Mr. Hockey had a strong connection to the south coast of British Columbia.

Gordie Howe was a co-owner of the Vancouver Giants junior hockey team and a periodic visitor to our town. In Abbotsford, Colleen and Gordie Howe Middle School is named after him and his wife, who died of Pick's disease in 2009.

Giants majority owner Ron Toigo, issued a statment on behalf of the team in the wake of Howe's recent death at the age of 88. 

“We felt honoured and privileged to have Gordie in our lives," Toigo said. "We were fortunate to have had him involved with so many of our players who were able to meet him. He had a impact on everyone in our organization. It’s been a difficult period for us, losing both Pat [Quinn] and now Gordie in such a short period of time, and we’ll miss him a lot.”

Howe won six Hart trophies with the Detroit Red Wings as the NHL's most valuable player. He was also the all-time NHL scoring leader with 1,850 points until his record was eclipsed by Wayne Gretzky. Since then, Mark Messier and Jaromir Jagr have moved ahead of Howe on the NHL scoring list.

However, Howe also scored 174 goals and posted 334 assists in the World Hockey Association, keeping him in second place if those stats are added.

Howe's wife, Colleen, distinguished herself as a hockey player agent, negotiating contracts to ensure that he could continue his playing career in the WHL.

She took on the job after former National Hockey Association head Alan Eagleson had skimmed money from the pension fund of Howe and other players of his generation.

Eagleson later went to jail and was stripped of his Order of Canada and was expelled from the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In 1979-80 at the age of 51, Howe returned to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers and scored 15 goals and 26 assists in his final full season.