Lessons Learned

Hockey is truly an amazing sport. Not only is it fun to play for people of all ages, but it is also a sport that really “gives back” in terms of the lessons it teaches players.   

If you are thinking of starting your child in youth hockey but are wondering what it has to offer, the answer is “plenty!” Read on to learn about the many great lessons hockey teaches.

Balance

Everyone knows that hockey is played on the ice. A lot of people, though, don’t fully understand all that playing on the ice entails.

Ice is not an even, non-slip surface like you’ll find in basketball or tennis. Instead, it’s slippery and hard, which makes falling on it not a fun experience.

However, with nothing but a sheet of ice under their feet, players get very good at balancing themselves, which results in strong core muscles and straight posture. And, in addition to balance, players become better skaters, which also improves balance and leads to superior coordination. If these are qualities you’d like your child to possess, hockey is a great place to get them.

Overcoming Challenges

Hockey may look like a fun and simple game, but it actually has some complex rules that are effective at teaching young players how to overcome any challenge that gets thrown their way.

For example, one team gets to play with a “man advantage” for several minutes at a time, leaving the other team short a player. This means that the short-handed team has to find creative ways to pick up the slack, which often involves strategic planning and working together.

If you want your child to be someone who can tackle any problem and ask for help when he needs it, hockey is the way to go!

Centers: An Important Role in Defensive Zone Coverage

Most people think of centers in ice hockey as offensive playmakers. And, while it is certainly true that they perform this role, it is also important to understand that these players are also vital in playing defense.   

Support

One of the first things to keep in mind is that centers are actually very vital when it comes to providing support for defensemen.

They actually have to play both sides of the ice all at once, which makes this role quite important and demanding.

Proper Passing

Another thing that centers are responsible for is maintaining the appropriate position at all times, often known as the containment position.

They have to know when to not pass the opposing player (which is most of the time), as well as when to seize that perfect moment to do so.

This- knowing that right moment- is a very important job of any good hockey center.

Forward Guarding

One final job of a center is to never let a forward walk out…or at least whenever possible.

This means that centers, in addition to all of their other jobs and tasks, have to constantly have their eyes on the forward.

As you can see, center is a very important position.

So, if you have a young player who is not feeling great about this “calling,” or if you have someone who is not fully understanding it, you can easily explain how very important it is and why.

In short, there would be no hockey without centers, and every center needs to know that, as well as what his or her responsibilities are.

Stickhandling Tips and Tricks

There are lots of skills that are necessary to be a good hockey player, but perhaps the most vital one of all is stickhandling ability. Stickhandling simply means being able to control the puck with one’s stick. When players are really good at it, they can often remain in full control of the stick without ever looking down at the puck. It may seem impressive, but, for them, it’s like second nature. This type of stickhandling ability comes from lots and lots of practice, but you can help the youth hockey player in your life reach this level by following a few simple tips.

Hold the Stick Properly

Good stickhandling all starts with properly holding the stick! If a stick isn’t held correctly, good stickhandling is going to be pretty much impossible.

To hold the stick correctly, the top hand should be kept stiff and strong and should grip the top of the stick. The bottom of the stick should be handled with the lower hand a little bit down the shaft. The hands on the stick should be kept soft for better control of the puck.

If you can master the right way to hold the stick, then you’ve already won half the battle of good stickhandling!

Get Used to the Feel

Once your player has mastered how to hold the stick, it’s time to get a feel for how the puck feels when being handled. To get “the feel,” practice dribbling the puck back and forth in front of the body with a limited range of motion. Once the player has gotten used to this, start encouraging him or her to handle the puck without looking at it and while, instead, taking in the rink around him or her. With enough practice, your player should soon be handling the stick with ease, just like the pros!

Like any skill in hockey, stickhandling does take practice, but, with enough of it, especially if you’re using these foolproof techniques, your hockey player should be stickhandling like a pro in no time.

Go For the Goal

Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Does your child dream of one day becoming a famous hockey star? While that’s a great dream to have and to nurture, it’s important to be realistic and to understand that, unfortunately, when it comes to actually reaching this goal and playing for the NHL, the chances of that actually happening are quite slim.

That’s not to say, of course, that you should discourage your little one from dreaming big. On the contrary, you should want your child to work hard to reach his goals. However, it is also smart to help your child set smaller, more realistic goals, goals that, once attained, will make him a better player and ultimately give him a better shot of one day making it big.

Product goals, which are focused on outcomes, are great goals to start with. Maybe your child wants to play in most games, to get promoted to team captain, or to become a first-line player. Whatever the result-oriented goal your child chooses, you can then work with him to set smaller, more easily attainable goals to work toward the big-picture goal.This will teach your child a wonderful lesson about goal setting, how it works, and how to slowly work his way toward a larger goal.

Kids also tend to do well with setting process goals, goals that are focused on their own performance. Maybe their goal is simply to never miss a practice or to engage in one extra practice session per week. Whatever the case may be, goals that get kids thinking about their own performance and the control that they have over it are wise ones.

Finally, don’t underestimate one of the simplest but most effective goals of all- the goal for kids to give it their all at each and every game and practice and to always do their best. It’s a basic goal, yes, but it’s also one that, if met, can go a long way toward helping a child to actually perform at his best consistently…and maybe even have a shot at the pros one day!

Related articles

• NHL, NHLPA launch program to help players prep for post-playing career (theglobeandmail.com)

The Dangers of Rapid Weight Loss in Sports

Did you know that some sports leagues enforce weight limits for some or all members of their teams? This is especially common in wrestling, where athletes are divided into different categories by weight. However, it has also been seen in football for certain positions and even in hockey.  And, while it may seem harmless to require players to be at a certain weight, it can actually be quite dangerous, especially if young athletes resort to dangerous methods to quickly lose weight.

These young athletes, desperate to meet or stay on the team of their choosing, will often do crazily dangerous things, like sitting in a hot sauna for hours, going without food and water- sometimes for days on end, or even sitting in a hot car, wrapped in plastic wrap. These measures may result in the temporary loss of weight due to the water they drain from the body, but they can also lead to heat stroke, electrolyte imbalances, severe dehydration, and many other complications and problems, sometimes even resulting in death.   

For this reason, you absolutely need to know if “weight limits” are enforced on any sports league your child wants to get involved with. And remember, even if the coach tells you they’re not, check in with your young athlete from time to time to make sure what you were initially told was the truth. It’s typically smart not to let your child play on a team where his weight is going to be scrutinized and made into a huge and stressful deal, depleting the fun out of the sport in the process.

If you can’t get around it and your child does play on a such a team, focus on healthily keeping off weight and explain the dangers of these drastic water weight loss methods to your child to keep him safe!

The Stellar Stride Drill You Need to Know

In hockey, a good stride is one of the most important things a player can have. Strong strides come from proper training and practice, and what better way to help young players develop their stride than with some specially designed stride drills? One of the best out there is one popularized by Dave Cruikshank, a one-time Olympic speed-skater.

To do this drill, players head out onto the ice. Then, they will load their legs on an inside edge. When done properly, each skater should feel like he has a firm grip on the ice with his or her inside edge and like it’s easy to push off and explode when needed. One each skater has proven that he can handle this skill and has been given a few pointers on improving it, it’s time to move on to the drill itself.

To begin, each skater should stand with his toe boxes pointing forward and in a “ready to explode stance. Skaters then use downward force to explode out, sliding laterally on the other skate with the toe boxes still pointing forward. The player should repeat this movement for five strides, turn around, and go the other way with five more strides. Players should repeat the drill four times, twice on each leg.

The great thing about this drill is that it will allow the player to improve his ability to load and explode. Plus, at the same time, it will increase and improve leg strength.

While there are all kinds of drills out there, this really is one of the best, so try it with your young players and see what they think. They’ll probably be tired by the end, but they’ll also have built a great skill!

The Dream

Pascal Laberge

Forward / Victoriaville Tigres

Sometimes when I sleep, I dream about hockey.
I dream about what it will be like to score my first NHL goal. And it’s pretty vivid.
My whole family is there cheering for me. Loud. They’re so proud.
In that dream, my goal is always a rebound or something, nothing too fancy. But everyone in my family is just so … happy. They’re overjoyed.

My family and I have been through a lot during the past year, so it’s always nice when I have that first-goal dream. It comes as a relief, in many ways.  

Last September, my stepmother, who I loved dearly, passed away only two months after we found out that cancer had been attacking her entire body.

It was awful.

She was such an amazing woman — a second mother for me. Even talking about it now, I’m getting choked up. She loved me and she loved hockey, and she always encouraged me to work to be the best I could be. But beyond all that, the way she made my dad happy was so wonderful. My dad was so in love, and when we found out that she only had a few months left, it was really hard on everyone.  

Then, at around the same time, on a warm summer day, my father called me and my brothers into the living room. He said he had to talk to us about something. But that’s all he said. We had no idea what was happening.

It’s not always easy to concentrate on moving and passing the puck when people you love are fighting for their lives.

After we sat down, my dad just started crying. He broke down.

And then he looked us in the eye, and he told us that he had prostate cancer.

It was shocking because we were already dealing with my stepmom’s diagnosis. In addition to that, my mother is currently struggling with multiple sclerosis, so we were trying to help comfort her as well. And then to find out that my dad has cancer, too …

It was like something out of a nightmare. And I’d be lying if I said that playing hockey with all that going on wasn’t tough.

It was.

The truth is, it’s not always easy to concentrate on moving and passing the puck when people you love are fighting for their lives.

Sometimes, just for a split second, your mind drifts. You can’t help it. You wish you could, but you can’t.

You know that you need to focus on what’s happening in front of you, on the ice, but as much as you try, sometimes you just … can’t.

And you feel bad about that. You feel bad, of course, because of what’s going on with your family, and how these diseases are affecting the people closest to you. But you also feel bad because you know you owe so much to your teammates, and the last thing you want to do is lose focus on the ice.

So you do the best you can, and you take things day by day.

Hockey, it turns out, can help.  

My love for the game goes all the way back to when I was three years old. My dad would lug me to the arena in Sainte-Martine, Que., and he’d always tell me about how my grandfather, who worked construction, helped build the place with his own hands.
“He built this for you,” my dad would say. And that ignited my passion for hockey at a very young age. From there, my dad made sure I had everything I needed to pursue that passion.  

My father is a truck driver.
He didn’t have a big job making a lot of money, but he always found a way to get me to the rink, and to pay for all the tournaments. He’s always sacrificed for me. He would have busy weeks and long hours, but he would still take me all around the country, or to Buffalo, or anywhere else I needed to go to play.  

He always found a way. And he always made me feel important.    

When I was seven or so, my dad was my coach, and I remember one day the team was shooting pucks up against the boards. He came over to me afterward, and he told me that I was the only one on the team who was able to lift the puck.

You could tell he was proud.

He saw a flash in me — that I could be good at hockey — and I still remember how excited I was out on the ice when he told me that.

Hockey has helped bring me and my family closer together, and when things got tough for us, the game was one of the things that helped me to fight through the pain.

Last summer, after we found out about my stepmom’s cancer, I had a terrible training camp. Even at the beginning of the season, I just wasn’t myself. I always tried my best, of course, but it was tough.
Then, one day, my Victoriaville coach, Bruce Richardson, called me into his office for a talk. He said: “Hockey is the best sport in the world, and when you’re at the rink you should only think about hockey. When you get out of the rink, you can think about everything else. But if you perform well on the ice, that’s going to help your family feel better and make them happy.”

So I took that to heart, and I started playing hockey again the way I know I can play. I focused on being a good leader for my team, and doing everything I could to make my family proud.
At the beginning of the season, because I was so down, I wasn’t really hanging out as much with the boys. But that all changed after my talk with coach. I started to go out with them again, to have fun. Before long, I realized that the boys were all behind me — that they had my back — and it made a huge difference.

At one point, I missed a game because I had to go see my dad, and my teammates all texted me, like, It’s gonna be O.K., and, We’re gonna win this game for you.

That meant the world to me.      

If it weren’t for the game of hockey, and the support I received from my coaches and fellow players, who knows how I would’ve gotten through everything? I’m so grateful for this game, and all the ways it’s been there for me.

I’m also thankful for the tight-knit group of people around me: my billets, Martin Pageau and Nancy Provencal; my stepfamily, Pascal Ménard, Renée Houle and Rosary Ménard, who carried me through my roughest times; and lastly, Normand Conway and Allan Walsh, who were there each step of the way to keep me on track. And now, in 2016, things are starting to look up. My dad’s cancer-free, and perfectly fine, and my mom’s hanging in there. My brothers and I are doing all we can to support her and show our love.

I’m putting in the hours, training hard and doing everything I need to do to be ready.

In January, I made my mark at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. That was fun — two goals and an assist, against some of the best players in the world at my level.  

Every time there’s a big game, or a big opportunity, I always get this feeling inside me. I can’t explain to you what it is. But I felt it on that day, and I could just tell it was going to be special game for me as soon as I got on the ice. Everything I was doing was working.

I realized that I was just as good as the other players out there, and when it was over I was proud of how I’d performed. My whole family was watching on TV back home, so that made it even more special. That game really gave me a boost of confidence for the rest of the season, and I finished up strong with Victoriaville.

I’ve worked hard during the past year, and I’ve gotten better at the game. This summer, I’ve been focusing on my release with my strength coach — really concentrating on my forearms. So my shot is going to be quicker than ever, and I’m going to really be able to surprise goalies next season. Plus, Paul Gagné has me doing a lot of work with bands at his gym in Montreal, so I’m putting in the hours, training hard and doing everything I need to do to be ready.    

Photograph By Jerome Davis/Icon Sportswire via AP Images

At this point, I’m just so excited to hear my name get called during the draft. It’s not every day that you get drafted into the NHL, you know?

And you can rest assured that I’m going to continue working hard — as hard as it takes — to ensure that when I do score that first goal, for real, it will be even better than my dream. I know my stepmom will be watching from above. And my dad will be so proud of me. He’s going to give me a big hug, and it’s going to be a great moment for us — for my whole family, really.
Everyone will be so proud.  

Pascal Laberge

Contributor

The Key to Speed Skating

If you are a hockey parent, then there is a very good chance that you want your child to be able to skate quickly.  

The funny thing about “speed skating” is that, despite what you may have heard, there isn’t really some “big secret.” So, before you pay professional coaches hundreds or even thousands of dollars to tell your youth hockey player how to skate fast, memorize this simple tip: speed skating is all about pushing out on the edge of your skate, plain and simple.

Since speed is created by downward force, the harder and stronger you can get your young player to push against the ice with his skates, the faster and more steady he will be. Practice this skill together by going skating and enforcing the rule that your child’s blades always, always must stay in contact with the ice with a downward force.

To make this happen, your player simply needs to load all of his or her power on one leg through bending one knee. While this is happening, the player must send energy or “power” to the opposite leg and then use that leg to push into action. When skating, this transfer of power must happen simply and naturally, so practice it together until it becomes second nature for your child.

If you and your little one can follow this simple tip,  ayour child will know how to handle himself and even more importantly, how to handle himself quickly, on the ice.

Dreams, Mullets and Three Hour Xbox Games

 We invited top prospects (and best friends) Logan Brown and Jakob Chychrun to sit down and interview one another. The only rule: No hockey clichés. This is their conversation.
Logan Brown
Alright, Chych. The NHL draft is tonight. We have been dreaming about this moment since … wow, when? Since we were five years old? Are you gonna be sweating, shaking, crying? What can I expect from you tomorrow so I know how to act?
Jakob Chychrun
Sweat-crying. No, seriously, I have no idea how I’ll react. It’s going to be amazing, especially having our families there. Do we have to set this up for the people at home?
Brown
We probably should. So, Chych and I have been best friends since we were little. Our dads played in the NHL. If you Google “Jeff Brown Quebec Nordiques” you’ll see a hilarious picture of my dad with a bowl cut, with a little party in the back. It’s brutal.
Chychrun
Hahaha. He’s gonna see this.
Brown
Listen man, he used to chirp me so much. When I was about 13, I went through a phase. I actually had a mullet for about a year. My dad was specifically giving me grief. Even now, he still chirps my hair, so I just think the people need to see this picture.
Chychrun
Players’ Tribune photo department, can you please track down this picture?

Brown
So my dad played in Quebec, St. Louis, Vancouver, Hartford — everywhere.
Chychrun
And my dad was an enforcer, mostly in Philly. A few other teams too, but he always considered himself a Broadstreet Bully. Ours dads actually got picked back-to-back in the second round of the ’84 Draft. They grew up together in Ontario and were best friends. Now Logie and I are best friends.
Brown
So now that we’re about to get drafted, The Players’ Tribune gave us the opportunity to sit down and interview one another. We’ve been doing so many interviews with teams and media over the last couple weeks that we thought it was a cool idea.
Chychrun
We’re literally sitting next to one another at a hotel in Toronto, by the way.
Brown
Alright, Chych. Why should my team draft you? Wait, no. You’ve been answering that question all month. Why should my team draft this Logan Brown kid?
Chychrun
Logan Brown? Terrible NHL video-game player. Stay away.
Brown
Hahaha. Don’t do this.
Chychrun
People need to know about our love of the game. That includes video-game hockey, I think.
Brown
Oh my gosh, it’s crazy. Remember when we were like 10 years old up at the cottage? That one epic game.

Chychrun
We used to play full 20-minute periods on NHL 07 on Xbox. The default is like five-minute periods. But we wanted the authentic experience. We’d play full three-hour games.
Brown
We would honestly stay up until like four in the morning.
Chychrun
Sometimes five. Because, like, the sun would be be coming up as we were shutting off the Xbox.
Brown
I still remember when I scored that backdoor goal with 10 seconds left in the game.
Chychrun
Hahahaha. O.K., the backdoor goal was so cheap in that game.
Brown
So I made it like 25–24. Chychy throws the Xbox controller as hard as he can against the bedroom door. It was just …
Chychrun
It was actually crazy. Those old Xbox controllers were really heavy.
Brown
It exploded.

Chychrun
We have to paint the picture for people, though. The room was like —
Brown
It was a tiny bedroom. We’d sit on the bedroom floor and battle it out for hours. There was no couch or anything. There was just this little TV, and we’d be sitting like one foot from the screen, just screaming and celebrating at 4 a.m.

Chychrun
My poor sister. We shared a bunk bed at the cottage. So when the boys were playing NHL, she had to go sleep downstairs.
Brown
When teams asked about your competitiveness, you should’ve brought up the Xbox-controller thing.
Chychrun
The question you get a lot in these meetings is, “Do you love the game?” We really live it, breathe it. My first memories are being maybe four or five, when my dad was coaching in Florida. I’d go to his hockey practices in the early evenings, then we’d come home and sit in the hot tub for a while, then we would put our pj’s on and sit on the couch and watch hockey together until we fell asleep. We did that every single night.
Brown
I can’t recall one time in my entire life that I said that I didn’t want to skate. When I was 15, my dad was coaching in Indianapolis and I was doing online school. So I would wake up at 8:30 and walk to the rink with my dad in the morning. I’d hop on the ice for myself for an hour-and-a-half, get off, do my classes, and then go practice with this USHL team for an hour or two. Then I would get off the ice and go do another class. And then I would hop on again at night with my own team.
Chychrun
We were doing that radio interview the other day, and the host said something like, “You’ve been working your whole life, putting in so many hours for this moment.” Just hearing him say it, I got goosebumps. I thought about sitting on the couch in my pj’s with my dad, watching the NHL players, just dreaming. One day, you know? Now it’s literally like one day away.
Brown
So let’s start asking the hard-hitting questions. What can the fans expect if Chychy comes to their team? Other than an Xbox ultracompetitor.
Chychrun
Well, I think one thing a lot of people don’t know is that, growing up, I was a centerman. Sidney Crosby was my idol. He was the model for my game from every perspective. Then when I transitioned to defense a few years ago, I really fell in love with Victor Hedman’s game. And Drew Doughty’s, too. I mean, everyone I talk to says the toughest job in the NHL is coming in as an 18-year-old defenseman. That’s what Victor and Drew did, and it has been interesting to watch how their games have evolved.
Brown
How did they do it, though? Because just watching this year’s playoffs together, you see how hard guys are on the forecheck, how heavy they are. Defensemen have such a tough job now.

Chychrun
Personally, watching games on TV — I like to visualize. I like to picture myself in those situations. I like to just see how little time they have with the puck. How fast the forechecker really is coming. How fast you have to go back for pucks. Watching guys like Doughty and, especially, Erik Karlsson, you see how they protect themselves from punishment. They can shake the forechecker with those little shimmy moves and make a great, crisp pass out of the zone. Something my dad’s always wanted me to work at a lot is retrievals. It’s a lot about your footwork and misdirection with head-fakes and shimmies. If you can limit the number of times you’re gonna get rocked by the first forechecker, that can help in the long run with your career.

Logan Brown? Terrible NHL video-game player. Stay away.

Brown
And hitting the weights, eh?
Chychrun
Oh man, yeah. We’ve been working so hard with maintaining our bodies and then just putting weight on, like you said. In the OHL, I was consistently 195. Maybe a little under 195. Then I realized, “Alright, this is my NHL draft year. I kind of want to get heavier and kind of prepare for the next level.” So I got up to 215. That was a really big jump for me. It was like over 20 pounds. And I realized that was a lot of weight for me to be carrying around as a 17-year-old kid, so I went down a bit. Ideally, I want to be around 208, I think. We all can’t be natural 6′ 6″, 220-pound monsters like you, bud.
Brown
It’s funny though, because people obviously mention Joe Thornton a lot when they talk about my game, because of my size and my position. He was always one of my favorite players growing up, but I also loved Patrick Kane and Pavel Datsyuk — two smaller skill guys. I modeled my game after their stickhandling just as much as I tried to emulate Joe’s passing. Just because I’m 6′ 6″, why can’t I play a skill game?
Chychrun
You got a good two-and-a-half inches on Thornton. Listen, to be honest, I’ve never seen a guy as big as Logie be able to stickhandle in a phone booth like he does. He put up a ton of points this year in a great league in the OHL. Personally, I wouldn’t pass up on drafting that combination of size and skill. He’s a terrible, cheating video-game player, but I think teams will be able to look past that.

Brown
25-24. Scoreboard.
Chychrun
When did it hit you that this is real?
Brown
It’s funny, we were watching NHL All Access on Showtime the other night. You know, the show is following the Cup finals teams around. The last episode, the cameras go in the locker room with the Penguins as they’re celebrating with the Stanley Cup. You see their families there. The players are hugging, they’re crying. I had chills the whole episode. I have chills thinking about it right now. I don’t think the average hockey-watcher understands what those guys go through for that moment.
Chychrun
Especially in the playoffs. I mean, even in the OHL playoffs, you go into the locker room between periods and guys will be sitting there with like eight ice packs strapped to their body. It was hilarious — we were watching Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and LeBron was walking back to the locker room with the trophy all by himself. Obviously he carried his team and his city, but that would just never happen in hockey. It’s about all 22 guys — actually, it’s also about the healthy scratches, the GM, the coach, the equipment manager, the backup goalie. That’s what you saw in that Penguins locker room.
Brown
That moment that the Penguins had in that locker room is why everyone plays the game. When we were watching that, it really hit me that we were going to finally take the first step toward that goal. Obviously, it’s still such a long journey, but we’ve been working toward that first step for — what? Basically 15 out of 18 years of our lives?
Chychrun
Are you gonna cry tonight? Don’t cry, man. Your dad will never stop chirping you.
Brown
Everyone: Before you click off this article. Please Google “Jeff Brown Quebec Nordiques haircut.” You won’t regret it.

Logan Brown

Contributor

Jakob Chychrun

Contributor

Goodbye Gordie

Upon the death of NHL legend Gordie Howe, we reached out to NHL stars from four different generations to get their personal memories of “Mr. Hockey.” 

*

Rod Gilbert
NHL Hall of Famer (1960–1978)

Everybody was afraid of Gordie Howe. Everybody.

I think that’s why he was able to play into his 50s, because everybody was scared of him. He was a great all-around player and had great passion for the game, of course, but fear was the real secret to his durability. Guys gave Gordie room to work because he was intense and he was fierce. I know from personal experience.

It was early in the 1962–63 season, my rookie year, when I played my first game in Detroit at the old Olympia. I was only 20 or 21, and I was so excited. I was playing right wing for the Rangers and I was on a line with two other young guys, Jean Ratelle, who was 22, and Dave Balon, who was 24. We usually got matched up against the top line of whichever team we were playing. Against the Red Wings, that meant we were going up against Gordie, Alex Delvecchio and Parker MacDonald. Tough duty.

Well, near the end of the first period I woke up flat on my back in the middle of the ice, with ammonia and smelling salts burning my nose. Two of my teammates propped me up and helped me skate toward the bench. And the linesman was looking at me. I had double vision, but I could see him as he skated by. Then he said, “Number 9.” That’s all.

I found out later that Gordie had elbowed me in the temple. I never saw him. He never got a penalty for it. That was just the way it was. From that time on, I was aware of him. How could I not be?

I think today is a sad day for Gordie’s immediate family, but the rest of us should celebrate his life and the tremendous contribution he made to hockey. I always admired him off the ice. He was so nice and generous to everybody. It was just on the ice where he didn’t like the guys on the other team. He certainly didn’t like anybody who took the puck away from him!

But as intense as he was, he was also a complete player. Did you know that Gordie was ambidextrous? He could shoot righthanded, but if he had a better angle, he’d switch hands with that flat stick of his and shoot lefthanded. That used to impress the hell out of me because my backhand wasn’t really precise. And his style of play was so strong. He was a great passer and had this powerful stride. And he protected the puck really well — you could almost never take it away from him. He was so skillful, and he commanded respect.

But he got a lot of room to operate because of how fiercely he played. He got a lot of space in front of the net, and nobody tripped him near the boards. He always had an edge. When he played with his boys in the WHA and one of them got hit, he would take it upon himself to punish the guy who’d done it. If you got out of line a little bit against one of his teammates, he was pretty dangerous.

I always swore I would pay him back for knocking me out. I thought, Well, I’m going to get him eventually, when it’s the right time. And wouldn’t you know that it never was! We played in the league together for more than nine seasons, and every game we played against each other it seemed like one of my teammates would get cut, or Gordie would butt-end somebody, or he’d knock somebody out. I wasn’t too anxious to mess with that.

At the All-Star Game in Minnesota in 2004, I was at an NHL alumni dinner and Gordie was there. We saw each other a lot at these sorts of things in later years, and we got to be good friends.  At my table, I was telling everybody the story of the time he had knocked me out, and how I had always promised myself that I would get him back. I told everybody that I was waiting until he went into an old-age home. I was going to flip his wheelchair and tell the nurses to go tell Gordie that number 7 did it. Boy, did we all laugh. Everybody at the table was having fun with that one.

The next morning, I was in the hospitality room and Gordie was sitting right across from me. He was looking right at me and winking. So I said, “What’s up, Gordie? How you doin’? How do you feel?”

He said, “I feel good, but I have a question for you: Did I ever get you?”

I said, “Gordie, who did you not get? You got everybody!”

He was laughing, and he said, “Well, I heard you intend to get me back.”

And I said, “Not yet!”

Later on, Gordie’s thunder kind of got stolen by Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. People started talking about them as having been better than Gordie. But that’s because those people never played against him. I did. Gordie was the best.

I want to give my sincere condolences to the entire Howe family. I know that it’s a sad day, but the memories of Gordie Howe’s life should be celebrated and honored.

He was tough. He was fierce. I have the scars to prove it.

Above all, he was the best to ever play.

Farewell, my friend.

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Ron Francis
NHL Hall of Famer (1981–2004)

It was early in my professional career when Gordie Howe changed the way I played hockey forever. Before one of my first few seasons in Hartford, Gordie, who had recently retired, would occasionally skate with us informally prior to training camp since his sons Marty and Mark still played for the Whalers.

At one skate, I was bearing down on the goal with the puck on my stick when I felt something slide into my right glove and lift my arm up above my head. It was Gordie. He had slipped the blade of his stick into my glove and was yanking my arm around like a puppet on a string. “That’s why you take the laces out of your gloves kid,” he told me. “Yes, Mr. Howe,” I said.

I skated straight to the bench and removed the strings from my gloves. I didn’t use them again for the rest of my 23-year career.

I grew up in Sault Sainte Marie, Ont., right across the St. Marys River from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We used to get Red Wings games on television every once in a while, and I can remember watching Gordie play. He was amazing. Years later, he attended my charity golf tournament that I held each summer in my hometown to benefit the Special Olympics. Gordie stayed late and signed every autograph. He truly enjoyed the people and made sure to spend time and personally connect with each person. I’ve never seen anything like it.

That was Gordie Howe. A tough, cagey player on the ice, and a humble, kind man off it. He was a legend for a reason.​

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Mike Modano
NHL Hall of Famer (1989–2011)

I always wore number 9 because of Gordie Howe. Ever since I started playing junior hockey up in Saskatchewan with the Prince Albert Raiders, it had to be number 9. My dad grew up in Boston, and I remember him telling me stories when I was a little kid about Gordie coming to the Garden with the Red Wings and terrorizing the Bruins.

Gordie is such an icon that you don’t need to watch YouTube to get an understanding of what he means to the game of hockey. His legend has been passed down by word of mouth, from junior hockey buses to NHL locker rooms. To this day, guys in the NHL still talk about his toughness, and the way he was able to control the game.

When I played for Detroit near the end of my career, I was struck by the fact that wherever we went on the road, it seemed like half the crowd was wearing red. Gordie Howe turned people all over the country into Red Wings fans. He single-handedly built the legacy of the winged wheel.

Gordie Howe will live on in NHL locker rooms as long as people are still playing hockey. I’ll guarantee you right now, even 50 years from now, any time a guy has a goal, an assist and a fight, there will still be a rowdy little celebration in the room, and you’ll hear Gordie’s name.

The funny thing is, I read that Gordie Howe only had two Gordie Howe Hat Tricks in his career. I can’t think of a better testament to the respect he commanded as a player. Who the hell wanted to fight Gordie?

Rest in peace, number 9. You were the consummate professional on and off the ice.

*

Tyler Seguin
Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars / All-Star

When I heard on Friday morning that Gordie Howe had passed away, a singular image of the hockey legend came to mind. I keep coming back to it. It’s a photo from back in the day — a black-and-white shot — that’s just Gordie with a fishing pole.

He’s not even on the ice. But it’s an incredible photo. Gordie is just massive. I remember seeing it for the first time as a kid and being in awe. The picture went along with an article about this tough guy who had gone after him for being the best player in the league. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work out well for that other guy. He ended up with a completely broken nose and had to be all bandaged up — just to hold his nose together. When you see the photo of Gordie with his fishing rod, you can understand why. It was clear that at that point if you wanted to go after the best player in the league, you had to know that he was also probably the toughest player in the league.

Gordie wasn’t to be messed with. And he was just such a complete player on the ice. He was everything all at once. That’s probably what I’ll always remember about him. As a kid growing up, my father and my father’s father talked a lot about Gordie, and he became a bigger-than-life figure for me. I never had the chance to meet him, or to see him play. But the truth is, in so many ways, I feel like I knew Gordie Howe. Based on how much I’ve heard about his greatness, and how many clips I’ve seen, I’ve kind of pieced it all together in my head. At this point, I feel as though I’ve watched hundreds of his games. I will always hold those memories and images dear. And, of course, I’ll never get tired of marveling at that old fishing photo.  

MIKE MODANO, RON FRANCIS, TYLER SEGUIN AND ROD GILBERT

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