In my time spent as a New York Rangers season ticket holder I did get to see Gordie Howe play. He was never a flashy player, but at just over 200 hundred pounds he was one of bigger, heavier players of the era who dished it out when necessary.
Gordie never let the opposing players forget who he was. Homage must be paid. I remember when Gordie encountered the Rangers' rookie Gene Carr in a defensive corner there was a bit of a thud and a commotion, as the play moved toward the other end of the ice with only Howe skating away. As Howe left the scene of the crime, it could be seen that Gene Carr was slowly getting up from a Gordie Howe elbow mugging. Welcome to the league. With only one referee at the time, the penalty was not noticed.
Gene Carr was really a lightweight player who could skate like hell, with his blonde hair blowing in the wind he created. It was just skating and having the puck at the same time that presented a problem for Gene. Bill Chadwick, the Ranger announcer once informed the listeners that Gene Carr "couldn't put the puck in the ocean." Perhaps he was never the same after meeting Gordie in the corner.
One of the best stories of anyone I ever read was reading that as a kid, Gordie spent so much time outside on the pond playing hockey, and probably perfecting his wrist shot, that when it was time to come in for supper, his mother didn't make him him take off his skates. She just put newspaper under them while he was at he table. It was already a given that he'd be back out there until it was impossible to see anything in the darkness outside that Saskatchewan home. Behind every great man is a woman who understands.
I knew about Howe's ability to literally switch hands on a hockey stick, and go from a right-handed shot to a left-handed shot in the blink of an eye. When I played roller hockey I used to try and do that. Fuhgetaboutit! George Vecsey in Saturday's NYT devotes an entire column to two reminiscences of a fan of Howe's. One of the remembrances is seeing Howe switch hands and score a goal. Try it.
My vice president in the next to last company I worked for grew up in Meriden, CT, near Hartford. As a kid, he played ice hockey and one day was in a game at the arena where the Hartford Whalers played, Gordie's last team.
My boss Rob remembers being pushed and pinned to the boards rather roughly by an opposing player's stick. This can be a cross-checking penalty. Whether it was a good check or not and deserved a penalty, none was called. The action went away up the ice and Rob in true, tough player fashion, just shook off the check.
Gordie was watching the boys play from the stands. Rob distinctly remembers Gordie coming into the locker room and tousling his blond head and telling him, "that was a pretty tough check, wasn't it kid?" I said to Rob, "holy shit, Gordie Howe patted your hair? How long was it before you got a haircut?" I'm sure Rob is telling that story this week to anyone who might not have heard it. And probably even if they have.
Gordie obviously appreciated good hockey and good physical contact. And why wouldn't he? I never saw him skate with Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay, but I do remember Abel as the Red Wing coach and Lindsay as a hockey commentator for NBC. Ted's face was lined with the scars he took as a player, estimating the stitch length to be something equal to two points on a map. Lindsay was a tough, stick-swinging player who got as good as he gave. Howe was the quieter one, who didn't get caught often.
When the World Hockey Association (WHA) was formed there was a gimmick exhibition gamer played at Madison Square Garden. The New York franchise was the New York Raiders. John Sterling, of now Yankee announcer fame, did the radio play-by-play then.
I was at the exhibition game with my friend and the format was that three teams, the Houston Aeros, the Raiders, and someone else I can't remember, would play each other for one period. This way, with three periods, three teams would be showcased.
I distinctly remember when Howe came on the ice and got the puck it seemed like the Red Sea parted and suddenly there was no defense on him. Maybe it was a setup, maybe there was no WHA defense capable of covering Gordie Howe, even at his advanced age. No matter. Gordie gets the puck and aims his wrist shot at the goalie. Within seconds of stepping onto the ice, he's scored a goal. Mr. Hockey.
George Vecsey in his column in Saturday's NYT, writes of fans keeping their own mental pictures of great players. I've certainly kept mine. And I've even kept my memory of pictures of players playing the game.
There's a photo I saved and it's somewhere where the heirs might someday find it. Gordie is coming off the bench with one of his sons. I forget which son it was, but the son vaults over the boards with his hand on the top rail. Gordie is seen sticking one of his legs over the board first, then lowering himself onto the ice. He's over 50 and he's not vaulting. But he is getting on the ice.
Yes, still Mr. Hockey.
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