No player will ever have a career like Gordie Howe. 26 NHL seasons, six WHA seasons, a 23- time NHL All Star, Hockey Hall of Fame member and four time Stanley Cup Champion. Add in six Hart trophies and six Art Ross trophies, its hard to imagine anyone coming close to what he did in his career. On June 10, Mr. Hockey passed away at the age of 88.
Howe was known for his tough play and skill. In an era where the game was as violent as ever, Howe commanded a level of respect from opponents, usually through violence, and through that violence, the ice opened up for him. Howe created more room for himself than any other player in that era, which lead many goals.
Gordie eventually got to play alongside his two sons with the Hartford Whalers, something that no one else has gotten to do in the NHL. MSG analyst and former St. Louis Blues Defenseman, Joe Micheletti, recalls a game where he played against Howe and his sons.
In a WHA game, before the NHL absorbed it, Micheletti in his first pro season with the Calgary Cowboys was playing against the Houston Aeros and the Howe’s for the first time.
“There was a play where the puck was kind of on the half boards in the defensive zone, and Mark and I were just racing for it. We bumped shoulders right at the boards,” Micheletti recalled. Howe known for his vicious elbows stepped in to defend his son. “Mark went down on top of the puck, the ref blew the whistle and about three seconds later here comes Gordie with an elbow to my chin.”
Micheletti didn’t forget what Howe said to him either. “He says ‘Don’t touch my sons anymore,’ and I said OK. That’s how I met Gordie.”
“I got to know him pretty well off the ice years later, and he’s just a terrific guy,” said Micheletti.
Wayne Gretzky, the greatest player ever, idolized Howe growing up. He even wore no. 99 as tribute to the great no. 9. “A lot of times when you meet your idols and people you respect and look up to, sometimes it’s not as great as you had anticipated or you built it up too much. I was so lucky when I met Gordie,” Gretzky said. “I was 10. It was so much nicer and bigger and better than I had ever imagined it.”
Gretzky even got to play with Howe in Howe’s last season, during the 1979-1980 All Star game. Gretzky was 19. Howe was 51.
Throughout his career, whether it was early in his career or later, Gordie was a force on the ice and a gentleman off the ice. “He was strong as an ox. He was as mean as a rattlesnake and you tread lightly when you came around him,” said former teammate Paul Henderson, referring to his on ice play.
Off the ice, he was just Gordie. “He’s just a down to earth human being who happened to play hockey,” his son, Mark Howe has said. “He’s just a wonderful man,” Gretzky said, “and he was wonderful for the game.”
