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Upon Further Review

How many Gordie Howe hat tricks did Mr. Hockey notch?

Friday, November 2, 2007 | 01:01 PM ET

Just a quick one today, guys. I’m running a little behind since I’m off right after the show this afternoon to Montreal to take in Leafs-Habs game Saturday. Speaking of the Canadiens did you watch last night’s Habs-Flyers game? Great action, amazing drama, the sidebar stories with Saku Koivu and Daniel Briere just an amazing night and an even better game.

Lost perhaps in all of it was the performance turned in by Tom Kostopolous who scored a beauty short-handed and then bit off a chunk of Ben Eager in a scrap. One assist away from the proverbial Gordie Howe hat trick.

Hey, speaking of the Gordie Howe hat trick, do you know how many of those Mr Hockey actually had in his career? Hint: The number is more than zero but less than two. Yup, it’s true.

During the lockout I, like many other hockey fans, had very little to do so I decided to look up how many goal/assist/fight nights Howe had and could only come up with one. I’m going to get back on this and try to find out who had the most Gordie Howe Hat Tricks in his career, so far the player with the most will be returning to the NHL on Feb. 7. That’s right, Rick Tocchet.

This is how much of an actual life I have, auditing hockey myths. Anyone care to join me?

Coming up on today’s edition of Hockey Night in Canada Radio at 4pm eastern (Sirius ch. 122) Scott Morrison will be my co-host, and by the way if you haven’t had a peek at his new book HNIC By the Numbers check it out. It’s a player list ranked by number. Who are the top 10 skaters to wear the number 9, for instance? Who’s a higher #32 Kelly Hrudey or Murray Craven?

New York Islander head coach Ted Nolan drops by to talk about his squads 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning (who just can’t win on the road), Rick Dipietro’s outstanding performance (albeit in front of a scant crowd of 11,000). Tomorrow night Nolan turns over the coaching duties to Al Arbour so the legendary head coach of the Glory Days Isles can hit his 1,500th regular season game milestone. And he’ll do it against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Cassie Campbell joins us live from Montreal, scene of tomorrow's Hockey Night in Canada game between the Leafs and Habs (CBC TV 6:30 pm ET ), for our weekly Hockey Night in Canada roundtable. Cassie will be joined by George Stroumboulopoulos from CBC’s The Hour.

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Comments

Graham

On a related topic, I think Sidney Crosby is the real deal. The thing that strikes me about him is he is so strong on his skates that he almost can't be moved off the puck. Last night in the Leafs-Panthers game I saw Mats Sundin (who I think is another great player - but not Richard, Howe, Orr, Gretzky, Lemiex or Crosby-like)two-time a puck behind Vokoun at an open Florida net: once to settle it down, and the second time to tap it in . . . if he hadn't been checked by Bouwmeester before the tap. At the time it occurred to me that Crosby would have only touched it once and put it in, becasue he is that good with his hands too. Good for Crosby for taking on his teammates with his mouth last season, and sticking up for himself with his fists this year. He might be the true heir to Gordie Howe, because we haven't seen a player with such resemblance to Howe that I can remember.

I am disappointed to learn that the real Gordie Howe hat-trick happened only once. I guess it must be a composite image of three things he was known for, and not the actual outcome of individual games.

Posted December 23, 2007 08:35 AM

Bob C

mississauga

How about we replace that stupid delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the boards. Here`s my idea; If a player shoots the puck over the boards anywhere from his endzone to the opposition blue line (including the players benches)he has to go to the penalty box. His team is not allowed substituition, but the opposing team is. The faceoff will move to his endzone regardless of where the puck was shot out. He then must be sitting in the penalty box when the puck is dropped, at which point he will immediatly leave the box, but will be condidered offside until he crosses back over his own blue line.
I think this will create an interesting special teams situation for a 3 to 4 second scoring chance. eg. Mats Sundin shoots the puck over the boards and Chicago sends out Yannick Perrault to take the face off against a tired leaf foursome. Its better than what we have now - Bob C

Posted December 22, 2007 10:21 AM

Dirt Track Gerry

Milton

The reason Howe had so few GH hat tricks is because very few players were dumb enough to get in a fight with him. And when he did fight someone it was usually just one punch from Gordy (remember Lou Fontinato?) without a penalty, so nothing shows up in the records. A better GH hat trick would be a goal, an assist, and an elbow.

Posted December 21, 2007 04:06 PM

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