One of my greatest memories in hockey was the night Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's NHL record for the most points in a NHL career.
Fittingly, the game came in Edmonton, on October 15th, 1989, only a little over a year earlier Gretzky had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings. In his always-anticipated return to Edmonton Gretzky scored a goal in the final minute of play, tying the game at 4-4, but more importantly, giving him 1851 career points, surpassing Gordie Howe for the all time lead.
Rather than continue the game, which was ultimately heading into overtime, immediately, there was a lengthy stoppage of play to honour The Great One.
Note that in the video above that the Hockey Hall of Fame's Scotty Morrison was on hand to take Gretzky's stick and the puck used to break the record for inclusion in the Hall. Well, that puck is now up for auction at Classic Auctions, fetching in excess $6,000 already.
By the way, the Los Angeles Kings won the game in overtime, 5-4. Blessed with his usual touch of destiny, the winning goal was scored by none other than Wayne Gretzky!
Gretzky went onto to record 2857 points, including 1963 assists, 113 more than Gordie Howe had points!
1 comment:
I may have been very young at the moment ( a month away from nine years old ), but I remember that like it was yesterday.
Ah, Gretz....
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