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RobHoffman

Vintage film: Gordie Howe vs. Rocket Richard c. 1958-1960

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http://wp.me/p1JDWH-8u

Hi everyone. First time poster, so I'm not sure if this is going in the right place. Please excuse the breach in protocol if I posted wrong.

While we are all sending best wishes to the Howe family, I though it would be worthwhile to unearth this clip of "Mr Hockey" in his prime. And playing against Maurice "Rocket" Richard, no less.

This 8mm color film was recently converted by my company, Priceless Photo Preservation of Ann Arbor, for the family of the late Richard Maher, who was fortunate enough to have great seats in the Olympia the one night he brought his movie camera.

I can't tell you the exact year because it is not marked on the film. But I've done a little detective work (detailed in the blog post) that narrows it down to 1958-1960. Perhaps some of you would like to take a stab at figuring it out?

By the way, I don't belive No. 7 in the Red Wings jersey is Ted Lindsay. If my time period is correct, this happened a year or two after he was traded away from Detroit.

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The song is really distracting, haha. But cool footage to see. It's harder for us to appreciate how good the guy was compared to the hours of footage we see of more modern players, so thanks for sharing.

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Thanks for the video...really awesome.

However, when I see these old videos I'm often torn. Torn in the sense that hockey was a much different game back then due to the nature of the how the sport has grown and how professional sports in general have grown. For one, Television has brought professional sports into such a different spectrum of general exposure, marketing opportunities, and the major one, big, big money$$. With this, hockey has evolved into athletes being able to make not only full time jobs of playing the sport, but highly paid jobs (top 2% jobs) which will provide for their entire family for a long, long period of time. So, the birth of the modern athlete/hockey player was born. Born in the sense that being a pro hockey player could be not only encouraged by parents at a young age, but also supported rigorously via parent time sacrifice and financial sacrifice. It then became viable as a parent to not squash a dream to remind them that they will be needed in full capacity to work the families farm as soon as they are physically able....it was viable to dream along with the child with their fingers crossed and knowing they could make a life out of hockey.

So...I'm often torn because the players in the video...even the likes of Howe and Richard are not up to the level of play of the current NHL players. My dad often refutes me on this saying things like "Howe would have leveled Sidney Crosby", "Sawchuck would have stopped that wrap-around goal by so-and-so...everytime!". I think he's flat out wrong. Howe couldn't skate with these guys, not even close. The goal would have been in the net by the time Sawchuck shifted to the other side. Today's hockey players are just so much better prepared, stronger, and faster. It's a different game. I'm torn because I hear older hockey players (e.g. Espisito, Mickey, etc...) often state that players from their era were "one of the best to ever play the position"....and I think... that's not true. The best to ever play any position isn't probably even born yet. Hockey will continue to evolve into an even bigger, faster, well prepared players that will be much better than even guys who I have a hard time imagining anyone better...Lidstrom, Stevie Y, Lemieux, Gretzky, etc.... So, although it's great to hear about old time hockey players...and yes, they were great in their day...but lets be real....I'm torn because they are not the best to have ever played and it's not even close....they played a different game.

Edited by Learn2LuvIt

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Thanks for the video...really awesome.

However, when I see these old videos I'm often torn. Torn in the sense that hockey was a much different game back then due to the nature of the how the sport has grown and how professional sports in general have grown. For one, Television has brought professional sports into such a different spectrum of general exposure, marketing opportunities, and the major one, big, big money$$. With this, hockey has evolved into athletes being able to make not only full time jobs of playing the sport, but highly paid jobs (top 2% jobs) which will provide for their entire family for a long, long period of time. So, the birth of the modern athlete/hockey player was born. Born in the sense that being a pro hockey player could be not only encouraged by parents at a young age, but also supported rigorously via parent time sacrifice and financial sacrifice. It then became viable as a parent to not squash a dream to remind them that they will be needed in full capacity to work the families farm as soon as they are physically able....it was viable to dream along with the child with their fingers crossed and knowing they could make a life out of hockey.

So...I'm often torn because the players in the video...even the likes of Howe and Richard are not up to the level of play of the current NHL players. My dad often refutes me on this saying things like "Howe would have leveled Sidney Crosby", "Sawchuck would have stopped that wrap-around goal by so-and-so...everytime!". I think he's flat out wrong. Howe couldn't skate with these guys, not even close. The goal would have been in the net by the time Sawchuck shifted to the other side. Today's hockey players are just so much better prepared, stronger, and faster. It's a different game. I'm torn because I hear older hockey players (e.g. Espisito, Mickey, etc...) often state that players from their era were "one of the best to ever play the position"....and I think... that's not true. The best to ever play any position isn't probably even born yet. Hockey will continue to evolve into an even bigger, faster, well prepared players that will be much better than even guys who I have a hard time imagining anyone better...Lidstrom, Stevie Y, Lemieux, Gretzky, etc.... So, although it's great to hear about old time hockey players...and yes, they were great in their day...but lets be real....I'm torn because they are not the best to have ever played and it's not even close....they played a different game.

You cant compare players from one era to players from another era skill set for skill set for all the reasons you just said. All you can do is look at how good a player is in comparison to the other players in their respective era.

For example, here are the league leaders in points in 1988-89. Lemieux scored roughly 33% more points then Yzerman (3rd) and roughly 100% more then Kurri (10th). That to me is what shows the greatest players of all time. Domination of your era.

1. Mario Lemieux*-PIT 199 2. Wayne Gretzky*-LAK 168 3. Steve Yzerman*-DET 155 4. Bernie Nicholls-LAK 150 5. Rob Brown-PIT 115 6. Paul Coffey*-PIT 113 7. Joe Mullen*-CGY 110 8. Jari Kurri*-EDM 102 9. Jimmy Carson-EDM 100 10. Luc Robitaille*-LAK 98

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You cant compare players from one era to players from another era skill set for skill set for all the reasons you just said. All you can do is look at how good a player is in comparison to the other players in their respective era.

For example, here are the league leaders in points in 1988-89. Lemieux scored roughly 33% more points then Yzerman (3rd) and roughly 100% more then Kurri (10th). That to me is what shows the greatest players of all time. Domination of your era.

1. Mario Lemieux*-PIT 199 2. Wayne Gretzky*-LAK 168 3. Steve Yzerman*-DET 155 4. Bernie Nicholls-LAK 150 5. Rob Brown-PIT 115 6. Paul Coffey*-PIT 113 7. Joe Mullen*-CGY 110 8. Jari Kurri*-EDM 102 9. Jimmy Carson-EDM 100 10. Luc Robitaille*-LAK 98

Yep. Agreed. But many older former NHL'ers do this a lot (Espisito, Mickey, Denny Potvin, heck...I've even heard Pierre McGuire do this a few times) when they state that various NHL'ers "were the best to every play the position". Example, I heard Denny Potvin on NHL radio last year state that Paul Coffey was the best D man to ever play the position. That blows my mind...it's simply not true. He didn't claim the best of his era....the stated the best to EVER play the position. Not true. This is what irks me.

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Yep. Agreed. But many older former NHL'ers do this a lot (Espisito, Mickey, Denny Potvin, heck...I've even heard Pierre McGuire do this a few times) when they state that various NHL'ers "were the best to every play the position". Example, I heard Denny Potvin on NHL radio last year state that Paul Coffey was the best D man to ever play the position. That blows my mind...it's simply not true. He didn't claim the best of his era....the stated the best to EVER play the position. Not true. This is what irks me.

Ya I hear you. A player from an old era may be the best ever from a "hockey sense" perspective. But if you start taking shot power, speed, strength, agility etc. into consideration there is no comparison.

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