*This was last updated in March 2023
From the Ted Lindsay Award to the James Norris Trophy, hockey (and the sport) has a history of naming things about former players, coaches and key figures. It's no different when it comes to Gordie Howe's hat trick.
No, we're not talking about a three-goal performance of some kind. Instead, Gordie Howe's hat trick combines three different hockey plays for the player to accomplish the task.
What is the Gordie Howe Hat Trick?
It's actually very simple. The trifecta consists of a player collecting a goal, an assist and a tackle in one game.
The first recorded incident came back on Dec. 22, 1920 – before Howe was born. According to the official guide to the Players of Hockey Hall of Fame, Hall of Famer Harry Cameron who played for the Toronto St. Pats.
The hat trick, however, was named after Mr. Hockey itself, which is strange since Howe only collected two in his long career. So why was it named after him?
By all accounts, the collection is named after Howe because of the great player's early game. In his career, Howe was a team major collecting 801 goals and 1,049 assists in 1,767 regular season games. But he was not a player who shied away from physical play. In fact, he averaged nearly one penalty minute per game during his regular season career racking up 1,685 penalty minutes over that span.
That being said, as mentioned earlier, he only achieved the hat trick twice in nearly 1,800 games.
“Gordie Howe's hat trick? No,” Glenn Hall told NHL.com's Dave Stubbs. “Gordie just kicked [crap] except for tough guys and he didn't have to fight.”
However, two times, that didn't work.
2 Gordie Howe hats
Howe's first hat trick of his career came on Oct. 11, 1953. The Red Wings were playing the Toronto Maple Leafs at Olympia Stadium. The Red Wings would eventually pull off a 4-0 victory over their long-time rivals, but not before Howe saw three key plays.
Related: 10 NHL Oddities You'll Never See Again
Howe assisted on the first goal of the game – scored by Red Kelly – and added his own seconds later. But it was a fight with Fern Flaman that earned him his first Gordie Howe hat.
Game sheets from the first “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” on October 11, 1953. #9 RIP pic.twitter.com/QyYed9HESx
— NHL (@NHL) June 10, 2016
Interestingly, Howe recorded his second and final hat trick just over five months after his first with his familiar foe.
Related: Hat Tricks Fun Facts & Trivia
Once again, the Maple Leafs were held by the Red Wings and the home team blasted the Leafs with a 6-1 victory. However, this time, Howe had a different dance partner. Ted Kennedy made the decision to take a winger for the Wings who helped Howe to his second win in less than a year.
Double and Triple
Sometimes, we saw Gordie Howe's double and triple hats. But it happened more often than not as Howe recorded himself. Twice in NHL history, we've seen a Gordie double-double in which two players, competing, record a goal and an assist in the same game.
The first came on March 9, 2010. The Columbus Blue Jackets were in Anaheim to face the Ducks – a game the Jackets would end up winning 5-2. After recording a goal and an assist in the second half, Fedor Tyutin fought Ryan Getzlaf at the buzzer to end the second frame. Getzlaf would go on to record his goal and help start the third – giving him a hat trick with both.
It happened again on Jan. 10, 2012. Adam Henrique and Jarome Iginla engaged in a little tango, as both players continued to score and assist (Iginla recording his second assist of the game as well).
The pair have also recorded this type of hat trick in the same game multiple times – including once this season (2016-17).
In a game between the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks back on April 5, 2012, both Joe Thornton and Ryan Cliwe fought for Gordie Howe's hat trick. It was Thornton's fourth career and Clowe's third.
Most recently, on March 30, 2017, Dale Weise and Wayne Simmonds locked up their own hat tricks when their Flyers defeated the Islanders.
Finally, Howe's triple hat trick happened back in 1992. On November 14, the Buffalo Sabers met the New York Islanders. When the final horn sounded, Tom Fitzgerald (1g-1a), Wayne Presley (1g-2a) and Benoit Hogue (2g-1a) all finished with at least a goal, an assist and a fight.
Gordie Howe Hat Trick Leaders
No one has recorded more hat tricks than Rick Tocchet in his NHL career. In fact, from 1985 to 2000, Tocchet scored 18 of them – including three in the 1986-87 season (two in the month of January).
From there, the list is filled with big names, well-known players. Ironically, former league punter Brendan Shanahan sits second to Tocchet with his 17 Gordies tied with Brian Sutter.
Wilf Paiement (16), Cam Neely (12), Jarome Iginla (11), Keith Tkachuk (10), Gerard Gallant (10), Al Secord (10) and Paul Coffey (9) rounded out the top ten.
Bobby Orr had eight of his own. Wendel Clark finished with seven and Lanny McDonald had six in his career. Heck, even Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk had it in their playing days.
Who Has the Most Gordie Howe Hat Tricks?
- Rick Tocchet – 18
- Brendan Shanahan – 17
- Brian Sutter – 17
- Wilf Paiement – 16
- Cam Neely – 12
- Jarome Iginla – 11
- Keith Tkachuk – 10
- Gerard Gallant – 10
- Al Second – 10
- Paul Coffey – 9
Even the great Pavel Datsyuk had a 'Gordie'.
Jamie Benn is an active leader with five. Behind him, there is Evander Kane with four and Milan Lucic, Marcus Foligno, and Corey Perry – all three.
Climbing Gordie's List
While Lucic and Perry may not add to their current numbers when it comes to Howe hat tricks, Benn could grind out a few more Gordies.
But the player most likely to add to the hat trick total is Evander Kane.
At 33, he has a lot of hockey ahead of him. He has offensive prowess and has posted 326 goals and 291 assists in 930 regular season games. His 1,186 penalty minutes in that span also went unnoticed. He has over 20 tackles in the regular season and he's not done yet.
Howe Hat Trick Oddities
Although we have talked about double or triple Gordies, we have also talked about career leaders and where the name was coined. But we're not talking about one-off events yet – the oddity of Gordie Howe's hat trick.
There are two instances that stand out when we talk about the one-time Howe hat trick events. The first was hockey's version of the triple-double. It happened on April 9, 1981. In a playoff game between the North Stars and the Bruins where Minnesota won 9-6.
The game had three players reach the Howe hat trick and two of those players ended up fighting each other on their way to achieving it. Bryan Maxwell and Bobby Smith both scored for Minnesota, while Brad Park had a goal, three assists and a fight with Smith during the Bruins' offense.
Another unusual thing happened on November 19, 2014. In that game, Steve Pinizzotto was called by the Edmonton Oilers to take over his former club – the Vancouver Canucks. Ironically, Pinizzotto scored his first career NHL goal on Gordie Howe's hat trick. Pinizzotto went on to score another goal in his NHL career, Gordie's 50% rate is certainly the highest we have ever seen.
Although Pinizzotto is not the type of player for whom this hat trick is named, most of Gordie's career leaders – the goal scorers are not surprised, many think that he is a model hockey player. Sure, they might not go out on the ice looking for a Howe hat trick, but every time they find one we pause to think about the legend with the name.
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