Remembering Gordie Howe in Music
I’m just old enough to remember seeing Gordie Howe play with his sons with the Houston Aeros in the WHA in a game against the Winnipeg Jets. With his passing at the age of 88 yesterday, here is a 1963 hit from Big Bob and the Dollars. Have a listen while you read about how Garth Brooks paid tribute to Howe in Saskatoon last night.
Not really all that surprised that Rick Tocchet is the all time leader in Gordies. He was a pretty tough nut back in his playing days but he could also play the game really, really well when he wanted to. I believe he had a couple 40 goal years while he played for Philadelphia back in the 80’s and early 90’s.
But what really surprised me, aside from the fact that even The Great One had a Gordie Howe hat trick, is that tough guys like Bob Probert and Chris Nilan didn’t register one. I checked the list posted at hockey’s future.com and I could not find either one of them. Pretty damn surprising, considering that both guys were well known for their fistic prowess, but could also play the game as well. If memory serves me correctly Nilan had a 20 goal season for the Habs back in 85-86, and Probert had a couple 20 goal years when he played for the Wings. I would have expected to see them ranked up near the top of such a list, but like I said, there was no sign of ’em.
Anyway, this was a great article, and I’d love to see more like this from this site in the future. Cheers b’ys.