right in
front of the Whalers bench, hollered to Gordie, "Dad!"
Gordie, playing right wing, was just crossing his own blue line.
He hit Mark with a tape-to-tape pass in stride and Mark went on a breakaway and
scored. Crusty old Whalers veterans Dave Keon and John McKenzie smiled.
As a boy, I worshipped Howe. I bought True Line skates and gloves at Eaton's. I
ordered Northland sticks, the ones Howe used. As a broadcaster, I worked so many
events with Gordie and he never ceased to amaze with his grace.
On the ice he had the ferocity that is the life force of any athlete or artist, but he was first
and foremost a sensitive, tender man.
His favourite saying was, "I believe in the turtle approach. Be hard on the outside, soft
on the inside and be willing to stick your neck out to get ahead."
Last week we lost Muhammad Ali, and now Gordie. “The Greatest” is a wonderful
moniker, but in Canada, in sport, you could not be given a more important title than “Mr.
Hockey.”
That would make him the one in charge of our little heaven.
The kind one conjures up as your head hits the pillowcase.
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Sportsnet.ca / Mike Babcock remembers Gordie: ‘A genetic freak’
LUKE FOX
JUNE 10, 2016, 1:32 PM
Gordie Howe noticed a Red Wings player on new head coach Mike Babcock’s bench
smiling after a loss in Detroit.
Mr. Hockey entered Babcock’s office after the game, sat down and told him he wasn’t
impressed with what he saw out of that player.
“Why don’t you look after that?” Babcock said.
“Don’t worry,” Howe said, “I already did.”
Growing up in Saskatchewan, the breeding ground for so many of Canada's hockey
icons, a young Babcock had crossed paths with Mr. Howe on several occasions, but it
wasn't until he became head coach of the Red Wings in 2005 that he really got to know
Gordie. Howe was forever around his sons, and Mark Howe worked as a pro scout for
the Wings at the time.
Babcock told Hockey Central at Noon Friday how special it was to spend so much time
with the man.
"He's a gentleman, that's all there is to it. He had a love affair with his sons and with
hockey and with the fans," Babcock said. "When you're around these great, great
people and great former players, their passion just oozes out of them. That was obvious
when you're around Gordie."
Now coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Babcock stressed how special it is for young
NHL players to be around legends who still love the game.
The first time Howe met Mike Babcock's son, the boy was nine. Gordie shook the boy's
hand, elbowed him in the head, and said, "Keep your head on a swivel, son."
"He had a way with people to connect, that made you feel good, and wasn't shy about
talking about family or the game or fishing," Babcock said. "Shared his thoughts and his
time with everyone."
"WHEN YOU SAW HIM HE WAS MAN MOUNTAIN. HE WAS A GENETIC FREAK FOR
THAT TIME." -BABOCK ON @FAN590 TALKING MR. HOCKEY PIC.TWITTER.COM/
FRXZD2L3ET
— ERIC PRIME (@PRIMESN590) JUNE 10, 2016
Babcock struggled to find a modern-day comparison for a player so skilled, so enduring,
so fast, so mean, and so big. Think of the longevity. Think of the forearms.
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"He was Man Mountain. He was a genetic freak for that time," Babcock said. "When he
was around us, he was a lot of fun to be around, and didn't mind sharing any of his
wisdom or thoughts on the game."
Jaromir Jagr, who broke Howe's record for most points by a right wing this season, or
Chris Chelios might be the closest comparables. But even those greats are a stretch.
"The game is so different today. Number 1, you couldn't get away with what he did.
You'd be suspended forever," Babcock said. "This guy was flat-out mean. He was mean
right till the end. You didn't take advantage of him or his kids."
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Sportsnet.ca / The endurance of Mr. Hockey: How Gordie Howe defied time
STEPHEN BRUNT
JUNE 10, 2016, 10:54 AM
If you are a sports fan, you measure life in seasons, in careers, in debuts and
retirements as well as by the calendar.
You saw Wayne Gretzky when he was a kid and you were a kid, and now you note that
he’s now a grandfather, and that he’s started to look an awful lot like his dad, Wally.
Look in the mirror, pal. There’s a message waiting for you there.
But Gordie Howe messed with time.
Consider this. As a boy, my favourite hockey player was Peter Mahovlich, who was then
a large, awkward prospect with a famous last name apprenticing with the Hamilton Red
Wings, Detroit’s junior affiliate back in the days when it worked that way.
Mahovlich was born in October 1946. Six days later, Howe, a fresh-faced kid from
Floral, Sask., played his first NHL game and scored his first goal. In the Detroit
newspapers, they called him “Gordon.”
By the early ’60s, when Big Pete was playing junior in Hamilton, Howe was already an
old man in hockey terms. He had been with the Wings for nearly two decades, already a
remarkable feat. He possessed a unique combination of skill, strength and a mean
streak, the undisputed star of a dynastic Detroit team in the 1950s, and by the end of
that decade he was already considered the greatest hockey player who had ever lived.
But his best days were behind him. His old rival, Maurice Richard, had been retired for
several years. Howe had a receding hairline. He looked sort of like my dad.
Pete Mahovlich figured things out, graduated to Detroit, was traded to Montreal and left
the NHL in 1981 at the end of a long and very distinguished career—16 seasons, four
Stanley Cups, the 1972 Summit Series, the 1976 Canada Cup, the famous New Year’s
Eve game against the Red Army. He was 34 when he played his last big-league game,
by then back with the Wings.
That came less than a season after Howe’s final retirement, after Howe had played out
the string with the Red Wings, unhappily worked at a front-office job, then bolted for the
rebel World Hockey Association where he played with his sons Mark and Marty, where
he again became an elite scorer. He played against the Russians in the WHA’s own
summit series, he was an all-star, and when the NHL finally absorbed its competitor, he
came back for one last go ’round, including a triumphant return to Detroit, before finally
saying goodbye.
His clock, it turned out, ran differently to the rest of ours.
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I met Howe for the first time not too many years after that. He was barnstorming,
making appearances with minor-league professional teams, putting on the uniform,
participating in the pre-game skate, signing autographs and shaking hands. The NHL,
quietly, wasn’t all that happy about it. They didn’t like having one of their icons hustling
for a buck in what they considered an undignified fashion—no small irony, given the way
Howe was exploited for so long by the Red Wings, given that he didn’t get paid what he
was worth until he joined the WHA, given that he obviously needed the money, and that
he was having fun.
He was with his wife, Colleen, and it’s no overstatement to call them two halves of a
whole. Howe needed her, needed her brain and her steel will and her undying support.
They became Mr. and Mrs. Hockey—a brand-building exercise, really, which became a
registered trademark, but who was going to argue? They were a team within a team
wherever Howe played, and when Colleen was later diminished by dementia, when she
died, he became a bit of a lost soul, all of his friends would say.
It was something, standing there, shaking his hand, looking at that famous mug, that
famous smile, encountering a sweet, simple guy who stood like a great, ancient tree in
the forest, whose life in hockey encompassed my entire life and considerably more than
that, who was still very much part of the sports conversation 40 or so years after he
debuted with the Red Wings.
It made me feel old and made me feel young and made me believe for a moment that
some things can go on forever—even if right now we understand that they don’t.
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Sportsnet.ca / The Life and Legacy of Mr. Hockey
BY DAN ROBSON
We will remember him for being the greatest player the game of hockey has ever
known.
Felix Gatt couldn’t speak. He could hardly move. But he opened his eyes in that hospital
bed, turned his head and saw the legend sitting there, the same man he’d chased down
in the hallway after a Detroit Red Wings game at Olympia Stadium six decades earlier.
Gordie Howe had smiled at Gatt back then, just as he smiled at him now. Howe sat in
that chair for hours, watching over Gatt after he suffered a severe stroke that pushed
him to the edge of death. Doctors and nurses peeked into the room, whispering that,
yes, it was true—Mr. Hockey was really in their hospital. But he wasn’t there to sign
autographs or pose for pictures. Not this time, though he certainly didn’t turn them away.
Howe was there because the fan who had become his closest friend was lying in a
hospital bed with his life hanging in the balance.
"The whole damn hospital was in my room," Gatt laughed as he recalled this story a few
years later. It was late 2011, and we were chatting for a feature I was writing on the
winter of Howe’s life. It seemed odd to me, at first, to think of a hockey legend becoming
so close with a fan. But after speaking with Gatt, I spent a couple of days with Howe at
his son Murray’s house in Ohio. Mr. Hockey was sweeping in the garage when I first met
him. We shook hands—his were large and still seemed strong despite being plagued
with arthritis. I’d been nervous on the long drive to meet him, but immediately he made
me feel like a guest, a friend, not a reporter about to mine through the private layers of
his life. We sat down at the kitchen table, next to a puzzle of a countryside home, and
Murray made us hot chocolate. Five hours later, I left feeling like I’d travelled through all
the years of hockey’s most celebrated life. Howe held his miniature poodle, Rocket, all
afternoon. He let me wear his Stanley Cup ring and feel the soft spots in his skull from
years of beatings on the ice, and also his elbows, inflamed after years of inflicting
wounds on others.
Legends, I’d thought, were supposed to exist outside the realm of the common man.
They were like rare items in a museum, on display for our admiration and a quick photo,
but nothing more. Howe was a walking piece of history, after all. He was the star who
came before Orr and Gretzky; the one who battled Maurice Richard and played the
game in black-and-white. He was iconic. But here he was, sharing hot chocolate with
me and laughing about a dog he’d named after his rival. I believe that anyone who has
had the privilege of meeting Howe, even just for an autograph or a photo, understands
what I felt that afternoon. This was a special man, not just because of what he did on
the ice. He was special because he understood that he sat in a rare, privileged place—
that he, unlike most, got to live out his dream—and that the smallest connection could
mean so much. And so he held your hand tight when he shook it. He made you laugh
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when you took a photo with him. He took off his Stanley Cup ring and slipped it on your
finger.
The fans were a part of the job that he genuinely loved. Gatt knew this more than
anyone, of course. He knew it long before Howe sat in a hospital bed next to his for
days after that stroke. In a pack of fans after a game at the old Olympia, Gatt’s request
for a signature was rejected by Terry Sawchuk. Howe pulled the surly Red Wings
goaltender aside. "Terry, you sign that for him or else I’m going to break both your arms
and legs," Gatt, who was in his early teens at the time, heard Howe say. "You’ll never
play hockey again." Sawchuk took the program and signed it.
In the summer months, Howe and his wife, Colleen, would take their four kids—Marty,
Mark, Cathy and Murray—across Canada on signing tours, stopping at every Eaton’s
department store from coast to coast. It was an extra source of cash for the star, whose
salary averaged between $25,000 and $30,000 through the prime of his career. But it
was more than that. Every night, Howe returned to his hotel room and signed up to
2,000 greeting cards and photos to give to fans the next day. He wanted to make sure
he had time to speak with each fan—to tell a joke and throw an elbow. It was as much a
joy for him as it was for the fans who flocked to him. The Howe family would drive from
town to town, sometimes visiting two or three a day. "Dad’s always had a certain
mystique," Mark, now a Hall of Famer himself, told me. "I’ve only met a few people in
life who have that. And it’s not something they work at. It’s natural. That’s what makes
Dad so special." Sometimes, Howe would visit children in the cancer ward at local
hospitals. "They’d take you into a room and say, ‘This child will be lucky to live another
seven days,’" Mark said. "And by the end of Dad’s visit, the kid would be crying from
laughing so hard."
We remember Gordie Howe for the 2,421 games he played. For the 975 goals and
1,383 assists in the regular season, stretching into an untouchable five decades of pro
hockey. We remember him for his vicious elbows and polite humility. For his four
Stanley Cups. For his physical longevity. For conquering the limits we face. We
remember Mr. Hockey for the memories—for the thrills we were alive to see, and for
those sepia-toned tales passed down through the generations. We remember him for
being the greatest player the game had known and, when that was done, for remaining
Mr. Hockey until it was finally time to go.
Because he loved that role: "Mr. Hockey." It wasn’t just a nickname. It was an identity.
Howe personified the game. Consider the beginning, so modest and pastoral: Born on
March 31, 1928, in Floral, Sask., a tiny village southeast of Saskatoon. He was one of
nine children in a poor family trying to survive the Great Depression. Howe stuffed
newspapers and magazines into his socks to use as shin pads. His mother saved up
money for months to buy him his first pair of skates. He and other local kids played
outdoors with a tennis ball, which would be warmed in a neighbour’s oven when it froze.
Howe went from newspaper shin pads to newspaper headlines. He was signed by the
Detroit Red Wings when he was just 16 years old and began playing with the team in
1946, when he was 18. He was an unusual mix of size and skill—a right-winger who
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intimidated opponents with his ability to both score and hit. His gracious nature
disappeared on the ice. He was feared. And resilient. His career, and life, were almost
cut short in 1950, when he had a violent collision with Maple Leafs captain Ted Kennedy
during a playoff game. Then 21, Howe lay unconscious on the ice, covered in blood
gushing from his head. Doctors thought the hemorrhage might kill him. The next
season, he won the scoring title.
Mr. Hockey was still playing pro hockey almost 30 years later. In 1980, Howe returned
to Detroit for his 23rd All-Star Game. He was 51 and preparing to retire at the end of the
season. He was introduced last for the Prince of Wales Conference. "And from the
Hartford Whalers…" the announcer said, and the fans were on their feet before he could
finish. Mr. Hockey skated onto the ice in his white all-star jersey, the only player with
grey hair. "Representing all of hockey with great distinction for five decades—No. 9!"
The fans erupted as they had so many times before. They roared as Howe meekly
waved, looked to the ice and skated to the bench, not knowing how to stop their praise.
"Gordie, Gordie, Gordie, Gordie," they chanted.
And the cheers kept coming, as though they’d never stop.
"Just listen to these Detroit fans," the announcer said. "They’re still on their feet. This
ovation may never end."
It continued through the next three decades, as Howe remained part of the game—
applause and adoration whenever he appeared. But after Colleen passed away in 2009,
Howe fell into a deep depression and took some time away from the spotlight. The
Howe children worried about their father, unsure whether he’d be able to pull himself out
of the agony of losing the woman he’d depended on for more than 60 years. Felix Gatt
would go for walks with him, trying to bring him back. Nothing worked. It wasn’t until
Howe returned to a near-constant circuit of autograph signings and special
appearances that the joy in his eyes returned. Even as his health diminished through his
80s and the effects of dementia set in, Howe remained happiest in the presence of fans.
As much as we adored what Howe gave the game, Howe loved what the game gave to
him: us.
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Sportsnet.ca / The great myth of the Gordie Howe hat trick
LUKE FOX
JUNE 10, 2016, 6:39 PM
A goal, an assist and a fight.
It is hockey’s hitting for the cycle, its triple-double but with quadruple-double frequency.
An individual Triple Crown all crammed into a single game, typically achieved by
horselike men.
The irony of the Gordie Howe hat trick — fondly named after the most complete player
the game has known — is that the man himself seldom registered them.
“Yeah, he’s only had a couple of them. I don’t know who called it that,” Gordie’s son,
Marty, once told me. “The Gordie Howe hat trick should really be a goal, an assist and a
cross-check to the face. That might be more accurate.”
The goals (801) and assists (1,049) weren’t an issue for Howe. Problem was, no one
wanted to fight a man who, they say, never turtled but was built like one: hard on the
outside, soft on the inside.
“I don’t think anybody in his right mind would want to take him on,” Bob Cole told
Hockey Central, hours after Howe’s death Friday.
“Gordie Howe hat trick? Ha,” Glenn Hall told NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs. “Gordie just
kicked the [crap] outta the tough guys and then he didn’t have to fight.”
“He’s a man of means and action, not a man of words,” Marty Howe said. The threat of
what he might do meant he didn’t have to do it. “He’s always been that way, brought us
up that way. My mom did all of disciplining, so he didn’t have to do that. He just took us
fishing.”
The Gordie is a glorious, memorable rite of passage for any self-respecting hockey
player.
“As a player growing up in Saskatchewan, you were always more proud to have a
Gordie Howe hat trick than a regular one,” Wendel Clark said.
Wayne Gretzky had one. So did Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux. Eric Lindros had
six. Eight for Bobby Orr.
Connor McDavid broke his hand getting one in his draft year, sparking weeks of debate
yet endearing the skillsy star to old-school thinkers and teammates.
Chris Neil perfectly celebrated his 900th career game with one in the fall. Brent Burns
registered the NHL’s most recent Gordie in March.
To scan the list of all-time Gordie Howe hat trick leaders—Paul Coffey, Keith Tkachuk,
Wendel Clark, Lanny McDonald, Bobby Clarke—is to read the names of hockey
players.
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Named after the well-rounded, tough-as-two-day-old-grits Detroit Red Wings and
Hartford Whalers legend, the Howe hatty has never been an official NHL stat. (Nor is it
an official beer-league stat, but any hump with a jockstrap knows precisely how many
he’s had.) The Hockey News only began compiling GHHT statistics during the 1996-97
season.
Fittingly enough, that was the rookie campaign of today’s active GHHT leader, Jarome
Iginla (11).
Talented winger turned Penguins assistant coach Rick Tocchet (1984-2002) is
estimated to have recorded 18 Gordies in his career (regular season plus playoffs). On
his heels, unofficially, are Brian Sutter and Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan,
once the league’s chief disciplinarian, with 17 apiece.
“I’d never heard of it until I’d had quite a few of them,” Shanahan told NHL.com back in
2010. “It didn’t get media attention until four or five years ago. They started counting in
my 10th year. One list had me at nine and then they went back and counted and found
more. No teammate ever mentioned it to me until my last one.
“All of a sudden, someone would print these lists every time Gordie had a birthday. By
then, I was too old to get more. Players might be more aware of it now. If you get two of
the three, someone might say, ‘Hey, all you need is a goal.’ I think it happens more if
you have a fight and one of those two other things. Nobody ever says, ‘Hey, you’ve got
a goal and an assist, go get in a fight.’ ”
Joe Thornton, Shane Doan, Rick Nash, and Corey Perry are among today’s stars with
at least three GHHTs in their careers. The goal-assist-fight trifecta has been achieved
by the sportsmanlike (Pavel Datsyuk), the gigantic (Zdeno Chara), and the maligned
(David Clarkson). Edmonton tough nut Steve Pinizzotto — he of two career NHL goals
— registered this unlikely Gordie on Nov. 19, 2014, while making his season debut
against his former club, the Vancouver Canucks:
According to the Official Guide to the Players of Hockey Hall of Fame, the first
documented Gordie Howe hat trick belongs to Hall of Famer Harry Cameron of the
Toronto St. Pats, who put a marker in each of a skater’s highlight categories on Dec. 22,
1920, eight years before Howe was born.
As for Mr. Hockey himself, casual fans are often shocked to learn that the namesake
has only two recorded Gordie Howe hatties himself. (Which is kind of like finding out
later that Lou Gehrig only had symptoms of Lou Gehrig’s disease.)
Howe posted his first GHHT on Oct. 11, 1953 when he fought the Toronto Maple Leafs’
Fernie Flaman, set up a goal for Red Kelly, and potted one of his own.
Later that season, on March 21, 1954, Howe repeated the feat, again versus Toronto.
Number 9 scored the game’s opener, assisted on a pair of Ted Lindsay snipes, and
traded knuckles with Ted “Teeder” Kennedy.
That even the man for whom the trick is coined only notched two is telling of the
Gordie’s rarity.
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While best estimates place the all-time GHHT leader with 18, the career mark for run-ofthe-mill three-goal hat tricks is 50, set by Gretzky. Fifteen NHL players have scored at
least 20 non-Gordie hat tricks; Jaromir Jagr is the active leader with 15.
Even scarcer is the Double Gordie, the albino alligator of NHL statistical phenomena.
Iginla and Adam Henrique each posted a Gordie Howe hat trick on March 9, 2012,
fighting each other:
Prior to that one, the symmetrical Double Gordie had only been accomplished once
before, making the event even less common than a goaltender scoring a goal. On
March 9, 2010, Fedor Tyutin and Ryan Getzlaf fought each other. Tyutin also scored a
goal and two assists that game, while Getzlaf notched one of each.
On April 5, 2012, San Jose’s Thornton and Ryane Clowe recorded the teammates
edition of the Double Gordie, each Shark notching a goal, an assist and a scrap against
the rival L.A. Kings.
And the one and only Triple Gordie Howe hat trick occurred on Nov. 14, 1992. In a tilt
between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders, Tom Fitzgerald, Wayne Presley
and Benoit Hogue each recorded at least one goal, one assist. All three players fought.
Three players checking off all three boxscore squares. Three times three. A fitting tribute
to No. 9.
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Kevin Allen,
8:10 p.m. EDT June 10, 2016
When Gordie Howe was well into his 70s, he still had the aura of a powerful athlete.
He looked like what you would have expected Superman to look like if DC Comics had
allowed him to age. With his chiseled features, piercing bright eyes and broad
shoulders, Howe looked more powerful than a locomotive.
Shaking hands with him was a blow to your self-esteem. No matter how much strength
you threw into your grip, your hand would be swallowed up by his bear-like strength.
Howe was only 6-0, 203 pounds when he played, but he had a much larger presence.
When you met him, you understood why goalie Glenn Hall once said Howe always
seemed like he was 6-8 when you played against him. He seemed bigger than life. It
was like he radiated greatness.
USA TODAY
NHL legend Gordie Howe dies at 88
There were several unique aspects of Howe's dominance, The late Detroit general
manager Jack Adams once said athletes like Howe only came along once every "50 or
100 years."
But what always struck me as the most fascinating aspect of Howe's career is that he
was able to play a dominant tough, physical, often ruthless, style for 26 years in the
NHL without developing a large collection of people hating him.
You have to look long and hard in the hockey world to find anyone who disliked Gordie
Howe.
His son, Mark, once said of his dad: "He was the meanest, nastiest man on a pair of
skates that I ever met. Off the ice, he was the most gentlemanly man I ever met."
That was Mr. Hockey's greatest talent. He knew where the game ended and life began.
MORE (from 2015): How stem cell therapy helped Howe
He played with his elbows up, and if you wronged him, you faced his retribution. But if
you respected Howe, he respected you. He lived by his own code of conduct, and
almost everyone in the NHL understood Howe's rules.
Away from the rink, Howe was the friendliest man in hockey. While he was dominating
the NHL, Howe was also the game's greatest ambassador.
There are thousands of people in North America with poignant memories of meeting
Howe. He always made a point to be kind to fans. Most people in the hockey world have
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a Howe autograph or a Howe story or know someone who does. Howe's longevity in
hockey has allowed him to touch three or four generations of fans.
Jeremy Roenick once told me he always tried to be nice to his fans because he
remembered how Gordie Howe was playful with him during the pre-game warm-up at a
Harford Whalers game when Roenick was a youngster.
Bobby Hull told me the story of seeing Gordie Howe play at Maple Leaf Gardens in
1949 when Hull was 10. Hull's dad ripped open a cigarette package so his son could
obtain Howe's autograph.
Hull said Howe was impressively kind to him, and he always tried to remember that
moment when fans asked him for an autograph years later.
The debate over who's the greatest player in NHL history never will have a clear-cut
winner. You can make a case for Howe, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky or even Mario
Lemieux.
I'm old enough to have seen them all play in person. I've always believed the greatest
NHL player was Howe because he was the most complete of those four players. He
provided enough offense to win six scoring championships and six Hart trophies.
Plus, he could dominate teams physically. He was a rugged hitter. To maximize his time
on the ice, his coaches would put Howe on defense occasionally.
He also had more durability than any of the other superstars. In addition to his record 26
NHL seasons, he had six more in the World Hockey Association. He rarely was injured
and was still playing at an elite level beyond the age of 50.
Coaching legend Scotty Bowman once told me he believed Howe could have played all
60 minutes on occasion if a coach would have let him.
Hull likes to tell the story of how his father loved Howe so much that he liked to rib his
son by saying he "couldn't play in the same league with Gordie Howe."
Hull could only laugh because he loved Gordie, too. That's Howe's true legacy. When he
left the game, everybody loved him.
240
Wall Street Journal / ‘Mr. Hockey’ Gordie Howe Dies at Age 88
By Dave Caldwell
Updated June 10, 2016 1:48 p.m. ET
Gordie Howe—the Hall of Fame forward who was so skilled, prolific, durable and
ferocious that he became known simply as “Mr. Hockey”—died Friday at the age of 88.
Howe was diagnosed with dementia in 2012 and suffered two strokes in October 2014.
The Detroit Red Wings confirmed his death.
Howe scored 975 goals in 2,186 games for four teams in two leagues—during a
professional career that spanned 32 seasons from 1946 to 1980. In his final season, he
scored 15 goals in 80 games for the Hartford Whalers.
The 23-time NHL All-Star also acquired 500 stitches—just in his face.
Gordon Howe was born on March 31, 1928, in a farmhouse in Floral, Saskatchewan,
but grew up in Saskatoon, the largest city in the province, where his father, Ab, was a
laborer and construction worker.
Howe, who took up hockey at age 8, was talented and tough, although his bid to make
the New York Rangers—at age 15—ended during training camp because he was
homesick. After starting his career with the Red Wings, he returned to the game after
fracturing his skull in 1950 when he hit the boards headfirst at a time when players wore
no helmet.
A hockey player who scores three goals in a game is said to have scored a hat trick.
But, to this day, a player who scores a goal, has an assist and gets into a fight in a
single game is said to have achieved a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick.” (In fact, Howe had only
two of those during his career.)
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972, a year after he first retired, at
age 42, from the Red Wings, with whom he played for 25 seasons and led to four
Stanley Cup championships. He also was the NHL’s most valuable player six times.
The Red Wings retired his sweater number, No. 9, on March 9, 1972, after Howe had
stopped playing because of a wrist injury and joined the team’s front office.
But he was back on the ice a year later, as a member of the Houston Aeros of the yearold World Hockey Association.
Howe resumed playing because his oldest sons, Marty (then 19 years old) and Mark
(18), had both signed with the Aeros. (Mark Howe went on to play 22 seasons for five
teams and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011.)
The Howes helped the Aeros win the Avco Cup, the WHA’s equivalent of the Stanley
Cup, in each of their first two seasons. With 31 goals and 69 assists in his first season,
Gordie Howe won the WHA’s MVP trophy, which was renamed for Howe a year later.
241
Howe became the first player in team sports to have his sons as teammates, according
to his website, and he became the first grandfather to play professional hockey.
He would even outlast the WHA. The Howes moved from the Aeros to the New England
Whalers in 1977, and Gordie Howe scored a team-high 34 goals in 76 games and led
the Whalers to the Avco Cup finals after his 50th birthday. (They lost to Winnipeg.)
The WHA folded after the 1978-79 season, with the renamed Hartford Whalers among
four WHA teams joining the NHL. Howe played his final season for a team that had a
losing record and was swept in the first round of the playoffs. He was 52 years old when
he played his last NHL game.
On Twitter, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “Gordie’s greatness travels far
beyond mere statistics; it echoes in the words of veneration spoken by countless
players who have joined him in the Hockey Hall of Fame and consider him their hero.”
As a publicity stunt to draw attention to the minor-league Detroit Vipers, Howe, then 69,
became the first pro to play in six consecutive decades when he appeared, wearing a
No. 9 sweater, in one shift during the squad’s 1997-98 season opener.
Statues were erected of Howe in Detroit and Saskatoon. He was awarded the Order of
Canada, the nation’s highest civil honor, and was inducted into 11 different halls of
fame. He received honorary doctor’s degrees from two universities in Saskatchewan.
When he was finished playing hockey for good, Howe retired to the Detroit suburbs and
became an ambassador for the sport. He was a mentor to Wayne Gretzky, who broke
many of his scoring records, and wore No. 99 in tribute. Howe often paid visits to the
Red Wings, with whom he played 1,687 regular-season games and another 157 playoff
games, winning Stanley Cups in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955.
Howe held the NHL record for most goals (801) and points (1,850) until those marks
were surpassed by Gretzky. However, Howe still has the most goals by a right wing. He
also remains the oldest person to play in the league (52 years, 11 days) and the first to
play in 1,500 games.
Howe met Colleen Joffa, his future wife, at a Red Wings hangout, the Lucky Strike
bowling alley in Detroit, early in his NHL career. She became known as Mrs. Hockey;
the couple’s nicknames were trademarked. Colleen Howe, who died of Pick’s disease in
2009 at age 76, managed her husband’s business interests and helped found the
Detroit Junior Red Wings.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, in an emailed statement, said Mr. Howe was perhaps the
most beloved champion in a city that cherishes its sports heroes.
“Gordie Howe will forever be remembered as ‘Mr. Hockey,’ but he could also be known
as ‘Mr. Detroit’ or ‘Mr. Michigan’ for the years of thrills he gave Red Wings fans in our
state and around the world,” the statement said. “He represented Detroit with pride and
class.”
Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- a noted hockey buff who wrote a
book chronicling the history of the sport -- said Mr. Howe was one of the greatest
242
players in hockey history, and in his time in Detroit helped build “extraordinary goodwill
between our two countries.”
In May of last year, it was announced the proposed new international crossing
connecting Canada with Detroit would be named after Mr. Howe. The Gordie Howe
International Bridge is expected to be completed and in service by 2020.
“It is my sincere hope that this bridge, which bears his name, will continue this proud
legacy by accelerating the flow of people, merchandise and services between our great
nations for years to come,” Mr. Harper said.
Wall Street Journal LOADED: 06.11.2016
243
Red Wings complete coaching staff with John Torchetti
Ultimately it was John Torchetti's vast experience as a whole and his power play ideas
in particular that held the most appeal.
Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill completed the off-season revamping of his
assistant staff today by announcing the hiring of John Torchetti. Torchetti, a three-time
interim NHL head coach and former coach of the KHL's CSKA Moscow. Torchetti will be
in charge of the forwards and the power play.
"I interviewed five candidates and decided on John based on his skill sets and ability
and experience level," Blashill said. "He has lots of experience running a bench, and a
little bit different ideas, so there are things I can learn in terms of bench management.
"One of the greatest areas of growth is continued internal development of players. I
have a relationship with John in that we were competitors in the AHL. I was always
impressed with his passion and loyalty. I always thought his teams played hard for him."
Doug Houda was hired last month to take charge of the defensemen and penalty kill, a
job last held by Tony Granato, who left to coach Wisconsin. Jeff Salajko was promoted
to goaltending coach in Detroit, replacing Jim Bedard.
In 66 games as an NHL head coach with Florida (2003-04), Los Angeles (2005-06) and
Minnesota (2015-16), Torchetti, 51, has a 30-30-4-2 record. He won a Stanley Cup in
2010 as an assistant with Chicago.
His chief challenge with the Wings will be to reinvigorate a power play that was
dysfunctional last season after finishing second overall in 2014-15. In addition to
presenting breakout ideas during his interview, Torchetti got down to minutiae.
"What it comes down to is the little details within the power play that are important to
you," Blashill said. "Those details need to be measured. He had a good thought process
of how to do that. He showed me his approach, and I was impressed."
Blashill spent the past few days with a coaching development group that he said he's
been a part of for six years as part of pushing himself to get better in his field. One of
the areas Blashilll said he realized has to improve is "I have to make sure I can give a
real clear message on exactly what we want to be about, from a day-to-day basis to
how we treat players to how we are going to play hockey."
The first opportunity for Blashill, Torchetti and Houda to all be together is later this
month at the NHL draft, but there will also be periodic meetings throughout the summer.
Now that the hiring is finished, Blashill said the next step is to finalize the roles of his
non-bench assistants, Pat Ferschweiler (who had Torchetti's job last season) and Chris
Chelios.
244
245
Torchetti adds experience, passion on Red Wings bench
James Hawkins, The Detroit News 4:51 a.m. EDT June 10, 2016
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill added the final piece to his revamped coaching staff as
the team named John Torchetti an assistant coach on Thursday.
Torchetti, 51, signed a two-year contract with Detroit and brings plenty of experience to
the bench with more than 30 years in professional hockey as a player, coach and
general manager. He will preside over the team's power play and forwards.
“I decided on John based on his skill set and ability and experience level,” said Blashill,
who interviewed five candidates for the final coaching vacancy. “Areas he can really
help us is, one, he has experience running a bench. He's got a little different ideas than
I do and I think there's things I can learn from him in terms of bench management.
“I thought he was impressive in the little details that he looks for to help make
adjustments and to help try and maximize the power play. He has a great passion to
help individuals get better. … We were competitors in the American League and I've
known him for a couple of years. I've always been impressed with his hockey
knowledge, his approach and certainly impressed with his passion and loyalty.”
Torchetti was an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning (1999-01), Florida
Panthers (2002-04), Los Angeles Kings (2005-06), Chicago Blackhawks (2008-10) and
Atlanta Thrashers (2010-11). He won a Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2010.
He also was GM of the Detroit Vipers in 1998-99 and served as an interim NHL head
coach on three occasions, compiling a 30-30-4-2 record with Florida (2003-04), Los
Angeles (2005-06) and the Minnesota Wild (2015-16).
Torchetti led the Wild to a 15-11-1 record over the final 10 weeks of the regular season
after coach Mike Yeo was fired and made the playoffs, losing in the first round to Dallas
Stars in six games.
“Just like when I faced John in the American League, I always thought his teams were
very prepared. He did a very good job of getting the matchups he wanted,” Blashill said
of Torchetti's job with the Wild. “I thought they played hard for him and they had an idea
of how they wanted to play. They came here in to Joe Louis at the end of season and
were on the second half of a back-to-back and I thought they played efficiently and
extremely hard. So certainly the job he did in Minnesota was impressive.”
Minnesota won that game, 3-2, on April 1.
“He's coached in the NHL, AHL, KHL; that's a lot of experience behind the bench in a lot
of different situations and I think experience helps,” Blashill said. “I wanted somebody
who had experience not just in the NHL, and preferably spent time as a head coach in
the NHL, but also somebody that has vast years of experience we can draw upon and
246
learn from. I look forward to learning lots of lessons he's had to learn throughout his
career.”
Torchetti joins assistant coach Doug Houda, who will work with the defensemen and
oversee the team's penalty kill, and goaltending coach Jeff Salajko, who was promoted
from Grand Rapids, as the new members of Blashill's staff. Roles for non-bench
assistants Pat Ferschweiler and Chris Chelios have yet to be determined.
Blashill said he, Houda and Torchetti will get together for the NHL draft later this month
and periodically throughout the summer.
“We'll make sure come October we're on the same page and we're acting according to
the values and the identity of how we want to play,” Blashill said.
247
Jeff Blashill impressed with John Torchetti's bench management, power play
ideas
Ansar Khan | June 09, 2016
DETROIT – The well-traveled John Torchetti has been a head coach for 10 teams in six
leagues over 22 seasons.
That experience appealed to Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill. It is one of the
reasons he hired Torchetti as an assistant coach to round out his new staff.
"He's got lots of experience in running a bench," Blashill said. "He's got (some) different
ideas than I do and I think there's things I can learn from him in terms of bench
management.
"I've always been impressed with his hockey knowledge, his approach and certainly his
passion and loyalty."
Torchetti, 51, will be working with the forwards and on the power play. He'll be joined
behind the bench by Doug Houda, hired last month to run the defense and penalty
killing.
The Minnesota Wild promoted Torchetti from AHL Iowa on Feb. 13 to replace the fired
Mike Yeo. The Wild, 23-22-10 at the time, went 15-11-1 under Torchetti and lost in the
first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Stars. They then hired Bruce Boudreau as head
coach.
"I thought he made it hard on the opposing coach in terms of matchups," Blashill said. "I
thought (the Wild) played hard for him."
Torchetti, a Boston native, previously served as the interim head coach with the Florida
Panthers (2003-04) and Los Angeles Kings (2005-06). His combined record at all three
stops is 30-30-4-2 (W-L-T-OTL).
"Part of the process I wanted was to get someone who had experience, not just in the
National Hockey League, but also somebody that has a vast area of experiences that
we can draw upon," Blashill said. "I think you can learn from the past and I look forward
to learning lots of the lessons that he's had to learn throughout his career."
Blashill added: "He gets on the ice in the summer to work hockey schools that are
training young athletes just to keep his teaching methods sharp and I think one of the
greatest areas of growth on our team is continued internal development of our players."
One of Torchetti's primary tasks is turning around a power play that struggled most of
the season (despite finishing 13th in the league) and was ineffective in the playoffs (1
for 25).
248
"I thought he was impressive in the little details he looks for to help in adjustments and
in maximizing a power play and he's got a great passion to help individuals get better,"
Blashill said.
"John presented certain ideas of breakout patterns and ideas of end zone, but to me,
those are secondary. What it comes down to I believe are the little details within the
power play that are important to you. Those details lead to little adjustments that you
can make throughout the game. As he went through the things that were important to
him on the power play, he showed me what his approach was and I was impressed with
it."
Blashill values having two assistants who've worked on Stanley Cup-winning teams –
Torchetti with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 and Houda with the Boston Bruins in
2011.
The new staff – including goaltending coach Jeff Salajko – must develop some
chemistry over the summer.
"It has to sharpen my ability to get the message across of what I want us to be about,"
Blashill said. "I just spent two days in a coaching development group and trying to
improve in a lot of different areas as a coach, X's and O's and things like that. I have to
make sure I can give a real clear message to not only Doug and John, but Pat
(Ferschweiler) and David (Noel Bernier) and the rest of our staff on exactly what we
want to be about, from how we treat players to how we're going to play hockey."
Staff assignments: Blashill said he hasn't determined specific roles for Ferschweiler and
Chris Chelios. One will be working from the press box.
"We have a number of coaches who I think can bring great value to our program,
including Chris Chelios," Blashill said. "I expect Chris to continue to be a big part of our
coaching staff. I love his insight on a daily basis. My job is to make sure every guy
knows exactly what they're in charge of, so there's not gray area."
Blashill learning: Blashill for the past six years has participated in a coaching
development group with coaches of various levels.
"It's a great sharing of ideas," Blashill said. "I walked away I think a better coach than
when I walked in. I think part of the process in the summer is to make sure we continue
to get better. You have to stick with your principles but things evolve and we need to
continue to learn and grow as people and as coaches. That's one of the things I'm
passionate about."
249
Red Wings hire John Torchetti as assistant coach
Ansar Khan | June 09, 2016
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings have completed the off-season overhaul of their
coaching staff by hiring John Torchetti as an assistant.
Torchetti, 51, has served as an interim head coach for three NHL teams, most recently
with the Minnesota Wild. He went 15-11-1 after replacing Mike Yeo, guiding the Wild into
the playoffs, where they lost in the first round to the Dallas Stars.
Torchetti will be working with the forwards and responsible for a power play that
struggled most of the regular season and in the playoffs.
He replaces Pat Ferschweiler -- who will be working from the press box during games –
on Jeff Blashill's staff.
Torchetti also had stints as an interim head coach in Florida (2003-04) and Los Angeles
(2005-06). His career record is 30-30-4-2 (W-L-T-OTL).
A Boston native, Torchetti has been well-traveled during a coaching career that began in
1993 with Greensboro in the ECHL.
He has served as head coach for three AHL clubs (Iowa, Houston and San Antonio). He
also has been the head coach of Moncton in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
and CSKA of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League in 2013-14, under general manager
Sergei Fedorov, the former Red Wing.
He has been an assistant coach for three NHL clubs – Tampa Bay, Florida and Chicago,
where he was behind the bench for the Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup championship.
Torchetti was the general manager of the IHL's Detroit Vipers for one season, in
1998-99.
Torchetti played eight seasons in the minor leagues as a forward from 1984-1991,
mostly with the Carolina Thunderbirds of the All-American Hockey League.
The Red Wings previously hired Doug Houda as a bench assistant who will work with
the defensemen and on the penalty kill and promoted Jeff Salajko from the Grand
Rapids Griffins to be their new goaltending coach.
The Red Wings also interviewed former NHL head coaches Dave Cameron and Todd
Richards, who was hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
250
See progress on Little Caesars Arena as work starts on exterior buildings
Ian Thibodeau | June 09, 2016
DETROIT - Crews working on the $627-million Little Caesars Arena have started on
buildings outside of the main bowl.
A tower on the north side of the arena went up recently on the edge of what will become
the subterranean loading dock off of Cass Avenue.
Part of the gondola seating was recently installed, according to information published
Olympia Development's District Detroit website.
The feature puts a few rows of seating out over the ice surface. A video published on
the website shows exactly what the gondola seating will look like.
Other exterior buildings have started to sprout up along Woodward Avenue, too.
Olympia executives say $300 million in contracts have been awarded to Detroit-based
businesses, and nearly $500 million to Michigan businesses, in the construction of the
new Detroit Red Wings arena.
The Ilitch family-owned developer announced in April that the new 20,000-seat arena
will officially be named the Little Caesars Arena.
At the time, Olympia Entertainment President and CEO Tom Wilson said the lower bowl
of the arena will seat 9,000 for hockey games and 11,000 for basketball, far more than
what Joe Louis Arena's lower bowl holds.
Wilson said construction on the arena is ahead of schedule.
For the naming rights on the arena, Ilitch Holdings CEO Christopher Ilitch said Little
Caesars will pay a roughly $125-million fee to "the entity that's managing the facility,"
Olympia Entertainment.
Ilitch said over the winter that the 785,000-square-foot arena in Detroit's Cass Corridor
will have five restaurants, seven bars and 60 percent more concessions stations than
Joe Louis Arena.
District Detroit, which encompasses a 50-block area around the Little Caesars Arena,
will have about $1.2 billion pumped into it after the completion of the arena, with a
neighborhood revitalization push, the developer says.
In addition to NHL hockey, the arena will host some games of the Little Caesars youth
hockey league on the Wings' practice ice as well as concerts and shows.
The development is being funded by private investment and an estimated public
investment of $284.5 million.
251
The arena sits along Woodward Avenue just north of Downtown Detroit. Retail,
restaurants, offices, living space, parking garages and a park are all expected to be part
of the planned development zone.
252
Blashill taps Torchetti to perk up power play
By Chuck Pleiness, Posted: 06/09/16
DETROIT - Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill was looking for someone to help a
power play that struggled most of last season, and he thinks he found him.
Blashill rounded out his coaching staff Thursday by hiring John Torchetti as an assistant
coach.
“My approach was to let the candidates know the questions I was interested in finding
out about them and letting them present it to me,” said Blashill, who added he
interviewed about five candidates for the vacancy. “So John presented certainly ideas of
breakout patterns and ideas of end zone but to me those are secondary. What it comes
down to I believe are the little details within the power play. Those details need to be
measured and he had good thought processes on how we do that. Those details lead to
little adjustments that you can make throughout the game and he had thought
processes on that. So as he went through the things that were important to him on the
power play, he showed me what his approach was and I was impressed with it.”
The Wings’ power play (18.8-success rate) was just a bit better than Minnesota’s (18.5
percent) last season, but went 1-for-25 in the playoffs.
Along with working with the power play, Torchetti will also run the forward units. Doug
Houda was hired last month to run the defense and penalty killing.
Torchetti, 51, served as the interim head coach in Minnesota last season, going 15-11-1
after replacing Mike Yeo, and he helped lead the Wild to the playoffs.
“The job he did in Minnesota was impressive,” Blashill said. “I’ve also talked lots about
the fact that I believe we’ve got winners in our room. I believe with the additions of Doug
Houda and John Torchetti, two guys that have won a Stanley Cup as assistants, really
increases that to a greater degree guys on our staff of guys who have experience of
winning a Stanley Cup.”
Torchetti was also an interim head coach in Florida (2003-04) and Los Angeles
(2005-06) and served as head coach for three AHL team.
“Just like when I faced in the American League, I always thought his teams were very
prepared,” Blashill said. “I thought he made it hard on the opposing coach in terms of
matchups.
“I thought (the Wild) played for him and had an identity in how they wanted to play,”
Blashill added. “I thought when they came in here at the end of the season they were
playing the second half of a back-to-back and those are extremely tough and I thought
they played us extremely, extremely hard.”
Torchetti was also the general manager of the IHL’s Detroit Vipers (1998-99).
253
“That’s a lot of experience behind the bench in a lot of different situations,” Blashill said.
“I think experience helps. I said from the outset, preferably someone who has spent
time as a head coach in the National Hockey League, but also somebody that has a
vast area of experiences that we can draw upon. I think you can learn from the past and
I look forward to learning lots of the lessons that he’s had to learn throughout his
career.”
Blashill also added goaltending coach Jeff Salajko last month.
254

June 10-13, 2016 - Detroit Red Wings

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