from Cam Cole of the Vancouver Sun,

There was only one Gordie Howe, and there will never be another like him.

That hasn’t stopped National Hockey League scouts and general managers from scouring the junior leagues ever since he began dominating his sport, searching for that impossible-to-find combination of physical might, speed, competitive fire, scoring prowess, mean streak and character that defined the quintessential “power forward” … long before the phrase was coined.

And to be sure, what Howe did on the ice — and the still-staggering total of five decades he spanned while doing it — are the greatest parts of his legacy.

For those who grew up watching him play, or listening to his feats described on radio, no one ever played what coaches now commonly call “the 200-foot game” better than the larger-than-life product of tiny Floral, Sask., who passed away Friday morning at his son Murray’s home in Ohio, at age 88, after a typically determined rebound from a series of strokes two years ago.

But there were other pieces of Mr. Hockey’s life that continue to resonate, even now.

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