Happy 80th Gordie Howe!

[Forkboy]

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

1. I agree!

Grew up in Detroit. He was and is THE MAN!
:toast:

[LisaM]

2. I'm such a fan I named my dog Gordie!

My Gordie and I watched the tribute last night. Mr. Hockey was before my time, but they did a tribute to him last night before the Wings game, showing some old clips, and I was just amazed by his skating ability. You can see it a little bit from that picture. His skating was completely effortless. Not to mention his toughness! They don't make them like that now. Gordie didn't need to skate with a posse to protect him.

[Forkboy]

3. I wish I had seen him play.

I've seen a few old games on NHL Classics but I would have loved to see him play all the time. My father says Cam Neely is the closest he's ever seen to Howe. And I love the Gordie Howe hat trick..a goal, an assist and a fight. :D

[LisaM]

4. What's funny is that the announcers looked it up and said that Gordie

had only ever been involved in ONE Gordie Howe hat trick in his whole career, in Boston, in the 1950s.

I like Cam Neely because he beat up Claude Lemieux. After Lemieux almost killed Kris Draper in 1996, Don Cherry took up the cause that it was a dirty hit, and kept showing a video "for the Draper family", he'd say, showing Cam Neely pounding on Lemieux. A few years after that, Cam Neely came out here for a charity game, and I went to see if specifically to cheer him. (Of course, later on, Darrin McCarty got Lemieux back, with Gordie cheering him on, I'm sure!)

[Forkboy]

5. Neely hated Lemieux with a passion.

Like a lot of people. Neely is my favorite player of all time (with Scott Stevens a close second...I like the physical players). :)

Neely is a true class act too.

http://www.camneelyfoundation.com/

[LisaM]

6. I like Shanny, of course, and Stevie Y

Of non Red Wings, I guess I like Brendan Morrison, Mike Modano......Turco (they all have Michigan connections, I should be able to do better than that!)


I once saw Guy LeFleur signing autographs with Don Drysdale at our mall. We told a friend, and he called to see if Drysdale was still there, and they said, no, but Gye LAFFLER is.......

I'm just drawing a blank on non Wings. I'll come up with someone!

[Forkboy]

7. Stevie Y was a great one, instant Hall of Famer.

He scored one of the coolest goals I ever saw, feet higher than his head, parallel to the ice, and he roofed the biscuit against the Penquins. I think they won that night 8-0. And Shanny has always been a fave of mine (not to mention a funny bastard).

I remember when LeFluer retired and then came back to play with the Nordiques. First game against Boston and Neely crushed him with a devastating check into the boards. All I could think was, "Welcome back Guy." :rofl:

There's been so many greats that I loved watching that I could never name them all.

[Ganja Ninja]

8. He once held the door open for me at O'Hare airport.

Back in January of 72 I was a young navy recruit just out of boot camp coming back from my first leave home and headed to Great Lakes NTC. As I'm going for the door with my sea bag on my shoulder, someone I couldn't see opened the door for me. I got out side set my bag down and I hear someone shout "Hey Gordie". I looked back and it was Gordie Howe that held the door open for me.

[Forkboy]

10. That's cool...a brush with greatness.

:)

[madinmaryland]

9. I remember eating at his restaurant in Glastonbury, CT when

he was playing for the Hartford Whalers in the early 80's. Neat place, with lots of his memorobilia.

[Forkboy]

11. Been there myself.

We use to go see the Whalers a lot. They were half the price of Bruins tickets, so it was perfect for cheapskates like me.

Bring back the Whale!