Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes the following this morning:
It was on October 29, 1947, in a game at Chicago Stadium when Gordie Howe first skated out on the ice for an NHL game wearing the No. 9 he’d make legendary on the back of his Red Wings jersey. The Red Wings won 5-2, although Howe was held off the scoresheet.
For the first four games of the 1947-48 campaign, sophomore Howe wore the No. 17 he’d donned during his NHL rookie season. The No. 9 was made available when it became apparent that contract holdout Roy Conacher, who’d worn No. 9, wouldn’t be back with the the team. Eventually, Conacher was dealt to the Blackhawks.
Offered No. 9, Howe originally resisted. He was finally convinced to make the switch after learning the players with single-digit uniform numbers were assigned the larger lower berths on the train during road trips.
For those keeping score at home, Mr. Hockey scored 779 of his club-record 786 goals as a Red Wing while wearing No. 9.
