Gordie Howe and the Making of Hockeytown

Detroit calls itself “Hockeytown.” No one did more to earn the city that name than Gordie Howe — “Mr. Hockey” himself. His career was almost unbelievable. Howe played 25 seasons for the Detroit Red Wings. He won four Stanley Cups in the 1950s. Six times he was named the league’s most valuable player.

He was the complete package. He was ambidextrous with his stick and deadly accurate. He was also famously, fearsomely tough. So the “Gordie Howe hat trick” — a goal, an assist, and a fight in one game — is named for his all-around style. He anchored Detroit’s legendary “Production Line.” That forward trio was nicknamed both for its scoring and for the city’s auto assembly lines.

And he simply would not stop. After retiring from the Wings, Howe came back in his mid-40s. He played professionally alongside his sons Mark and Marty. Then he returned to the NHL one last time with the Hartford Whalers at age 52. He survived a near-fatal skull fracture. He broke records that stood until Wayne Gretzky came along. And he remains the soul of a hockey-mad city.