McDonald reminisces about Beliveau, Howe ahead of Hall of Fame ceremony

TORONTO -- The 1973 souvenir cufflinks from Jean Beliveau preceded the 1979 elbow from Gordie Howe, and Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Lanny McDonald cherishes them both.

Fifty years ago this past Aug. 24, the shrine welcomed Beliveau, Howe, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, early-era players Harry "Hap" Holmes and Reginald "Hooley" Smith and, in the Builders category, Boston Bruins pioneer Weston Adams Sr.
Beliveau, known affectionately as Le Gros Bill for his resemblance to 1950s French-Canadian film star Yves Henry, who played a character by that name, and Howe, forever Mr. Hockey, were fierce rivals on the ice and dear friends off it.

Lanny McDonald takes the Stanley Cup for a victory lap at the Montreal Forum on May 25, 1989, after the Calgary Flames defeated the Montreal Canadiens for the championship. Paul Bereswill/HHoF Images/Hockey Hall of Fame
Both had retired from the NHL following the 1970-71 season, Howe to return two years later for six more seasons in the World Hockey Association and a final 80-game curtain call with the NHL's Hartford Whalers in 1979-80; with that final season, played with his sons, Marty and Mark, Howe's NHL career spanned an incredible five decades.
In 1972, the Hall of Fame waived its customary three-year waiting period following a player's retirement to enshrine two of the greatest stars the game had ever known: Howe, most famous with the Detroit Red Wings, and Beliveau, a Montreal Canadiens legend.
Tellingly, neither player mentioned a word about the Hall of Fame election in their autobiographies, their careers fully about their teams and not individual honors.
Indeed, Beliveau didn't even attend the induction ceremony, held at the shrine's Exhibition Place home here. Lavishly honored by the Canadiens upon his retirement, he had been given a trip to the 1972 Munich Olympics, and so it was that he and his wife, Elise, were in Germany when hockey celebrated its new class.

Early-era players Reginald "Hooley" Smith and goalie Harry "Hap" Holmes, posthumously inducted in the Class of 1972. James Rice; HHoF Images
McDonald was 19 in August of 1972, preparing for his second and final season with Medicine Hat of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. Sixty-two goals and 77 assists later, the native of Hanna, Alberta, the forward would be selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs at No. 4 in the 1973 NHL Draft, held May 15 in a ballroom of Montreal's Mount Royal Hotel.
McDonald was at the draft, one of a handful of eligible players on hand. A week or so earlier, at a Memorial Cup luncheon, he had met Beliveau for the first time, having been selected among the award-winning stars of the tournament, and stayed over for the draft.
"To receive those cufflinks from Jean Beliveau … oh my God, that was better than the cufflinks themselves," McDonald said Friday, a late-arriving flight having led to him missing the presentation of the Hall of Fame rings to the Class of 2022 ahead of the induction ceremony Monday, when Daniel Alfredsson, Roberto Luongo, Riikka Sallinen, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Herb Carnegie will be enshrined, the latter in the Builders category.
The task was handled by Mike Gartner, the Hall of Fame selection committee chairman, after de-icing and a mechanical issue on an early flight out of Calgary brought McDonald into the Great Hall after the ceremony.

Bernie Geoffrion on Dec. 7, 1960, with his 270th regular-season goal puck, pushing him one goal past fellow Canadiens legend Aurele Joliat and bringing him to within one of his late father-in-law, Howie Morenz; and Geoffrion in a pose for his 1967-68 O-Pee-Chee and Topps hockey cards. Turofsky/Hockey Hall of Fame; O-Pee-Chee
McDonald played 1,111 NHL games from 1973-89 for the Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies and Calgary Flames, scoring 1,006 points (500 goals, 506 assists).
His career would be gloriously crowned with the 1989 Stanley Cup championship, won at the Montreal Forum against the Canadiens with Beliveau in the arena, and his 1992 enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
"I was always sad that I never had the chance to play against Jean," McDonald said. "He had retired at the end of 1971 but he was still one of the greatest. He could have played another three or four years but he chose to go out on a winning note.
"I always loved that about him. When I had a chance to retire on top, there was no question. I was done. But he could have still played."

Rivals and friends Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau crowd Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower and defenseman Kent Douglas during the 1963 NHL All-Star Game at Maple Leaf Gardens. Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black Hawks is in the background, at left. Michael Sr. Burns/Hockey Hall of Fame
In the summer of 1974, following his rookie season with the Maple Leafs, McDonald was invited to play in a charity golf tournament an hour north of Toronto.
"Jean and Dick Irvin were there," he said, the latter a legendary "Hockey Night in Canada" and radio broadcaster. Irvin's father, Dick, was the Canadiens coach when Beliveau broke into the NHL full-time in 1953.
"They had cars to take everyone back to the airport, but as we're leaving, Jean says to me, 'Lanny, leave the car for someone else, you can jump in with Dick and me.'
"First of all, I was nervous as all get out. Holy [heck], these are two legends. I get in and they start telling stories back and forth. I couldn't even talk. I was mesmerized by the two of them. I think I got three or four grunts in there, or maybe guffaws, laughing at their stories. It was priceless. To be in the same car as those two for an hour? I thought I'd died and gone to heaven."

Gordie Howe, Bernie Geoffrion and Jean Beliveau in a rare action photo together, during a 1958 game at the Montreal Forum. From left: Maurice Richard, Marcel Pronovost, Dickie Moore, Howe, Geoffrion, Red Kelly and Beliveau. Alain Brouillard/Hockey Hall of Fame
Which brought McDonald to Gordie Howe's elbow, to which he had been introduced early in the 1979-80 season, Mr. Hockey's swan song.
"To have an opportunity, when he was 51 years of age, to play against Gordie was absolutely awesome," he said. "It was unbelievable. That old guy, he didn't take any [nonsense].
"They told me before the game, 'You leave Gordie alone.' They didn't tell me to leave the kids (Marty and Mark) alone.
"Mark is on defense, down in the corner, so I run him into the boards and knock him down. I'm heading back up the ice to our end and suddenly I hear this 'Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!'

The four living members of the Class of 1972 gather in Montreal on June 8 of that year. From left: Gordie Howe, Bernie Geoffrion, NHL President Clarence Campbell, former Montreal Canadiens GM Frank J. Selke Sr., Jean Beliveau and Boston Bruins pioneer Weston Adams Sr., elected in the Builders category. Denis Brodeur/Getty Images
"I look sideways just as Gordie elbows me in the nose. I was absolutely blinded. I couldn't see, I had tears in my eyes and Gordie is just saying, 'Never do that again.'
"Trying to sound very cool, I managed to say, 'OK,' and it came out like a little kid, a high squeak, the most non-male voice ever. Gordie and I laughed about that so many different times over the years."
McDonald has another Howe memory, of the night that Mr. Hockey and Maple Leafs legend Dave Keon, in the first of his three seasons with Hartford that would end his Hall of Fame career, arrived for a game in Toronto.
"The Whalers beat us 4-2 in Maple Leaf Gardens," McDonald said. "Davey scores on the patented backhand, then Gordie scores. Mike Palmateer is in our net, and Mike always told everyone, 'I have the best glove hand in all of hockey.'

Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau chatting before a 1950s NHL All-Star Game, and photographed together in 2007. David Bier, Montreal Canadiens; Bob Fisher, Montreal Canadiens
"Gordie comes down the ice on the left side, takes a wrist shot from 10, 12 feet inside the blue line and beats Palmateer on the glove side. 'Palmie' didn't even see the shot and he wasn't screened. The crowd reacted and then Palmie looks back and realizes, 'Holy (heck), I just got scored on.'
"When Gordie scored, our entire bench stood up. We were kind of like in awe. Gordie just stole all the thunder out of the Gardens. We looked behind us to (coach) Floyd Smith. We're feeling kind of sheepish because we're cheering for the wrong guy. Floyd said, 'Don't worry, boys, if I were playing, I'd have stood up too.'"

Lanny McDonald (far right) with fellow 1992 Hall of Fame inductees Bob Gainey (left) and Marcel Dionne. Doug MacLellan/HHoF Images/Hockey Hall of Fame
On Friday, McDonald took a proud look around the shrine's Great Hall even as the ceremony had broken up, reporters having harvested quotes from the Class of 2022, whose induction plaques were the newest in the room.
The plaques of Beliveau and Howe date back 50 years; McDonald's will be 30 years old this autumn. Today, he again cherishes memories of two late hockey icons, Beliveau having died in 2014, Howe two years after that.
"I met Gordie and Jean so many times at so many functions," he said. "They were always the same. They loved the fans. They took the time. Jean and Gordie and Maurice Richard and Johnny Bower and Frank Mahovlich and all those old guys … their signatures were pristine, a piece of art. Just like how they played the game."
Top photo: From left, Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 1972 inductees Jean Beliveau, Gordie Howe and Bernie Geoffrion. Getty Images