Gordie Howe

                                                     By:  Carter Englot
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                            1. Why was he so successful in the NHL?
                            2. Why was his nickname Mr. Hockey and Mr. Elbows?
                            3. What NHL team did he play for?
                            4. How old was he when he started in the NHL?
                            5. How many points did he have in his best season?
                            6. What was his family like?
                            7. What were his worst injuries?

                The great Gordie Howe is blazing down the ice.  He dekes around
one defender, then another defender.  Just one more defenseman between him and
the goal!  Gordie Howe fakes right, then he goes left.  He caught the defender
on an edge and goes straight towards the net.  He gets ready……BOOM!  Gordie Howe
lets go a blistering slap shot, right over the goalies’ right shoulder.  He
SCORES!  The crowd goes wild, what a goal!
The great Gordie Howe was very successful in the NHL for many reasons.
Probably the biggest reason was his blazing wrist shot.  Another reason was his
determination to play through the pain, caused by many hockey injuries!
Gordie Howe won many awards during his lengthy hockey career.  He was a twelve
time All-Star player who led his team to four Stanley Cups.  He won both the
Hart and Art Ross Trophy six times.  Gordie Howe won the Lester Patrick and Gary
Davidson trophies in the WHA, and won scoring titles six times.  He played
thirty-two years, and twenty-five in stardom.  Gordie Howe was one of the top
ten players for scoring, for twenty-one years.  He finished his career with
eight hundred and one goals and one thousand forty-nine assists.  His grit and
determination led him to one thousand six hundred and eighty-seven games played
in the NHL, and in twenty seasons only missed twenty games.
The great Howe had two nicknames:  Mr. Hockey and Mr. Elbows.  He got the name
Mr. Elbows because he liked to hit other players with his elbows, even though
his big size on the ice didn’t make it necessary.  Gordie Howe got the name Mr.
Hockey because he lived his life playing hockey.  The ways he showed this is by
being a smart player with quick reflexes.  He breathed hockey, walked hockey and
slept hockey.  He used to skate to school on frozen roads in Floral,
Saskatchewan when he was young, and could shoot left and right-handed.  After he
retired, Gordie Howe was immediately put into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Mr. Hockey only played for one NHL team his entire life, the Detroit Red Wings.
He wore the number nine jersey.  Gordie Howe wore the same jersey his entire NHL
career because it brought him luck.  He played thirty-two years in the NHL, from
when he was eighteen in 1946, to when he retired in 1971, when he was 43 years
old!
Gordie was fifteen and playing in Saskatoon when he was scouted and sent to the
New York Rangers’ NHL training camp, but started playing in the NHL three years
later at eighteen on the Detroit Redwings.  He says “I was a little young at
fifteen to start on a farm team, but at eighteen I was very ready to play in the
NHL”.  It’s a good thing he started so young or he wouldn’t have been ready to
play against stars of the NHL.
Gordie has had twenty-five amazing seasons where he put in many goals and
assists.  In his best season he got one hundred and three points!  He earned all
of those goals and assists on right wing where he was a star.  When Gordie Howe
retired from the sport he held more records than any athlete in hockey.
Gordie grew up in Floral, Saskatchewan with eight siblings.  He was very poor,
so he had to get skates from a bin in an exchange sport shop where you trade in
old sport equipment, for someone else’s old equipment.  Gordie Howe married
Colleen, and they had four children.  His family was very active in hockey.  He
came out of retirement to play with two of his four kids on the World Hockey
Association (WHA) team, Houston Arrows, from 1973 to 1976.  He played on three
other teams with his sons until he retired for good in 1980.  The two children
he played with were named Mark and Martin.  His other two kids were Cathy and
Dr. Murray Howe.  A book was written about Gordie and his wife Colleen called
Mr. and Mrs. Hockey:  A Tribute to the Sport’s Greatest Couple.  Colleen was the
first woman agent manager in sports, and was an amazing person in the hockey
world.  As hockey’s ambassadors for sixty years, Gordie Howe and his wife
Colleen have visited many cities, went to lots of charity events and donated
millions of dollars for good causes.
Gordie Howe was injured many times during his hockey career.  He learned to
play through the pain completely.  He had so many injuries that he should have
quit, but luckily didn’t.  During his NHL career he lost a dozen teeth,
experienced numerous broken ribs, broken toes, and his nose had been broken many
times.  He played fifteen games in an arm cast.  In playoffs he fell, fractured
his skull, suffered a concussion and couldn’t play the rest of the game.  He had
to be very hurt to miss a game.  He usually was there for his team and fans,
playing with injuries that would force other players to not even dress for the
game.
Gordie Howe, Saskatchewan’s greatest player has inspired thousands of young
players to keep trying no matter what.  His story is really cool and inspiring
to many young Saskatchewan hockey players all around Saskatchewan.

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