Gordie Howe Recalls Rivalry With Hawks

Earlier this week the Chicago Tribune caught up with goaltending great Glenn Hall for his thoughts on the Wings and Hawks and hockey in general.

Now they have caught up with none other than the legendary Gordie Howe. He had some unique memories of the old Wings and Hawks rivalry.

I really enjoyed playing against my friends Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. Mr. [James] Norris had ownership in both Chicago and Detroit so it was strange to compete against your own owner, when you think about it.

The Blackhawks, like all the teams back in our era, had many tough players. One that comes to mind is my close friend Bill Gadsby [former Blackhawks captain who played in Chicago from 1946-57 and later coached Howe with the Red Wings from 1968-70]. Of course, Ted Lindsay played there, too, for a few years [1957-60] and was always a force on the ice.

Interestingly Howe, like Hall, does not spend a lot of time watching hockey anymore.

I don't watch much hockey today other than when my son, Mark, comes to town. He is currently the director of pro scouting for the Detroit Red Wings so I go down to Joe Louis Arena with him on occasion. I'm still a Wings fan but just don't watch a whole lot of games anymore. I'm trying to watch as many Wings playoff games as I can though and would love to see the boys go all the way again.

By the way, here's a nice piece on Mark Howe's life as a scout.