Gordie Howe a fierce foe and loyal friend, Maple Leaf legends say

Legendary Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower will forever remember Gordie Howe as a fearsome foe on the ice, and a gentleman and friend away from the rink. 

"It's a sad day for everybody," Bower said Friday, speaking to CBC News shortly after learning that Howe – a 21-time all-star who won four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings – had died at 88.

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"He was a great guy, Gordie. There isn't a bad word I can say about him," said Bower, a Hall of Famer himself who backstopped the Leafs for 12 seasons and won four Stanley Cups.

After the Montreal Canadiens, the Red Wings were the Maple Leafs' most hated rival. Bower admitted that Howe "put the red light on me once in a while.

"When the puck went into the corner and I came out to stop it, Gordie would be coming right at me and he'd yell 'Johnny, I'm right behind you.' That was one of his assets, his elbows."

But the two were also friends away from the rink, spending time together in the off-season golfing and fishing.

Bower said Howe's skill and bruising style posed problems for all his opponents, particularly goaltenders.

"He could shoot left and right, he could back-hand it. It was hard on the goaltenders to figure him out," he said.

"He gave it 100 per cent every time he went on that ice," Bower said. "He had a job to do and he did it."

'The greatest athlete of all sports'

Bobby Baun, who played both against and with Howe during a career that included stints with the Leafs and the Red Wings, called Howe's death "a tough thing."

"I think he's the greatest athlete of all sports," Baun told CBC News.

"He had the perfect athletic body and he had the brains to go with it."

Baun recalled the time he spent at Howe's cottage in their younger days, as well as one fun night the two spent with another hockey legend, Montreal Canadiens Hall of Famer Jean Beliveau, at a pool.

The trio goofed around "like school kids," Baun said, playing games like follow the leader and jumping off the diving board.

"It's the first thing I thought about when I heard the news," he said.

'He was a tough guy'

Frank Mahovlich, a former Leaf who also played with Howe in Detroit, remembered both sides of the man known as Mr. Hockey.

"He was so nice to be around, it's like two personalities," Mahovlich told The Canadian Press. "Once you got on the ice, boy, you didn't want to go in the corner with him without your eyes open because you were liable to get an elbow or something. He was a tough guy to play against."