"For enjoyment, the only other year that came close was the year I went to Boston in 1982-83. It was a close team that had a lot of fun and won a lot of games but lost in the conference finals to the defending champions, the New York Islanders. Whoever won that series was going to win the Stanley Cup, we thought, and they did. Gordie Kluzak got hurt and the Bruins needed a defensemen. It looked like Hartford was going to send me to the minors so they let me contact some teams and I caught on with the Bruins while Hartford paid my salary."

Marty broke both bones in his forearm while checking Chris Nilan in a game. He returned to the bench but had trouble removing his glove. When he did, he saw that his hand was up by his elbow. Angry, he kicked the boards and broke a toe.

"I looked like I got in a car accident," Marty said. "That was the end of my scoring. I had maybe two or three more goals over the next six years because I had no wrist movement on my shot. But I did score a goal in a playoff game against Montreal. I wristed the puck in from the blue line and Gordie skated into the goalie about six feet from the net. He could get away with that stuff. There was nobody there to stop the puck and it went in."

Both brothers said their hockey careers blossomed from a lack of family pressure, despite the prominent name. Their dad took them to his Red Wings practices and provided them with all the equipment they needed but they said there was never pressure or expectations. In fact, Marty quit to focus on high-school football until a coach pulled a dirty trick on him and he returned to hockey.

"The reason I became a hockey player was because I wanted it," Mark said. "I was really a rink rat. It was always where I wanted to be. There was no pressure to play from our parents. Marty quit hockey to focus on football in high school. He was the second-best player on that team. Marty was a better athlete than me, bigger, faster and stronger.

Mark also served as the visiting-team stickboy at the Olympia, collecting a trove of autographed memorabilia.

It was Colleen Howe who first saw the possibility of her sons and husband playing pro hockey together.

"When I was 13, I'd grown almost as big as I am now and I went with the Red Wings to training camp in Port Huron," Mark said, setting up a teasing swipe at an old family friend. "I was in the lineup for four days, playing against Dean Prentice who probably got the first hat trick of his career against me!"

"I look at pictures of Mark as a kid and, boy, he had the balance," Gordie marveled. "He really worked for it. He skated hard all the time and every shot had to have a target. So many kids just shoot at the net but Mark had a target every time. He'd put a puck five inches inside the post and practice shooting between the post and the puck."

"Mom taught us not to compare ourselves to anyone else but to measure our accomplishments against our expectations," Mark said. "She also made clear our responsibility to our family name. We were brought up to respect people and say please. She told us 500 other kids could get arrested for something and never see their names in the newspaper but if we did it would be, 'Gordie Howe's son arrested...' It's the cornerstone of what I've taught my kids, 'Whatever you do, be the best you can be.' The biggest part of my success was wanting to achieve and that was instilled in me as a kid."

"We were brought up to play the best you can, do the best you can do," Marty said. "I always had the opportunity, the gloves, the skates and the sticks, but it was my choice what I did. Football was my favorite sport, hockey second, then track and swimming. I probably was doing too many things. I should have stuck to hockey. But the only thing my Mom and Dad said was just put 100 percent into what you're doing and do it as long as you are enjoying it."

For more information on Gordie and Colleen Howe, please see mrandmrshockey.com