Gordie Howe, ‘Mr. Hockey’, dead at 88

The Howe family later issued a statement: “Hockey legend Gordie Howe, age 88, passed away peacefully this morning with his family by his side”.

Red Berenson’s relationship with Gordie Howe goes back 45 years when the two were teammates with the Detroit Red Wings.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

Detroit Palace Sports & Entertainment: “All of us at Palace Sports & Entertainment express our thoughts and condolences to the Howe family and the Detroit Red Wings organization in acknowledging the passing of Gordie Howe”. He became an idol for many and is credited with helping the sport attract American fans in a development key to the league’s growth. “He’s converted it into a North American game”.

It was during the 1970-71 season that Berenson was traded by the St. Louis Blues to the Red Wings and Howe was playing the final year of his brilliant career with the organization. He played professionally into his 50’s.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman lauded “the incomparable” Howe as a remarkable athlete with incredible longevity.

“The greatest players define their game for a generation; over more than half a century on the ice, Mr. Hockey defined it for a lifetime”, United States president Barack Obama said. Gordie Howe’s imprint on the city of Detroit, the state of MI and the game of hockey was generational and ever-lasting.

FILE – This is an October 1996 file photo showing Detroit Red Wings hockey player Gordie Howe poses in Detroit, Mich. Gordie Howe, the hockey great who set scoring records that stood for decades, has died. Gordie set the standard for this franchise during the Original Six era, winning four Stanley Cups, capturing numerous awards and setting an abundance of league records. He was a six-time MVP and a six-time Art Ross Trophy victor as the league’s leading scorer.

Howe played against them all. To me, it would have been like asking Zeus if you could take a selfie with him. Unlike anyone in quite the same way, Howe handled his business with his elbows and fists nearly as often as he did with wrist and slap shots.

Isn’t it ironic on the day that the greatest boxer of all time is put to rest, the NHL’s original “greatest of all time” is gone.

The Howe family would like to thank friends and fans for their love and support.

Howe’s infirmary list included more than 300 stitches, broken ribs, a broken wrist, several broken toes, a dislocated shoulder and an assortment of scalp wounds. He had a serious head injury in 1950 that led to emergency surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.

His kindness was an irony lost on no one who saw Howe play: On the ice, he was the polar opposite – his elbows leveled many an opponent, but his personality enchanted. “If you love it, you can overcome any handicap or the soreness or all the aches and pains, and continue to play for a long, long time”.

Howe left as a teenager to pursue a career in hockey.

A year later, a Red Wings scout discovered Howe and two years after that, in October 1946, he scored a goal in his National Hockey League debut in what proved to be the start of one of the game’s most prolific careers. “I think thats the biggest thing I ever achieved. “That’s what I wanted, and I saved my money to buy it”.

Along with the scoring record, the 6-foot, 205-pound Howe broke more than a few bones in his time.

He referred to his play as “poetry in slow motion” late in his career, a far cry from his score-and-smash style in his 20s, 30s and early 40s.

For the visitation, fans will be able to park in the Riverfront Executive Lot (located directly west of Joe Louis Arena) or in the Joe Louis Arena Garage (900 W. Jefferson Ave.) and enter the building at street level through the arena’s west entrance. Howe ranked among the top five in scoring for 20 straight seasons.

“If I can skate, Ill get even, ” Howe once said. “But I knew when they started scoring 80 goals in a season I was in trouble.”. He now sits third, behind only Wayne Gretzky (2,857 points) and Mark Messier (1,887), surpassed in 1999 and 2004, respectively. He has been an icon not only in Detroit, but throughout the entire hockey world for as long as I can remember.

Summit Series hero Paul Henderson played with and against Howe. “He was strong as an ox”. He had a very heavy shot and a soft touch.

As a 19-year-old, Cournoyer was in awe of Mr. Hockey.

A year before his death, Murray Howe said, his father was “comfortable and happy” after having another round of stem cell therapy in Mexico.

“The news media regarded him as a really up-and-coming kid”. And we all felt like we were part of the Howe family. He raved about Colleen, whom he married in 1953.

Howe’s wife of 55 years, Colleen – known as “Mrs. Hockey” – died in 2009 after a lengthy battle with Pick’s Disease, an incurable neurological condition that causes dementia. “Our deepest sympathies go out to Mark, Marty, Murray, Cathy and the rest of the Howe family during this hard time”.

I never had the fortune to engage Howe during my career, unlike so many of my colleagues.