Liam Maguire and Wayne Gretzky. Picture taken by Ken Craig, down stairs at the Buffalo Auditorium on November 25, 1998.
Turning 50 with the Great Gretzky
On the occasion of number 99 sliding through another magic number in his life I’d like to reminisce about some memories I have of him and the absolutely astounding offensive talent he possessed. I recall a Friday night early in 1978 at the Ottawa Civic Center, home to the Ottawa 67’s with legendary coach Brian Kilrea behind the bench hosting the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds that featured a young wisp of a player who had just recently turned seventeen years of age. Of course it was Wayne Gretzky. I sat in the stands, good seats as I recall and watched the Greyhounds play and to study the phenomenal young man who had been garnering national headlines for almost seven years since he exploded in minor hockey with an astounding 378 goals as a ten year old. Included in that were fifty in one weekend. Folks, I’m not making this up. In the world juniors that year Gretzky led the tournament in scoring as a sixteen year old. His stats still boggle the mind. I think some of us have forgotten, even though it was the high scoring 1980’s and that Oiler team was the highest scoring of all time, Gretzky made that team and that era the rock and roll high octane, gun slinging period of time that it was.
In the game I attended at the Civic Center, the two duelling centermen for the league scoring title, Smith and Gretzky, participated in a between period shoot out which of course had been advertised and led to one of the largest crowds of the season in Ottawa. Gretzky participated in a few of these around the OHA as it was known then including a race around the ice with recentl Hall of Fame inductee Dino Ciccarelli. Ciccarelli was a member of the London Knights. Gretzky did not win the shootout and he fell in the race with Ciccarelli. And he stumbled in the second half of the regular season as Bobby Smith passed him on route to a record setting 192 point season in junior. Gretzky as a seventeen year old could only manage second spot with 182 points. If that was a stumble, which it hardly was, then the next twenty years would represent an offensive detonation.
Here are my ten other memories and/or stats about Wayne that I really like.
1) His first NHL goal was scored on October 14, 1979 against Glen Hanlon of Vancouver. The time of the goal was the 18:51 mark of the third period. Ten years and one day later, October 15, 1989, Gretzky now an LA King passes Gordie Howe for the NHL career points lead with- get this- point number 1851 which was also a goal and it was scored against his former team the Oilers. The number of points, as I’m sure you’ve just deduced is the exact same number as the time of his first goal. By the way, October 14th was Gretzky’s mother’s birthday. Her name was Phyllis.
2) Wayne got a lot of mileage from the Nick Kypreos interview on Sportsnet here in Canada which aired on January 26th, Wayne’s actual birthday, where he stated the year in which he had 92 regular season goals, 1981-82; he only scored one goal in his last eight games. Hmmm, well Wayne, not quite. It was one goal in your last three games, two in your last four and actually…..eight goals in your last eight games including a hat trick against Pittsburgh.
3) The above stat was a quote from Wayne where he was lamenting that he did not score 100 goals in one season. But to be fair, he did. In 1984 he had 87 regular season goals and 13 in the playoffs for 100 on the nose. How good is that?
4) Gretzky’s 500th goal was scored November 22, 1986 against the Vancouver Canucks. In fact he scored most of his big goals against Vancouver. He became the first player in NHL history to score his 500th into an empty net. The goalie of record for the Canucks that night was Troy Gamble. It was his only NHL game that season. Edmonton won 5-2. Jari Kurri and Charlie Huddy drew assists; the time of the goal was 19:42 of the third period.
5) Gretzky’s number 99 has been retired throughout the entire NHL, never to be worn again. He is one of six players to have worn that number in NHL history. Wilf Paiement, Rick Dudley, Leo Bourgeault, Des Roche and Joe Lamb are the others. Gretzky first took the number in his one and only full season of Major Junior A hockey in the OHA. Sault Ste Marie veteran Brian Gualazzi refused to give up number nine so Wayne was trying out other numbers, 19 and 14. Head coach Muzz MacPherson suggested Wayne try the double number 9 and as a result became part of hockey history himself. It also spawned one of the better quotes in hockey as Gretzky responded to the suggestion of wearing number 99 by saying, ‘if I wear that number guys will be running me all the time.’ To which MacPherson replied, ‘Wayne, they’ll be running you anyway.’ And the rest is history.
6) Gretzky passed Howe for the most career goals with a power play marker on March 23, 1994 in a game against, you guessed it, Vancouver. The goal was scored with the Canucks Jiri Slegr in the box. Slegr’s father was also a defenseman in the NHL and also played for Vancouver. His name was Jiri Bubla. Slegr took his mother’s maiden name after his dad was arrested for drug possession. Bubla’s first game ever against Edmonton was on October 9, 1981. He was welcomed into the NHL with a brief skirmish with an Oiler forward where both players traded punches and received roughing minors. The Edmonton player you ask? Wayne Gretzky. Assisting Gretzky’s milestone goal number 802 was Marty McSorley and Luc Robitaille. The time was the 14:47 mark of the second period. The goalie was Kirk Maclean.
7) Gretzky is one of only two players to win the Lady Byng Trophy in a season in which they had a fighting major. In 1979-80 Wayne fought Chicago’s Doug Lecuyer. The other Byng winner who dropped the gloves, Gentleman Joe Primeau of the Toronto Maple leafs in 1932 who fought Mervyn ‘Red ‘Dutton of the New York Americans.
Wayne’s final NHL goal was scored on March 29, 1999 at the 17:53 mark of the third period. It stood up as the game winner in the Rangers 3-1 win over the Islanders and it was unassisted. The goalie was Wade Flaherty. The goal gave Gretzky a career pro total of 1072 goals. Passing Gordie Howe’s career mark….by one goal. Howe recorded 1071.
9) Gretzky’s first game as an Edmonton Oiler came in the WHA on November 3, 1978. It was a 4-3 overtime win over the Winnipeg Jets and Gretzky wore sweater number 20 as there was no 99 yet available after the trade from Indianapolis.
10) Gretzky played in 49 buildings in his NHL career and in only one of them did he not record at least one point. The Springfield Civic Center, which played home to the Hartford Whalers for a number of games in 1979-80 while the Whalers were waiting for their home arena to be completed. The date was November 19, 1979 and the Whalers shut out Gretzky and the Oilers 4-0 in front of 7,627 people. Of note Gordie Howe drew a second period assist in the game on a goal scored by Mike Rogers. Al Smith recorded the shutout.
In 1998-99 I had been hired by a man named Ken Craig who was involved with Labatt’s and a cross Canada gig they were involved in that year with Sportsnet. Also part of the crew working with us that hockey season was Glenn Gretzky, one of Wayne’s younger brothers. The hilight of the gig for me came on November 25, 1998 when we spent the entire day at 42 Varadi, the address in Brantford where Wayne grew up. Glenn Gretzky brought us to his family home and we met Mr and Mrs Gretzky and we spent an amazing 4-5 hours there before we piled into two vans and drove to Buffalo for the Ranger-Sabre game that night where Wayne had secured as a suite. Afterwards we went down stairs in a secure room and met Wayne for several minutes. I believe it was right then that Wayne first spoke of retirement because at our next function, the following week, Glenn Gretzky informed us with strict instructions that this was to be kept quiet that Wayne was seriously comtemplating hanging them up. As we all now know, that was his final NHL season. Happy 50th to an icon and a national treasure.
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Written by Liam Maguire
Liam Maguire is a twice published author who has been following the NHL professionally for nearly 30 years and as a fan for more than 40. Born in Montreal but raised near the small town of Kars, south of Ottawa, Maguire has turned a life long obsession with Canada's national sport into a pasttime primarily with his near perfect recall of the history of the NHL and his knowledge of the game in general.
He has appeared on every national radio and TV show in Canada including Hockey Night in Canada and he has worked with more than fifty Hall of Fame players in one capacity or another.
Maguire has a wide range of views on the game, often blunt, pulling no punches and substantiating thoughts with data and facts. He loves a debate almost as much as a cold beer and he continues to play the sport and coach it with almost ten years as a head coach in minor hockey under his belt.
Feel free to send Liam a note or message at any time, he will respond to every single one of them.
