Mr. Hockey gets a bridge to his old stomping grounds

WINDSOR — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder picked up the phone and it was Prime Minister Stephen Harper wanting to talk about a name for the new Detroit River bridge.

“He thought Gordie Howe would be a great name and I said ‘ yeah,’ ” Snyder recalled Thursday.

The long-awaited Windsor-Detroit bridge, when it opens in 2020, will be the Gordie Howe International Bridge, Harper announced Thursday.

“It was not a tough decisionmaking process,” Snyder said. “It was that straightforward. If you think about it, who better represents the two countries and the bond between us?”

The prime minister has long been hockey obsessed.

He spent eight years writing a book on the subject — A Great Game — that was released in 2013 and largely covers the history of hockey in Toronto.

There were no other names on the table for the $2.1-billion Detroit River International Crossing project, Snyder said. “It was Gordie Howe and Gordie Howe and Gordie Howe.”

Harper, during bri e f remarks Thursday on Windsor’s riverfront, described the selection of Howe’s name as being the right choice because it was not just about hockey or sports, but “symbolizes skill, strength and stability.”

“It’s everything we want this particular bridge to be,” Harper said.

Snyder said the 87-year-old Howe symbolizes the perfect attitude for the planned bridge in terms of excellence, longevity and community spirit.

“You couldn’t find a better name in the world than Gordie Howe and everything it stands for.”

Howe, who has been in ill health, didn’t attend Thursday’s announcement. But several family members were there.

“When we told dad, he said, ‘That sounds pretty good to me,’” said son Murray Howe, who spoke on behalf of the family. “He’s deeply moved by this gracious gesture.”

Born in Floral, Sask., Gordie Howe came to Detroit in 1946.

He played for the Detroit Red Wings for 25 seasons, winning four Stanley Cups, until his initial retirement from the sport in 1971. He then joined the upstart World Hockey Association to play with two of his sons — Mark and Marty — with the Houston Aeros and later the Hartford Whalers. His last season with the Whalers was back in the National Hockey League.

In total, Howe played 33 years, finally calling it quits at age 52 in 1980. He scored 801 goals in the NHL, along with another 174 goals in the WHA. Mr. Hockey won the Hart Trophy six times as the NHL’s most valuable player.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said the city wasn’t consulted on the bridge name.

“We’re not paying for the bridge. If we had a hand in terms of paying for it, I would expect an opportunity to put a vote in but it’s really federal, state and provincial dollars on the table. We respect they were really the ones with the vote and not municipalities.”

The next step for the project is completion of property acquisition in Detroit and the issuance of a request for qualifications among global corporations anticipated to bid on the contract to build the international bridge, plazas and feeder roads.

The new six- lane bridge when it opens will connect the industrial communities in Windsor and Detroit about two kilometres downriver from the Ambassador Bridge.

“We are seeing good progress now and the good news is we are on pace for 2020,” Snyder said.