LOS ANGELES: Canada’s beloved hockey icon Gordie Howe, a fierce competitor who finessed his way into the record books on the ice but was a gentle giant off it, died on Friday at the age of 88. The Hall of Famer affectionately known as “Mr. Hockey” won four Stanley Cup titles with the Detroit Red Wings in a professional career that spanned an astonishing six decades — including a cameo appearance with the minor league Detroit Vipers in 1997. Howe spent a quarter-century with the Red Wings in the National Hockey League, six more seasons playing alongside sons Mark and Marty in the World Hockey Association and a final campaign back in the NHL with the Hartford Whalers at age 52. “Unfortunately, we lost the greatest hockey player ever today, but more importantly, the nicest man I have ever met,” Wayne Gretzky wrote on Twitter of his compatriot and boyhood idol.