Known as Mr. Hockey, Howe died early Friday morning at his home in Ohio.
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Bruce MacGregor spent 11 seasons playing with Gordie Howe on the Detroit Red Wings. I’m just a speck older than he is.
With apologies to Maurice Richard, that player was “Mr. Hockey”, Gordie Howe, the exceptionally rugged, skilled and seemingly ageless farm boy from Floral, Saskatchewan, whose career spanned six decades and became an inspiration for numerous NHLers who followed.
Howe was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972, but by the next year he was on the ice again.
“We not only lost a sports legend, but also one of the most iconic, impactful and beloved people our community will ever know”, said Ron Woods, president of the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
Red Wings star forward Pavel Datsyuk paid homage, via twitter: “World lost one of the greatest human beings and the best all time hockey player”.
In the pros: Joined the Detroit Red Wings in 1946 and played 25 seasons, winning four Stanley Cups with Detroit.
“He was the reason I met my wife, Andra”, Kelly said in a telephone interview Friday with The Times. “Then he left before I could give them back, so I carried them around for quite a while”.
“Very sad to hear about Gordie Howe #MrHockey #thebest9”, Kane wrote. On the ice, no one messed with Howe and if you did you got one of his famous elbows right in the chops.
“He’s admired and respected by everyone in the hockey world”, Yzerman said. One, to play that long, and two, to be the combination of skill and power and grit. “In my estimation, he was the best ever”. He played an additional 419 games in the WHA, scoring 174 goals and amassing 508 points. And once the game started – it was a who’s who of National Hockey League greats, from Wayne Gretzky to Guy Lafleur – the silver-haired Howe was still out-skating and out-smarting much younger opponents. Another member of that club: Gordie Howe. Gretzky tweeted that Howe was the greatest hockey player ever and the nicest man he ever met.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also released a statement about the hockey icon.
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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 hard time. “A remarkable athlete whose mastery of our sport was reflected by the longevity of his career and by his nickname, ‘Mr”. “The greatest Red Wing of all-time”. He would say that playing with his sons was the highlight of his career.
