The time I psyched myself out interviewing “Mr. Hockey”

A Gordie Howe card from the 1980s.

Till this day, the only time I really psyched myself out for an interview as when I talked to “Mr. Hockey.”

That day came way back in December of 1999, when I was an intern general assignment reporter for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. I was working with fellow interns Jillian MacPherson and Vanessa Lee compiling a list of what Saskatchewan’s movers and shakers were doing to ring in the new millennium.

The assignment was something each of us worked on between the daily stories we typed out. Between working on daily stories, you phoned some of the most well-known persons in the province and asked what their plan was for New Year’s Eve.

I tracked down a number of person’s from the sports world including Saskatchewan Roughriders greats Don Narcisse and Bob Poley. At that time, I already knew both personally.

 I decided to see if it was possible to track down all-time hockey icon Gordie Howe, who was nicknamed “Mr. Hockey.”

Howe was born just outside of Saskatoon in Floral and grew up in “The Bridge City.”

He has since passed away on June 10, 2016 at age 88.

Through the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, I got contact info for Howe’s publicist, who set up the interview. The publicist gave me a time for when Howe was to call.

I had never talked to Howe in my life. As the time neared for the phone call, 23-year-old me, who sometimes felt indestructible at that age, started to get nervous.

A Gordie Howe card from the early 1990s.

The whole star stuck thing started to happen and I kept repeating in my head, “Oh my God. I am going to talk to Gordie Howe.”

With Howe having played 32 seasons of professional hockey in the NHL and the defunct WHA from 1946 to 1980, he was looked up to by hockey fans from a number of generations. That included my father, Dan Steinke, who passed away in January of 2004.

A number of my dad’s hockey stories about Howe danced through my head.

Normally when I interview athletes from the sports world including those that have significant profiles, I usually act like I already know them, and I act pretty much like you would see me on the street.

In this case, the star profile got to me.

I kept thinking in my head, “I have to refer to him as Mr. Howe to show respect.”

Howe called at the time the publicist said he would.

When I got on the phone with Howe, I was so nervous. I had to keep from freaking out that I was actually talking to Gordie Howe.

This was the one time I most remember being in awe of the celebrity of a person.

In late November of 1999, Howe had surgery to remove a cancerous growth on his left shin. Since only a handful of weeks had passed since that had happened, I vaguely remember starting the interview making joke about that.

A Gordie Howe card from the 1990s.

I don’t think I knew how to act to that, and I remember being caught off guard.

Whatever I said, Howe chucked and proceeded to give the more serious answer. The way he talked just had the best tone to it that it made you feel all good and tingly inside.

The quote I used from Howe was, “Well, we won’t be doing a heck of a lot of anything. If our grandson is playing on New Year’s, I’ll go watch him play. And that’s Nolan Howe. That’s Mark’s son.

“Nothin concrete. We’re just laid back, like we were in Saskatchewan.”

I remember thanking him for doing the short interview. It felt like I could have actually talked to him for way a lot longer than I did.

I was so awestruck and wanted to be polite about his time that I didn’t. Looking back now, I wish I would have kept the interview going.

I kept that interview tape for some time. It is possible it is still buried with the old interview tapes I have stored away.

I crossed paths with Howe at the 2007 Memorial Cup in Vancouver, B.C., when I was a beat writer covering the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers for the Medicine Hat News. I was so life consumed with covering the Tigers at that event that I didn’t get to talk to Howe.

I met a number of his family members in September of 2016, when the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades hosted a “Thank You, Mr. Hockey Day” for their home opener.

The ashes of Gordie and those of his wife, Colleen Howe, were interred at the base of the Gordie Howe statue that sits outside the SaskTel Centre.

The StarPhoenix from December 31, 1999.

I spent the whole second period of that hockey game visiting with Mark Howe and Morris Lukowich in one of the SaskTel Centre dressing rooms at ice level after a media event held during the first intermission.

I got to visit with Corey Howe and the Saskatoon lady he would later marry in Davis (Parkinson) Howe a couple of times that weekend. Corey was raised in Ohio and relocated to Saskatoon due to his romance with Davis.

All the Howe family members were down to earth and had pretty good senses of humour too. It really made me wish I hadn’t psyched myself out over the phone with Gordie all those years back.

Still, the memory of how awestruck I was during that short phone chat with Gordie in December of 1999 makes me smile and chuckle to this day.

Raiders’ Guhle signs with Les Canadiens, other notes

Kaiden Guhle has signed with the Canadiens.

Kaiden Guhle didn’t have to wait long after the NHL Entry Draft to sign his first contract in the big league.

On Tuesday, the 18-year-old defenceman with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Montreal Canadiens. Just two weeks earlier on October 6, the Canadiens selected Guhle in the first round and 16^th overall in the NHL Entry Draft.

The NHL Entry Draft was held via video conference call from the NHL Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, as opposed to being live in an NHL centre due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Last season as a 17-year-old sophomore, Guhle, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 184 pounds, appeared in all of the Raiders 64 regular season games piling up 11 goals, 29 assists and a plus-23 rating.

The Sherwood Park, Alta., product appeared in 65 regular season games in 2018-19 as a 16-year-old rookie posting three goals, 14 assists and a plus-17 rating. He focused more on playing a defensive role on a defensive starting six where the other five members were all 19-year-old veterans helping the Raiders with a WHL Championship.

As a blue-liner, Guhle has a special blend of talents very few have.

Back in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft, the Raiders selected the gifted offensive-defenceman first overall in the first round.

Guhle was one of the two players the Raiders had selected first round in this past NHL Entry Draft and proceeded to sign three-year NHL entry-level contract.

This past Friday, Raiders right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks selected Wiesblatt in the first round and 31^st overall in the NHL Entry Draft.

• Nelson Nogier, a graduate of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades and Red Deer Rebels, resigned with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets inking a two-year, two-way contract on October 14. The defensive-defenceman has played his four career seasons in the professional ranks in the Jets system. Last season, Nogier spent the entire campaign with the Jets AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, appearing in 58 regular season games collecting one goal, eight assists and 45 minutes in penalties.
• Rugged right-winger and Regina product JC Lipon recently wrote an article in The Park Journal detailing the journey of his hockey career. The Park Journal is a first-person account media platform similar to The Players’ Tribune. Lipon talked about his rise to star status with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and how he got shuffled and slotted in the AHL ranks skating in the system of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets for seven seasons. Lipon is now playing in the KHL with Dinamo Riga. The piece he wrote can be found by clicking right here.
• Kevin Nastiuk, who is a former star goaltender with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers and was a member of their 2004 WHL Championship team, has started a new goaltender training company called Nastiuk Goaltending. Nastiuk had a lengthy career in the North America’s minor professional ranks and in the professional game in Europe. His goaltender training company website can be found at NastiukGoaltending.com.
• On Monday, Lethbridge Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt celebrated his 60^th birthday. Since joining the Hurricanes in June of 2014, Anholt has twice won the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s Executive of the Year including taking that honour for this past season.
• On Monday, Evan Hardy Collegiate Souls football team linebacker Zach Zary committed to joining the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team. Zary is an athlete who is talented in many sports. When he was a child, he wanted to play one of football, hockey or soccer for the Huskies. Zary’s father, Darren, is a long time ace sportswriter for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. As good as Darren is as a sportswriter, he is an all-star dad and his ability to be a good father exceeds his abilities as a sportswriter.
• On Wednesday, the University of Calgary Dinos football team announced Bailey Taylor had joined their program as a defensive back. Taylor was a rookie running back with the Saskatoon Hilltops last season, and he helped them win a sixth straight CJFL title.
• On Wednesday, the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association cancelled all its winter championships in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Back in June, the CCAA cancelled all its fall championships and last month the CCAA/Curling Canada championship was cancelled. The CCAA won’t host any national championships for the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• News surfaced over the last two days that the Boston University Terriers athletics program has paused all in person practices and training due to an increase of COVID-19 cases on campus. The pause will be re-examined next week. The Terriers women’s hockey team include captain and Saskatoon product Nara Elia and Clavet, Sask., product and third-year forward Mackenna Parker. Elia and Parker are graduates of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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