Posted on 06/10/2016 7:02:16 AM PDT by taildragger
Link here: http://www.clickondetroit.com/sports/hockey-legend-gordie-howe-dies-at-age-88
I wonder how long the national “media” is going to grieve over the death of this sports legend. They’re probably already done.
The new Detroit bridge is Being named for him. RIP Gordie.
CC
Interesting thought Vigilanteman. He is not just loved in the US, but Canada as well. I got to see him play but also he would visit local rinks in greater Metro Detroit and meet with Hockey and Rink managers, owners etc. and I got to see him up close @ a rink. He was the real deal. My guess is a memorial service might have to be held @ a major Detroit Athletic Facility that holds Thousands, something like the Lion’s Stadium or U of M which can hold 104,000 is my guess...
RIP Gordie
This will be bigger news in Canada and Michigan.
Truly a loss. Jaromir Jagr is about to pass his record though.
His son was on WJR not to long ago saying his health situation had improved due to Stem Cell treatments. To bad. Thanks for the great memories #9. RIP .
RIP Gordie. One of the best, and a good teacher of hockey as well. I think I still have one of his “Here’s Howe” hockey video tapes.
Greatest hockey player ever. Gordie Howe hat trick? A goal, an assist, and a fight. Gretsky never.
RIP #9 Godspeed.
He shoots-He scores!
Favorite Gordie Howe story...
Gordie’s favorite feat: Playing hockey with sons
by Evan Weiner / NHL.com
March 26th, 2010
Happy Birthday, Mr. Hockey!
Gordie Howe is celebrating his 82nd birthday on March 31, and even though Gordie hasn’t laced them up in 30 years, he remains a legendary character, sort of like a “real-life” Paul Bunyan.
In fact, it was Gordie who once said that all the stories about him made him out to be Paul Bunyan, a fictional character who was a giant and a lumberjack with mythical power.
Gordie was a giant during his playing days, which lasted from 1946-71 with the Detroit Red Wings, 1973-1979 in the World Hockey Association and one year in Hartford in the NHL in 1979-80.
There is the “Gordie Howe Hat Trick,” when a player scores a goal, gets an assist and is involved in a fight, although NHL records seem to indicate that Gordie Howe had just one in his career. He won six Art Ross trophies as the NHL’s leading scorer and six Hart trophies as the NHL’s MVP. Gordie also was on four Stanley Cup winners during his 25-year career with the Red Wings.
But all the honors and accolades pale in comparison to his greatest hockey achievement — playing with his sons Mark and Marty, first with the Houston Aeros of the WHA and then in the NHL with the Hartford Whalers in Gordie’s final season in 1979-80
The WHA made a big score in 1973 with the multiple signings of Gordie Howe and his teenage sons, and like a lot of other things Gordie did in his career, his move to Houston would change how the NHL would go about stocking it rosters.
Howe had retired after 25 seasons with the Red Wings in 1971, but he always dreamed of the day where he would play an NHL game with his sons. It was an impossible dream, yet it was Howe’s wife, Colleen, who pushed the idea. Only she knew it could not be in the NHL because of age requirements and the NHL drafting procedure.
“I always refer to that as my greatest accomplishment and excitement,” Howe said of getting on the ice in a Houston Aeros uniform with his sons in 1973. “Let’s put it this way, I don’t remember what year it was, but my wife, Colleen, who is a very imaginative young lady, took the junior club in Detroit (where Mark and Marty were playing at the time) and I joined the juniors and we played against the Red Wings for the March of Dimes. We raised a lot of money and we had 17-18,000 in the stands. It was a bad year for the Red Wings, but it was a happy occasion. I was hoping at that time it was for real.”
Howe took a job with the Red Wings after he announced his retirement in 1971. The problem was that he felt the team was not properly utilizing him. New York Islanders General Manager Bill Torrey offered Howe a deal to coach the expansion team in 1972-73, but he turned him down.
Howe really didn’t have any intentions of returning to the ice. He retired because of a wrist injury but circumstances had changed. The WHA’s Houston Aeros wanted Mark and Marty, and Aeros General Manager and coach Bill Dineen was an old teammate from the 1950s in Detroit so he knew the Howe family quite well. Dineen’s assistant Doug Harvey was a great NHL defenseman with Montreal and the Rangers who played against Gordie in the 1950s and 1960s.
https://www.nhl.com/news/gordies-favorite-feat-playing-hockey-with-sons/c-522876
Yep. I’m sure the MSNBC of sports, ESPN, will hold a marathon for him.
When I was growing up in a hockey town, he was the hero. RIP sr!
Hockey ping
I don’t have my full ping list handy but wanted to pass this on.
Rest in peace Mr. Hockey
Sad to hear this. RIP Mr. Howe, sir, from an avid hockey (albeit a Boston Bruins) fan.
The man was amazing... RIP
If you get a chance sometime, I would be interested in being added to your hockey ping list.
Mark Messier could have surpassed all of Howe’s records, but his respect for the man allowed him to quit though he could have played 5 or 6 more years at a decent level.
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