SASKATOON — Hockey legend Gordie Howe is coming home.
A Saskatoon official says the city has received permission from the province to inter the cremated remains of Howe and his wife, Colleen, at the base of a statue that honours him.
The family made the request earlier this month, but the city needed to apply to the province to have the statue at SaskTel Centre and a small portion of adjacent area declared a cemetery.
Howe was born in Floral, Sask., but his family moved nine days later to Saskatoon, where he grew up before embarking on a record-setting hockey career in the United States.
He died on June 10 at the age of 88.
Howe's son, Marty, has said some of his father's ashes will be spread in Michigan's Bear Lake, where a similar service was held for Colleen after her death in 2009.
Howe spent the bulk of his stellar career with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings.
"His favourite spots are going to have my mom and dad, and Saskatoon was one of them," Marty Howe said.
Saskatoon spokeswoman Catherine Gryba explained at the time of the request that the city would take appropriate steps to safeguard and respect the ashes. They are to be encased in a special concrete vessel with a commemorative plaque on top to protect them.
Numerous facilities and a street in Saskatoon have been named in Howe's honour and a proposal following his death to name one of the city's bridges after him is also going ahead.
Howe spent 26 seasons in the National Hockey League and six in the World Hockey Association. He is still No. 2 on the NHL's all-time goals list behind Wayne Gretzky.
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