Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe was born in Floral, Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada on March 31st, 1928 and is the Hockey Player. At the age of 88, Gordie Howe biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 88 years old, Gordie Howe has this physical status:
Playing careers
Howe was an ambidextrous skater, one of only a few skaters to be able to fire either left- or right-handed. He played bantam hockey with the King George Athletic Club in Saskatoon as a youth, winning his first championship with them in the 1942 Saskatchewan Provincial Bantam Hockey Finals. He played his first game of professional hockey when he was invited by the New York Rangers to their training camp held at "The Amphitheatre" in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1943. He excelled enough there that the Rangers wanted Howe to sign a "C" form, which would have allowed the team to play in National Hockey Leagues and to spend the season at Notre Dame, a Catholic school in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, which was known for producing good hockey players. However, howe did not feel that was a good fit for him and wanted to return home to play hockey with his family; he turned down the Rangers' offer and returned to Saskatoon.
Howe was spotted by Detroit Red Wings scout Fred Pinkney and invited to their camp in Windsor, Ontario, in 1944. He was signed by the Red Wings in a "C" form and was assigned to their junior team, the Galt Red Wings, and his junior team, the Galt Red Wings, in Galt, Ohio. However, Howe's playing time with the team was initially limited due to a maximum number of Western players allowed by the league and the Red Wings' preference for younger players. However, he was promoted to the Omaha Knights of the minor professional United States Hockey League (USHL), where he scored 48 points in 51 games as a 17-year-old. Frank Selke of the Toronto Maple Leafs noticed Howe's rights were not properly identified as a Red Wings property while playing in Omaha. He was notified of the clerical mistake and Howe was quickly added to the team's safe list, having a positive relationship with Detroit head coach Jack Adams.
Howe appeared as himself on the CBS game show To Tell the Truth on March 27, 1967. He received two out of four possible votes. Although hockey was not as popular as other sports in the United States in 1967, panelist Peggy Cass was a hockey fan and recognised Howe. She was refused from voting.
Howe made his NHL debut on October 16, 1946, while playing right wing for the Detroit Red Wings, scoring in his first game at age 18. As a rookie, he wore #17. However, howe was given Conacher's #9, which he would wear for the remainder of his career, when Roy Conacher joined the Chicago Black Hawks in 1946-47. Although he did not request the change, howe, knowing "9" would earn him a lower Pullman berth on highway trips, was how he took it. He quickly established himself as a good goalscorer and a strong playmaker with a willingness to fight. Howe fought so often in his rookie season that head coach Jack Adams told him, "I know you can fight." Now can you tell me you can play hockey?" The term "gordie Howe Hat Trick" (consisting of a goal, an assist, and a fight) was coined in honor of his penchant for combat; however, howe himself only achieved two such hat tricks in his career, which was between October 10, 1953, and March 21, 1954. He was able to dominate the opposition in a career that spanned six decades (including one game with the Detroit Vipers of the IHL in 1997). He spent 20-straight seasons in a feat unsurpassed by any hockey player. Howe scored 20 or more goals in 22 seasons between 1949 and 1971, an NHL record.
Howe led Detroit to four Stanley Cup championships and first place in regular-season play for seven years (1948–54, 1954–55), a record never equalled in NHL history. During this period, Howe and his colleagues, Simd Abel and Ted Lindsay, were collectively known as "The Production Line," both for their scoring and as an allusion to Detroit auto factories. In 1949–50, the trio dominated the NHL in such a fashion, that they were ranked one-two-three in NHL scoring. Despite the fact that Howe's career prime was during a defensive period, scoring was tough and checking was tight, it was surprising.
However, when he was emerging as one of the best players in the league, Howe sustained the worst injury of his career - his skull was fractured and his cheekbone and nose were broken after his attempt to check Toronto Maple Leafs captain Ted Kennedy into the boards went wrong in the 1950 playoffs. The severity of the fracture was so severe that he was admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery in order to relieve the pressure on his brain. He missed the remainder of the playoffs, but his top players were also able to win the Stanley Cup.
Howe came back, responding to his extreme illness by playing in every game (86), and winning the scoring crown by 20 points. Howe, the NHL's first year of a four-year streak, was the first year of a four-year streak. In two of the years (1950–51 and 1952–53), he won four straight scoring titles and (in two of the years (1950–51 and 1952–53), he led the NHL in both goals and assists, something that has only been achieved by five other players in history (a total of ten players, not including howe). He was the NHL's highest goal scorer for three of those years. Howe became the first NHL player to score 90 points in 1952–53, finishing the season with 95 points and a career-best 49 goals, despite not tying the league record of 50 goals held by Rocket Richard (though in a 50-game season). No NHLer had led the NHL in points more than two years in a row before Howe. Since winning four straight scoring titles (including Phil Esposito, Jaromr Jágr Jágr, and Wayne Gretzky, who won seven in a row), only three other players have matched the feat.
As Howe came to be one of the game's most popular celebrities, he was often compared to Maurice "Rocket" Richard of Montreal. Both right wingers who wore #9 were regular opponents of the league scoring championship and could also play roughly if necessary. Richard defeated Howe with a hard check and an elbow to the chin in 1946, and then howe beat Richard out with a single punch. Howe recalled "They always thought there was bad blood because I [Richard] spun like a rocket and collapsed down." He wasn't hurt that much, and I started to chuckle. But the commotion came to an end when eight guys stood around. Howe found a rivalry with Canadiens centre Jean Béliveau, who wrote in his autobiography that "trying to strong-arm Gordie off the puck in a corner was similar to wrestling with a telephone pole." In four Stanley Cup finals, the Red Wings and Canadiens clashed in the 1950s and then again in the 1966 final; Detroit triumphed in 1952, 1954, and 1955, but Montreal defeated Montreal in 1956 and 1966.
In 1961 Stanley Cup Finals, the Red Wings had a bitter rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks who defeated them. Stan Mikita of Chicago recalled slashed Howe as a rookie, saying, "he was an old man who didn't belong on the ice"; later this season, Howe exacted revenge with a check that gave Mikita a concussion. Bobby Hull recalled the times he and Howe played against each other, saying, 'I loved every high-sticking minute of it,' referring to Howe as "strong as a bull and tougher than a night in jail." Hull and Howe were teammates for the first time in 1968 All-Star Game, and Hull said, "It was cool now having Gordie on my side." He was no fun playing against. Both Hull and Howe will compete in the World Hockey Association (WHA), as representatives of the Winnipeg Jets and Houston Aeros, respectively, and will be reunited as teammates on the Hartford Whalers, where they began their playing careers.
The Red Wings began to decline in the late 1960s after being consistent contenders through the 1950s and early 1960s. The NHL increased from 6 to 12 teams when Howe's 40th birthday in 1967–68, and the number of scoring opportunities increased. On a line with Alex Delvecchio and Frank Mahovlich, Howe spent the 1968-1969 season. Mahovlich was a scorer, and Delvecchio was a natural playmaker. Howe was 103 points on the first day of his NHL career, scoring 44 goals and a career-high 59 assists, and the three were dubbed "The Production Line 3," and he died at age 40.
However, following his personal record of 103 points, a rift arose with the Red Wings after Howe discovered he was only the third highest paid player on the team with a $45,000 salary. Although team owner Bruce Norris raised Howe's salary to $100,000, Colleen blamed Howe's wife, Colleen, for the demand. Howe stayed with the team for two seasons, but after 25 years, a chronic wrist injury led him to his departure and he took a job in the Red Wings front office after the 1970–71 season. He was hired as the first head coach of the New York Islanders at the start of 1972, but declined.
Howe had won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player six times by the end of his career, 1952, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1963, and 1963 – the most important player to date, and second only to Gretzky's nine. He has also placed second or third in the Hart polls a number of times. Howe was selected to the NHL's First All-Star Team 12 times and to the Second All-Star Team eight times.
Howe was branded an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1971. The Red Wings cut his number 9 jersey on March 12, 1972.
Howe was given a contract to play with the Houston Aeros of the recently formed World Hockey Association (WHA), which had also signed his sons Mark and Marty to contracts one year later. He underwent wrist surgery to make a return to hockey possibility, and his Red Wings' team won consecutive league championships in 1974 and 1975, dissatisfied with his inability in the Red Wings' office. Howe won the Gary L. Davidson Trophy in 1974, the WHA's Most Valuable Player (the trophy was renamed the Gordie Howe Trophy the following year). Howe played with the Aeros from 1977 to 1977, when he and his sons joined the New England Whalers. Marty's cheekbone was broken by Robbie Ftorek in the next game Howe used his stick to cross-check Ftorek in the game. "Mark told Gordie, he's [Robbie] my friend, he's an old teammate on Team Canada, he's been a mentor to me," Michael Farber wrote. Robbie had to learn how to, as he had to. Gordie Howe grew up on the prairie. He believed in prairie justice.
Gordie was named with his sons Mark and Marty to Team Canada's WHA version of Team Canada for an eight-game series against the Soviet Union. Gordie played on a line with son Mark and Ralph Backstrom. Gordie earned seven points in seven games during his career as a senior at age 46. The Soviets gained four wins relative to Canada's one, as well as three ties.
Gordie had the opportunity to compete with Wayne Gretzky in the 1979 WHA All-Star Game in the final season of the WHA. The game's system was based on a three-game series between the WHA All-Stars and Dynamo Moscow. Jacques Demers coached the WHA All-Stars, and Demers wondered if it was okay to put him on a line with Gretzky and his son Mark. The line scored seven points in game one as the WHA All-Stars won by a score of 4–2. In game two, Gretzky and Mark Howe scored a goal, and Gordie Howe provided an assist. the WHA defeated 4-2. The WHA also won Game Three to guarantee a clean sweep.
The Hartford Whalers, who were renamed Hartford Whalers, joined the NHL when the WHA folded in 1979. Even though the Red Wings still had Howe's NHL rights after he had retired eight years ago, the Whalers and Red Wings signed a gentleman's deal in which Detroit refused to return him to Howe. Howe had experienced dizzy spells in the second half of the 1978–79 WHA season, and underwent a "extensive battery of tests" before deciding to play the 1979–80 NHL season. Howe played one last season, playing in all 80 games of the schedule and assisting his team in the playoffs by scoring 41 points (15 goals and 26 assists). Howe, 52 years and ten days ago, became the oldest man to play an NHL game, losing 4–3 to the Canadiens. The Whalers signed Bobby Hull and put Howe, Hull, and Dave Keon together at a later date in the season. When Wales Conference head coach Scotty Bowman selected Howe, Phil Esposito, and Jean Ratelle to the mid-season All-Star Game, a nod to their illustrious careers before they retired. Howe played in five decades of All-Star Games, and he'll skate with the second-youngest to ever play in an All-Star Game, 19-year-old Wayne Gretzky. Twice, the Joe Louis Arena crowd gave him a standing ovation, but it took so long for him to walk to the bench to discourage people from cheering. In the Wales Conference's 6–3 victory, he had one assist.