| From now through the rest of the playoffs, I'm going to | | | | 1767 games, 801 goals, 1850 points. That's not |
| devote each of my "hockey quotes of the week" to | | | | mentioning his WHA totals, by the way. He collected |
| players who've won the Stanley Cup in the past. | | | | six Art Ross trophies, six Hart trophies and four |
| If you play hockey, you know Gordie Howe. | | | | Stanley Cups. Pretty impressive stuff, if you ask this |
| Mr. Hockey, as he's also known, was one of the first - | | | | Hockey Chump. |
| if not, the very first - hockey player to create a | | | | Gordie Howe's toughness, strength and resiliency in |
| permanent impression on the world of hockey. He set | | | | playing such a physically demanding sport all those |
| a bar to which all players have strived to reach since | | | | years speak volumes about his passion for the game, |
| then. Sure, it has been raised since then, what with the | | | | that which he summed up one time with this great |
| likes of such superstars as Wayne Gretzky, Mario | | | | quote: "You've got to love what you're doing. If you |
| Lemiuex and soon to be Sidney Crosby and | | | | love it, you can overcome any handicap, or the |
| Alexander Ovechkin. But really, you'd be hard pressed | | | | soreness, or all the aches and pains and continue to |
| to find a forward comparable to everything that | | | | play for a long, long time." |
| Gordie How was - and still is - to the game of hockey. | | | | I think this line is somewhat apropos to what players |
| One of the reasons we're all so familiar with Gordie | | | | are going through right now in the playoffs (e.g. |
| Howe's body of work is because his stats don't | | | | Thomas Vanek coming back last night for the playoff |
| merely span a few seasons, they span decades. He is | | | | game and Marc Savard expecting to play in the next |
| the only hockey player to have competed in the NHL | | | | round of the playoffs). Hockey is a unique sport that |
| for five decades. He retired with the Red Wings at the | | | | demands the very best efforts out of its players. And |
| young age of 52. | | | | those that give the most, are the ones we hold in |
| The results? | | | | highest regard. |