The Canadian Press
Neil Davidson
Neil Stevens
In a country where hockey is king, Gordie Howe ruled for decades.
A Canadian icon, Howe grew up in the Great Depression playing hockey on prairie ponds—on hand-me-down or jerry-rigged skates.
He went on to become “Mr. Hockey”—a tough and durable customer who could fight as well as he could score.
Howe, who died today at the age of 88, could do it all.
His hockey career spanned five decades (six if you count a 1997 cameo in the International Hockey League) and six prime ministers.
Making his NHL debut for Detroit on Oct. 16, 1946 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Howe played 32 professional hockey seasons—more than any other man.
He also was the oldest player to score in the NHL and made hockey a family affair when he skated with sons, Mark and Marty.
Howe was named an all-star 21 times, including 12 first-team selections on right wing, and helped the Detroit Red Wings hoist the Stanley Cup four times.
He won the NHL scoring title and MVP award six times each.
He was 52, and a grandfather, when he finally retired in 1980—eight years after he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and nine years after being appointed into the Order of Canada.
“One of my goals was longevity,” Howe once said. “I guess I’ve pretty much got the lock on that.”
Howe was a fierce, physical competitor who could beat you with his elbows or a deciding goal.
The Gordie Howe hat trick—when a player scores a goal, records an assist, and gets in a fight in one game—lives on.
In his 2014 autobiography “Mr. Hockey,” Howe credited his father for showing him the way.
“One lesson he taught me that stuck with me throughout my hockey career was not to take dirt from anyone because if you do, they’ll just keep giving it to you,” he wrote.
Respect equals space, he soon learned.
N.Y. Rangers’ tough guy Lou Fontinato ultimately paid the price for carving open Howe’s face with his stick in early 1959.
Howe bided his time before thumping him up in a one-sided fight that left his rival bloodied with a relocated nose. Howe dislocated a finger during the beating.
Howe, however, was clear on how he preferred to be remembered.
“Respect gave you more room, and if you get a little more room to manoeuvre, then you’re going to be a better hockey player,” he reasoned.
“I played a little rough.”
Off the ice, Howe was soft-spoken—even shy.
“To me, Gordie is a contradiction,” said Howard Baldwin, former owner of the WHA and NHL’s Hartford Whalers.
“I think anybody that followed his career knew that he was a fierce competitor and he was a tough hockey player,” he noted. “And yet he was a very gentle, kind soul off the ice.
“You just loved to be around him, he always had a twinkle in his eye, loved to chat and catch up,” Baldwin added.
“He was a pleasure to be around as a friend.”
A tiger on the ice, Howe was a pussycat when it came to the love of his life, wife Colleen.
Howe never lost his love for the sport and the people who played the game.
Howe was in the crowd with other hockey heroes like Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier when Canada defeated the U.S. to win the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
He also carried the Olympic flame in the Games torch relay.
In retirement, he became one of the sport’s most-loved ambassadors, although his public appearances were few in recent years as he dealt with cognitive impairment, a form of dementia.
In March, on the eve of his 88th birthday and 17 months after suffering a stroke, Howe was feted at Joe Louis Arena by more than 20,000 fans who sang “Happy Birthday” as he was presented with a hockey puck cake.
Howe’s legend lived on.
When a panel of experts was assembled by The Hockey News several years ago to select the top players in NHL history, the outcome was: 1. Wayne Gretzky 2. Bobby Orr 3. Gordie Howe 4. Mario Lemieux 5. Maurice Richard.
But to many older Canadians, Howe always was—and always will be—No. 1.
Howe held the NHL record for most goals, 801, until Gretzky broke it in 1994 en route to scoring 894.
Howe still is No. 2 on the all-time goals list.
Howe’s 1,850 career NHL points (801 goals and 1,049 assists) are third only to Gretzky’s 2,857 and Messier’s 1,887.
Howe collected another 174 goals and 334 assists in 419 games in the World Hockey Association.
Including regular-season and playoff games in both leagues, Howe finished his astounding career with 1,071 goals and 1,518 assists for 2,589 points in 2,421 games with the Detroit Red Wings, Houston Aeros, New England, and Hartford Whalers.
Along the way, he spent 40 hours, 19 minutes (2,419 minutes in all) in the penalty box.
