Remembering 802
Monday, March 23rd, 2009Article by Don Schwartz, WG Authentic / Watch Video
It’s been 15 years since Wayne Gretzky set a new standard for scoring with his 802nd goal, but the memories are etched in stone for those in attendance that night on March 23, 1994.
The Los Angeles Kings had just returned home from a game in San Jose where Wayne had tied the NHL’s all-time goal scoring mark, held by his boyhood idol and legend Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe. Anticipation filled The Forum, the Kings’ home at the time, as fans prepared themselves to witness hockey history.
Not that anyone “really” knew that the record would be set that night vs. the Vancouver Canucks.
“I was on that trip,” said Terry Jones, the long-time sports columnist for the Edmonton Sun, who was assigned to follow Wayne until he set the new scoring mark. “It started with him playing two or three games in the Los Angeles area. I remember going over to Anaheim one night and he was really struggling to get that key goal. There was a lot of banter between the two of us, a ‘you know, don’t keep me out here too long’ sort of thing.”
“So when he scored it in the game against Vancouver, I think it was more of a relief for Wayne than anything just because it was a bit of hockey’s version of the Babe Ruth thing going on with Henry Aaron.”
Despite the magnitude of the record, Wayne had already surpassed many of the NHL’s all-time marks, including assists and points. The challenge for Kings’ TV Play-by-Play voice and Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Miller with the goal record came down to capturing history in the proper light and being prepared for the moment.
“It was four or five years previous when he passed Gordie Howe (for the all-time record in points), when a friend of mine that summer had asked ‘what are you going to say when it happens?’” Miller recalled. “I said ‘well, I never really thought of saying anything except describing the play. Then I thought ‘maybe they expect me to add a little something to it.’ So when he passed Howe in points, I just said ‘the Great One has become the greatest of them all, the all-time leading scorer in the history of the National Hockey League.’
“Now on this night I thought ‘well, I’ve got to come up with something else to say because he was going to pass the goal scoring record.’ So when it happened, I said ‘the Great One’s NHL record book is now complete, he’s the all-time leader in points, assists and now in goals with his 802nd goal.’”
That goal would finally come with the assistance of teammates Luc Robitaille and Marty McSorely, sending the sold-out and celebrity-filled crowd into a frenzy.
“Kirk McLean, the Vancouver goaltender, was so far out of the net that it was just a wide open net for Wayne to score,” Miller said. “You would think he almost can’t miss this. And he didn’t miss it. There was a tremendous ovation. I remember Wayne with his hands in the air kind of doing a little dance.”
Though he became the all-time leading goal scorer in NHL history that night, the moment overshadowed the all-around game of Wayne and the pride he took in assisting his teammates and the greater team good.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t put (the goal record) up there with some of the others,” Jones said. “The record he broke as a King in Edmonton, the points record, I’d think that probably meant more to Wayne because it was points and he was more about points than goals, even though we all remember that night he scored five to make it 50 in 39 games and breaking Phil Esposito’s single season record and all that stuff.
“At the end of the day, Wayne was about being a playmaker more than a goal scorer, so I think those records probably meant more to him.”
Wayne would go on to tally 92 more goals beyond 802 before his retirement after the 1998-99 season. The current active leader in goals is New Jersey’s 40-year-old veteran Brendan Shanahan with 654. So while the memories of 802 for many are etched in stone, hockey fans wonder if 894 is a record that also needs to be set in stone.
“The way things have gone in the league, it’s a record that, I know it’s been said before, may never be broken,” Miller said. “I don’t think players nowadays are going to play long enough to score that many goals. Everybody that night was feeling that it was going to be a night we’d remember because of the anticipation of seeing an NHL record.”
Article by Don Schwartz, WG Authentic / Watch Video
