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 In
1980-81, he won his first of seven
straight scoring titles and broke
Bobby Orr's assists record with 109.
The year after, he shattered Phil
Esposito's record of 76 goals (a
record many thought was unbreakable)
by scoring 92 times, a record that
itself will surely stand the test of
time. En route, he also scored an
incredible 50 goals in the first 39
games of the season, including five
in the historic 39th game. He also
registered 212 points, the first of
four times he'd score more than 200,
and to this day he's the only player
to have done so even once...Book
Wayne Gretzky for Your Event
As
Gretzky went, so went the Oilers.
They went to the Stanley Cup finals
in 1983, only to lose horribly to
the Islanders in four straight
games. But the loss was a learning
experience. The next year they made
their first of four Cup wins over
the next five years by defeating
those same Islanders in five games.
That spring of 1988 was also
Gretzky's last moment in an Oilers
sweater. He married Janet Jones in
August, and just days later he was
traded to the Los Angeles Kings in
one of the most stunning deals in
NHL history. He, Mike Krushelnyski
and Marty McSorley went to the Kings
for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas,
first-round draft choices in 1989,
1991 and 1993 and $15 million.
Along the way in Los Angeles,
Gretzky scored his 802nd goal to
pass Gordie Howe as the all-time
leading scorer as well as his
1,852nd point to pass Howe as
all-time point-getter in the league.
"The fact that the record was broken
by someone who's such a great person
takes away any sense of loss that I
might have," Howe said.
Gretzky was traded to St. Louis to
play with his friend Brett Hull and
coach Mike Keenan, who had worked
with Gretzky during Canada Cup
competitions. He played only 18
games in St. Louis during the
regular season, and after a
disappointing showing in the
playoffs, the Blues decided not to
offer Gretzky a contract in the
off-season. Instead, the Great One
signed a three-year deal in the
summer of 1996 to be with his oldest
hockey friend, Mark Messier, and the
New York Rangers. It seemed to be
the perfect way to end a great
career.
A
year later, though, Messier became
embroiled in a bitter contract
negotiation with the Blueshirts and
signed with the Vancouver Canucks.
Gretzky was alone again - on
Broadway, on a mediocre team, a
situation he had never wanted. He
didn't want to be the center of
attention or the one on whom all the
expectations were focused. He
continued to be the team's leading
scorer, but his supporting cast grew
weaker and the Rangers missed the
playoffs his last two years in the
NHL. Time and again his perfect
passes floated into open ice where
no Ranger had anticipated the play
or a pass would be badly missed on
the awful Garden ice. Toward the end
of the 1998-99 season, Gretzky
announced his retirement, and his
final two games, in Ottawa and New
York, were emotionally difficult.
Gretzky played in the NHL's All-Star
Game every year he was in the league
and was the first player to be named
game MVP with three different teams.
After the World Juniors in 1978, he
played in the World Championship in
1982, suiting up for his first game
for Canada just 24 hours after the
Oilers had been eliminated from the
1982 playoffs. The proudest of all
Canadians ever to wear the national
red and white sweater, he also
played in each Canada Cup in 1981,
1984, 1987 and 1991. Each time he
led the tournament in scoring, and
only in his first year, 1981, did
the team fail to claim the title of
world champion.
Gretzky also participated in the
1996 World Cup, the replacement
tournament for the Canada Cup, where
Canada placed second for the first
time to the United States. But
perhaps Gretzky's greatest
international honor came in late
1997, when he was selected to
represent Canada at the 1998 Olympic
Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. He
was able to realize a boyhood dream,
as the NHL shut down so that all the
pros could represent their countries
at those Olympics. Team Canada
placed a disappointing fourth after
losing in the semifinals on a
shootout to Dominik Hasek and the
Czech Republic, a result that was
controversial for coach Marc
Crawford since he didn't select
Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading
scorer, to take one of the five
penalty shots for Canada.
Of
course, as soon as he retired he was
inducted into the Hall of Fame, and
in century-end polls he was
consistently ranked the greatest
hockey player of all time
Book
Wayne Gretzky for Your Event
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