It was fourteen years after the fact, when the old war horse on defence retired, after a 19-year career which included six Stanley Cups.

Somebody asked what was his greatest thrill.

“May 19, 1984,” responded Kevin Lowe.

And then the tears came. In a flood. He looked at his wife Karen – the double bronze medal-winning downhill skier from the 1988 Olympic Winter Games – while his brother Ken, the trainer, brought him a bottle of water before he was able to go on.

“When Dave Lumley scored the empty-net goal …,” Lowe said, his voice breaking. “It was pretty unbelievable. When the puck went in the net – that moment will forever be in my mind.”

That’s now 25 years ago.

Kevin Lowe just turned 50.

Jari Kurri turns 49 the day before the anniversary.

Grant Fuhr and Kevin McClelland are 46. Paul Coffey is 47. Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson are 48.

Charlie Huddy and Andy Moog are 49. Ken Linseman and Pat Conacher are 50.

Dave Semenko and Dave Hunter are 51. Don Jackson is 52. Randy Gregg is 53. Dave Lumley and Pat Hughes are 54. Lee Fogolin is 55. Jaroslav Pouzar is 57. And Willy Lidstrom is 58.

Most of them were barely old enough to grow playoff beards back then. And now they’re celebrating the silver anniversary of winning the big silver trophy.

Funny what you remember about May 19, 1984.

I remember driving home from the Coliseum that night and getting pulled over by the cops in a checkstop. When I rolled the window down, the police officer was knocked back by the reek of champagne.

I hadn’t had a sip.

I was headed home to change clothes and drive back to the NHL’s post-series party.

Owner Peter Pocklington, with whom my popularity was not particularly high at that precise point, had taken the trouble to write my name on a bottle of champagne then proceeding to see that I wear the entire bottle.

Pocklington – who would later have his father Basil’s name engraved on the Stanley Cup only to have it XXXXXed out by the NHL – then proceeded to provide a quote to the drenched scribe.

“This is the most incredible high I’ve ever had in my life,” said the owner, who will be celebrating Tuesday’s silver anniversary under house arrest in California on million dollar bail provided by coach Glen Sather prior to going to trial on tax fraud.

“When I said we’d win the Stanley Cup in five years the day we got into the league, I said it because I was a naive fool. But that’s what I believed. And then that’s what we all believed,” said Pocklington.

To see Gretzky carry the Stanley Cup around the ice in front of a gone-mad Coliseum crowd after only five years of the team being in the NHL following the WHA merger was one thing. But to see what the Oilers had done to a dynasty in their first step toward becoming the league’s last dynasty, was something else again.

It wasn’t that long before that the NHL was a million miles away for Edmonton, the voice of Foster Hewitt on radio and then TV with the game coming on midway in the second period.

The closest it came was when the Detroit Red Wings held training camp in Edmonton and you could watch Gordie Howe and Terry Sawchuk play their Edmonton Flyers farm club.

Then one day Bill Hunter and pals invented the WHA and Howe was playing in games here. Then Gretzky showed up and then one night in Chicago, Gretzky, Messier, Fogolin, Hunter, Lumley and Semenko were playing their first game in Chicago Stadium.

And now it’s 25 years ago since they won their first Cup?

So much has happened since. But those five years before they won that Cup, were hardly uneventful either.

There was Gretzky, first and foremost, breaking all those records, including scoring 50 goals in 39 games, the team making the playoffs that first year, losing out to the Philadelphia Flyers who virtually lined up to testify about the fabulous future in front of these kids.

SINGING ON THE BENCH

There was sweeping the Montreal Canadiens the next year and singing on the bench in their second round series in Long Island against the Stanley Cup-winning Islanders.

There was the weak-kneed wimp Miracle On Manchester setback, blowing a 5-0 lead and the series against the Los Angeles Kings the following year.

And there was getting to the 1983 final, and losing to the Islanders in a four-game sweep, a lesson which taught them how to win – Gretzky later recalled walking by the Islanders room and noticing that they were exhausted and wounded while the Oilers felt fine.

Fogolin transferred the captaincy to Gretzky in the fall of the 1983-84 season and when they started the playoffs, Sather not only had John Muckler and Ted Green as assistant coaches but, in a moment forgotten by many, he added the temporarily unemployed Roger ‘Captain Video’ Neilson to work the film room for the playoffs.

The Oilers easily disposed of the Winnipeg Jets in the first round but were pushed to Game 7 during a fabulous playoff series against the Calgary Flames with Gretzky declaring: “There’s going to be a rivalry now for sure.”

After sweeping the Minnesota North Stars in the third round, the Oilers had earned a rematch with the Islanders in the Stanley Cup final.

It was the Islanders’ ‘Drive For Five’ vs. the Oilers’ ‘Run For One.’ Or Billy vs. ‘The Kid,’ named for goalie Billy Smith vs. Gretzky.

Fuhr was great, stopping 34 shots and McClelland scored the goal to win 1-0 in Game 1 on the Island.

While the Oilers lost 6-1 in Game 2, the series involved the 2-3-2 World Series format that year so the Oilers headed home for three.

Led by Messier with two goals, the Oilers won Game 3 by a 7-2 count.

“I’ve never heard a crowd like this in Edmonton for a constant 60 minutes,” said Messier of the inspiration.

It was 7-2 again in Game 3 with Fuhr out with a shoulder injury and Andy Moog in the rest of the way.

The Oilers won Game 5 by a score of 5-2.

During the three games in Edmonton, the Oilers outscored the Islanders 19-6. The defending champions had not only been nudged off the throne, they’d been blown away and the sign on the dressing room wall said it all: “The Drive For Five Is No Longer Alive because the Thirst For First shall be quenched tonight.”

In that dressing room when it was over were more people than a dressing room can hold. It was an insane scene of family, friends, politicians and the nation’s sports media.

And everybody was drenched. Those who weren’t were taken care of by Gregg, who went around the room looking for candidates, shouting ‘You’re too dry!’

MESS WAS A MESS

Messier was crying.

Not only had he won the Stanley Cup but he was such a force they gave him the Conn Smythe Trophy too.

“Messier’s goal in Game 3 turned us into the team we had to be,” said Coffey.

“The Calgary series made all the difference,” said Lowe. “Right there. That was the time and place. That’s where we grew up. That’s where we acquired the mental toughness to win the Stanley Cup.”

Sather mentioned the World Hockey Association.

“I’m proud to have been in that league. People like Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson showed us a lot about creative hockey. It started there.”

Edmonton went crazy. The oil capital of Canada became the hockey capital of Canada. A crowd of between 100,000 and 200,000 (Police told Mayor Laurence Decore it was the latter) attended the biggest single parade ever held in Edmonton.

And thanks to the Oilers and a bet between mayors, 36 Long Island Ducks were moving to Edmonton’s Storyland Valley Zoo.

In the column I wrote while dripping with champagne that night was the following paragraph:

“Edmonton had tasted winning before but never like this. The Grey Cups were great. But uh-uh. No way. Not even close. That was the greatest single sports experience the unbelievably fortunate sports city – Canada’s City of Champions – has ever seen.”

Soon there would be signs on the outskirts of town declaring Edmonton the City of Champions.

After all that’s happened in Edmonton over the years, it’s hard to top what we witnessed that night on May, 19th, 1984.

Terry Jones appears courtesy of the Edmonton Sun

Other banner-raisings have been more momentous.

And others were more emotional than when Glenn Anderson’s No. 9 finally went up to the rafters at Rexall Place last night.

But what made this one extraordinarily memorable was the players from the past who showed up to be there for the player who had to wait the longest to get there.

“Everybody was there,” said Anderson when it was over.

“It was tough to hold back the emotions. They were right there with you,” said Anderson.

No. 9 said he’s glad he didn’t have the banner-raising before his Hockey Hall of Fame induction.

“If it had been the other way around, I don’t think I’d have been able to go through my speech.

“It was amazing to have them all there. I think we showed the strength of the organization and the team we had and what we meant to each other. Everything was overwhelming,” said Anderson.

“It was a real good feeling,” said Glen Sather of being out there with all his players of the past.

“It’s nice to see everyone back here. This is what it’s all about,” said Wayne Gretzky.

The Oilers do banner-raisings better than anybody, but after you’ve done Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr and Al Hamilton, how do you top that with the one guy who had been overlooked by the Hockey Hall of Fame for so long?

Simple. Play the theme from the Magnificent Seven and introduce them one by one. Then cut to the Zamboni entrance where No. 9 stood in the dry-ice fog, his back to the crowd.

Except that wasn’t Glenn Anderson.

It was the Edmonton Oil Kings’ Drew Nichol.

“I got to be Glenn Anderson. And I get to keep the uniform,” said the Oil Kings tough guy.

The spotlight then hit the Oilers bench. And the real Glenn Anderson stood up, jumped over the boards and began a slow trip around the rink, waving to the crowd, many of whom were sitting in the same seats when he was scoring more game-winning goals, than any player in Oilers’ history.

There were lots of little touches, like Anderson stopping to pick up his six-year-old daughter Autumn, and to have a special moment with wife Susan and his dad Magnus who, despite his health, was able to make it after not being able to attend his Hall of Fame induction in November.

Anderson shook hands with Sather and John Muckler, who Gretzky put to work behind the Phoenix Coyotes bench as a coach for the occasion.

One by one, he did the same with every former teammate.

Eventually, Anderson took his place to watch No. 9 make the slow trip to the top of Rexall Place, the crowd standing from beginning to end when, taking a page from the Coffey banner-raising, they called on Messier to send Anderson a pass on the right side to break in on the net and score.

The only thing that might have made it better was if Billy Smith had been in the goal in a New York Islanders uniform, slashing him with his goal stick as Anderson crashed the crease to score.

Oilers president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe gave the banner-raising speech.

“Glenn, it’s nice to see you back in that uniform,” he said.

“And it’s terrific to see all these other guys. We haven’t had as many of these guys on the ice at the same time since the Heritage Classic.

“I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever get to have this celebration,” he said of the time Anderson had to wait to finally make it into the Hockey Hall.”

He spoke of Anderson’s “courage, guts and bravery” and how “when it came to crunch time, there was never anybody any better.”

“As much as Glenn marched to his own drummer, when the chips were down, we knew Glenn would deliver.”

Lowe ended it by saying, “Tonight, I hope this makes your dream come true.”

Messier’s eyes were wet as he listened to Anderson start his speech.

“It was a lot easier watching someone else,” said Messier, who was the focus of the previous banner-raising.

“He was nervous before it. As we waited for it to start, you could tell the moment got bigger and bigger.”

Messier said he wouldn’t have missed this.

“We played on the same line, roomed together on the road, lived together here in town.

“To me, he’s my brother.

“We’re all like brothers. To look out there at all our guys together again, it felt like we should still be playing,” he said.

Anderson told the crowd, “It’s great to be back in this uniform again. This jersey represents home and home is where the heart is. Right here is where my heart is.”

His last comments he saved for the fans.

“You are the greatest hockey fans in the world,” he said. “We had the time of our lives here.”

Last night was another of those times.

Terry Jones appears courtesy of the Edmonton Sun

You got spoiled if you were a fan. Every night the expectations were high, nothing but a win. Nothing but a blowout win. Try being a goalie, or a defenseman against that squad.

Today, there is another unique, dynamic player entering the Hall of Fame and it is the right call by the selection committee, just slightly overdue. Anderson was a gifted, free spirit off the ice and a competitive, free wheeling big time player on it. Maybe his loose and off beat personality kept his 498 regular season goals out of the Hall for this long, who knows. He was nearly a point per game when it mattered most, the postseason. He scored big goals at big times. Clearly a difference maker, but hidden somewhat behind the other big 3 up front.

Make no mistake, every dynasty has layers of great players, all put in a position to succeed. Would Glenn Anderson have been able to carry the mail for that franchise if he was the lone, go-to guy? Not likely. The team was put together with solid drafting and a timely WHA sale with the Greatest player ever. Up the middle its Gretzky and Messier. Patrolling the wings its Kurri and Anderson. On the bleuline, its Lowe and Coffey. In the net it is Fuhr and Moog.

Everything has its order. The players all have their rightful place in the line up and the coaches have the right players to put in match ups against any style of team. You ask any of their coaches and they will tell you they could all play defense when they had to. They could win 2-1 when they needed to. And it was the star players that bought in and sold it to the rest of them. Anderson was unique. He was a winger that would challenge you with speed, tenacity and an edge that bordered on reckless and careless, especially with his stick.

I remember the 1st game I played in Edmonton and the Oilers were coming at us pretty good. As a goalie, studying the likes of Gretz and Messier were one thing. You knew Mess liked to shoot the puck on his “wrong” foot, across the grain to the far side. He was looking for the goalie to be slightly off his angle and by shooting early in a game, he got you thinking he would do it all the time. It backed you off.

Gretz was simply amazing in the way he found the late man, especially on the weak side of the ice. He put pucks where he just came from, always against the flow, causing you to turn your head, if just for a split second. Impossible to defend against.

Anderson could dipsy doodle, beat you with speed or simply run over you. He ran into me so hard that night in Edmonton, I thought I was going right through the mesh in the net. He set a tone. He wanted to know if I would challenge him the next time, or would I get deep in the net and play passively?

I recently spoke with Hall of Fame defenseman Denis Potvin about Anderson. I got the feeling Denis originally felt Anderson might be a little ’soft’ in the tenacious department. But Potvin said he went at Anderson pretty good one night, and Potvin was one tough player, especially when he buried the heavy wooden Titan in your back or mid section. He goes right at Anderson and gets him good. Anderson didn’t back down. He knew he had to earn space and respect in the scoring areas and came back at Potvin with a discreet, timely crosscheck to his back. He stood up to him and that caught Potvins and the rest of the Islanders attention.

The game hasn’t changed that much. You have to show the veteran, tough players you aren’t afraid. If you are, they know it right then and soon the entire team knows about it and that is how soft players get a reputation as being, well, soft players. Not Anderson.

He was unique. He wanted the puck in big games and he delivered. Welcome to the Hall of Fame Glenn Anderson.

For Gretzky.com, I’m Darren Pang 40

The game, featuring a record total of 19 Honoured Members, will be played Sunday, November 9 at 2pm at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

“Stepping on to the ice again with Mark, Paul and Jari will be a real thrill,” said Glenn who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, November 10. “It’s a great honour to have the support system back in place as we once did.”

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