Hockey has a way of being overshadowed. Obviously, the sport itself is overshadowed, the fourth largest game in what is becoming a three-sport country. But even its big moments are often swept aside. The great story this year is the San Jose Sharks, a team that inspires a range of emotions and thoughts from NHL fans, finally having their day in the sun... only to have their next-door neighbor in the Bay Area continue their historic rise as an NBA dynasty.
And now, on the day a true legend of the game, the man who connects the modern NHL (his last year was Gretzky's third) to its rough, isolated upbringing, dies it is the day of Muhammad Ali's funeral. There is no argument Ali was a more significant sporting icon, largely because his success, importance and influence extended so far beyond sports, but Gordie Howe deserved slightly more than his death being completely overshadowed - but when you look back at the career and the man himself, maybe that is what he would have wanted.
I am obviously too young to have watched Gordie Howe play, and the footage I have seen shows a great player but someone playing a very foreign game. Other than baseball, all sports seem so different when you watch old clips, but hockey it seems turned that corner from completely strange to what we have now far later than the rest. The NFL and NBA of the 70's resembles today's game, hockey doesnt'. But you can still watch and be amazed at the skills this giant but graceful man possessed. Gordie Howe, also, was the first true start of the sport to play in the US. Four of the Original Six teams were based South of the Border, but no player had made a true impact until Gordie came along.
When I think of Gordie Howe, my mind immediately connects him to Jean Beliveau, the Montreal Canadiens legend who passed away in early 2015, who's career mirrored Howe's (until Howe decided to play till 52, so it went another 10 years). Beliveau and Howe were similar players, larger, faster and more skilled than those around them. Beliveau continued a long line of masters in Montreal, but his true legacy was not the 7 Cups he won as captain, but the humanitarian and community hero he was in Montreal. Howe was the same, both in the hometown of Saskatoon, and in the Detroit area where he left a lasting legacy.
Gordie Howe's career accomplishments are easy enough, the 6 Hart Trophies as MVP, the 4 Stanley Cups, retiring with all the records. One by one, Gretzky took those records away, but Wayne himself will tell you he sees Gordie Howe as the greatest player in hockey history. Howe is the type of guy who would get mad at Wayne and say the reverse. Few players have ever been so effusive of praising the next generation and supporting the guy chasing their records as Howe was - being there for all of Wayne's record breaking moments.
The tributes from all media outlets, both American and Canadian have been glowing. Hockey media itself will work themselves into a frenzy with trying to best encapsulate a man who defined the sport. The fact that this is coming right in the middle of teh Stanley Cup Finals is poetic.
Few athletes from Howe's era remain in any sport, and it is always tough when one of the titans of our games passes away. For Howe, he died after living a long life full of incredible memories but incredible achievements. He was a person we all should emulate and bring ourselves to live like. Hockey has a lot of those types of players (all sports do). Jean Beliveau was the same way. Wayne Gretzky was the same way - and I hope when he passes (hopefully a long, long, long time from now) people remember that as much as the alien nature of his statistical accomplishments. Gordie Howe was everything, he truly was Mr. Hockey.
