Today, on the 3rd day of 2021, I’ve got three historic Edmonton Oilers clips for you to watch. Trust me, you’re going to dig these!
The first one should be familiar to most of the club’s vintage fans. It features a very young Wayne Gretzky facing his first bit of adversity in the NHL in a game on January 3rd, 1981.
Hint: You never go East-to-West at the opposition’s blueline with your head down…
The fella that hammered The Great One in that clip was named Bill McCreary, right? I always that it was the official of the same name, but as things turn out, they’re cousins! I guess that family’s not much into originality when it comes to naming the kinder.
Now, there’s some speculation that Gretzky deserved that hit thanks to him attempting to slew foot Maple Leafs forward Laurie Boschman earlier in the game. A move that went unpenalized and also started a bit of a fracas. I’ll let you be the judge of that and if you’re more familiar with this game, please let us know what the real story is in the comments below!
The next three clips are from a real epic battle between the Oilers and the Dallas Stars on the evening of January 3rd, 2009.
What you’re about to watch is three real old-school scraps featuring Jason Strudwick, Zack Stortini, and “Pancakes” Penner.
I can’t remember the last time we saw three separate fights in an Oilers game. I mean, that one massive Battle of Alberta game last season had three at one time (Tkachuk/Bear, Smith/Talbot, Lindholm/Chiasson).
What jumped out at me in a couple of those scraps was Barch’s ability to go the distance in both of those scraps above. His arms must’ve felt like a couple of soggy pieces of spaghetti that night. He took on a couple of real heavyweights and didn’t even stop to think about it and how strong was Dustin Penner before he went insane? He flipped Landon Wilson over like he was a Sunday morning flapjack…
Just like Kass protects his boys, you can protect yourself with this sweet mask! Click the pic and get yours today!Classic Captain Wendel taking care of business once more! Click the pic and grab a shirt for yourself!Pick up the NEW “Beat His Ass” shirt right now!!
I was not even 2 years old when Wayne Gretzky gathered the puck in his own end from a Glenn Anderson pass, drove forward into the neutral zone uncontested, cut back on Philadelphia Flyers legend Bill Barber at Philly’s blue line, and with the softest touch, sauced into the open net his 50th goal in 39 games; absolutely laying waste to an NHL record that Islanders sniper Mike Bossy had tied the season previous with three seconds left on the clock.
“Gretzky captured the imagination of Oilers and hockey fans at that time. We all knew that special things were going to happen and with Wayne it was a constant barrage of unbelievable accomplishments that at the time were tough to really comprehend. His 50 in 39 really cemented Wayne as the undisputed greatest player in the game. The whole hockey world was in awe. The people who were detractors to that point were forever silenced.”
Click the image above to enter this sweet contest!
“Still remember that Dec. 30, 1981 night, covering the game which dates me…Gretzky had 5 goals, could have had eight or nine. Pete Peeters was in net for Flyers, didn’t want to get pulled for extra skater in last minute. If Gretzky was getting his 50th, Pete wanted to be on ice.”
After digging about, I found it very interesting that in game 38, a game against the Los Angeles Kings, Gretzky started the game with 41 goals… If you’re doing the math, that means The Great One had to score 9 goals within the time restraints of those two games in order to beat the record.
Unbreakable.
Now watch (or re-watch) the game in its entirety and really immerse yourself in this classic piece of NHL history.
At the time, this is what pundits and players were saying about the feat,
“Make no mistake. It wasn’t just another Great Gretzky game last night. It was the greatest hockey game ever played by the greatest player in the history of the game to break the greatest record ever set in the game. Nothing less than that.” – Terry Jones (Edmonton Journal)
“Things like this aren’t supposed to happen,” – Oiler defenceman Paul Coffey
“Mr. Waynederful needed five goals for the fastest 50 in history — and he got them all” – Jim Matheson (Edmonton Journal)
“At least with (Bobby) Orr, you’d see him wind up in his own end and you could try to set up some kind of defence to stop him. Gretzky just comes out of nowhere … it’s scary.” – Flyers Captain Bobby Clarke
Do you think that anybody will ever break this record? Let us know in the comments below!
BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Ryan Strome, a million-dollar rookie card, Nick Robertson, Mike Babcock, and some hearsay from NHL Insider extraordinaire Elliotte Friedman!
“Ryan Strome, the No. 2 center at the moment, and Panarin’s most likely partner, just signed a two-year deal. He is almost certain to be traded by the ’21-22 trade deadline, though, because by then the Rangers will either be sure he isn’t a legit No. 2 center going forward or his Panarin-driven stats will be so good that they can’t afford to re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Unless Strome starts putting up 80pts/yr, I believe he’s hit his ceiling with regards to how much he’ll be making. The Rangers should just sit down with him and see what he wants. I mean, if I were him, I can see the writing on the wall, but I can also see what the future holds for the Rangers. He’s still young and there might be a chance he’ll be centering Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko one day… Would you take a hair cut to play with those talents every night?
Sportsnet: Last Friday, The Great One’s 1979 O-Pee-Chee Edmonton Oilers rookie card sold for a record-breaking $1.032 million… More than 20 years after his last game, Wayne Gretzky is still breaking records.
“Top-end talent stacks up really well in the all-Canadian division.” But, that’s where the advantages stop. Vancouver’s top six and top four are in the top half of the expected Canadian division. At the top of the lineup, they’re probably the second-best team in the country. … At the bottom end of the lineup though, well, the Canucks look like Ottawa West.”
BLH’s Thoughts: GM Jim Benning kinda spit the bit this summer when he let Tyler Toffoli, Chris Tanev, and Jacob Markstrom go for nothing… That being said, this team has a lot of heart to go with its remaining skill (which is nothing to joke about). I can see them taking a step back this year but coming back strong next season.
Bob McKenzie (TSN): Says Team USA could be without star forward Nick Robertson because the Toronto Maple Leafs want him at NHL Training camp. The situation is ongoing.
BLH’s Thoughts:The US team is still pretty stacked with Trevor Zegras (ANA), Matt Boldy (MIN), Cole Caufield (MTL), John Beecher (BOS), Alex Turcotte (LA), and Brendan Brisson (VGK)… Plus they’ve got a really good goalie in Spencer Knight (FLA) and a stud on defence with Jake Sanderson (OTT). They’ll put up a good fight at the 2021 World Juniors.
Elliotte Friedman (Sportsnet): Says ex-Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock was a finalist for the coaching job in Washington.
“They interviewed Babcock and I heard heard Babcock’s interview was fantastic. The Story I was told was at the time you were allowed to do it, there were no travel restrictions but Caps GM Brian MacLellan met Babcock at his place and apparently they had an unbelievable meeting and there were some people who told me they thought that Babcock was going to get that job.”
“One of the things that worried Washington was the noise around Babcock from how it ended in Toronto and they weren’t prepared to deal with that.”
“I think he’s going to be coaching in the NHL in the future.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Seattle? They could do a lot worse than Babcock, to be honest. But unless he’s rehabbed his image a bit, will the fanbase in that area accept someone like Babs or is that franchise willing to hire someone with the kind of reputation that Babcock has?
Friedman on the Pacioretty Rumors: “I think what’s going on there is, after they made the Nate Schmidt deal they only needed to make one more deal to get cap compliant. They’ve been looking at some things trying to create some flexibility. I think they’ve put a few names out there. I heard Ale Martinez’s name but I don’t think that’s going on anymore. Jonathan Marchessault’s name is out there. I heard Nashville was talking about Marchessault.”
“The toughest thing with Pacioretty is the number. It’s three times $7M now and a lot of teams don’t have that flexibility right now.”
BLH’s Thoughts: I’d like to say that I’m happy that somebody else has taken over the daily rumor notifications from Mike Hoffman, but I’m not sure I am. That said, if there’s any truth to the idea that in-season trading between American and Canadian teams might be close to non-existent due to the border being closed and local health protocols, should we expect a massive wave of transactions prior to camp getting started?
Friedman on the proposed NHL season start date: “There are people in the league that don’t believe they’ll start Jan. 13th.”
BLH’s Thoughts: I would be surprised if there weren’t any hiccups leading up to that supposed target date. The COVID #s aren’t slowing down at all in North America and my guess is it’ll be a while until they do. Would the summer time be a fair prediction as to when things start to look better?
For this evening’s hockey viewing pleasure, in its entirety (old school commercials and all), we bring you a New Year’s Eve World Junior Hockey classic from 1977 between Team Canada and Team CSSR (Czechoslovakia) featuring two future Edmonton Oilers, a 16yr old by the name of Wayne Gretzky and another teenager called Miroslav Frycer.
Gretzky only played in one of these tournaments, but he ended it by leading the competition in scoring with 17 points (8g 9a) and being awarded forward of the tournament. He was also named to the Media All-Star team alongside Alexander Tyzhnykh (G), Risto Siltanen (D), Slava Fetisov, Anton Stastny (F), and Mats Naslund (F).
There’s a rumor out there that Gretzky might not have even been invited to the Team Canada selection camp if Bill Derlago, who scored 96 goals the previous season with the Brandon Wheat Kings, didn’t break his leg a month before the start of the tournament.
I bet Hockey Canada is glad they did invite him though…
Other names you’ll notice in this particular game that you’re about to watch are Wayne Babych, Rick Vaive, Mike Gartner, Bobby Smith, as well as Anton Stastny for the Czechs.
Last night as I was reading articles on what the Edmonton Oilers need to do with regards to the hiring of their new GM and listening to the countless podcasts on the same subject, I came to a realization that nobody (in the main stream media) has brought up Bill Scott’s name.
Bill Scott’s title within the organization is, Director of Salary Cap Management and Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations.
We’ll get to why this means nothing later on but I think the following point has to be made anyhow. This is the man that was put in charge of the Oilers salary cap. He is the teams “Capologist” if you will. His job entails knowing the ins and outs of the CBA and he’s supposedly an “expert” in this aspect. He graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management.
Click the pic and grab a 16-bit McDavid tee!
So, if the Oilers are in salary cap “Hell”, then why hasn’t this gentleman’s name not been thrown onto the hot seat at ANY point in the last three odd years?
The history on Scott on the Oilers goes back a few years. He was the GM of the Oilers’ farm team for four seasons from 2010-2014 before being brought on as assistant general manager to, at the time, Craig MacTavish. Then in 2016, Peter Chiarelli brought in Keith Gretzky to replace Bill Scott. Scott was then “demoted” to director of salary cap management and assistant to the POHO (Chiarelli).
Why This Doesn’t Matter
I asked a number of my sources what the deal was here is the best response I was handed,
Bill Scott is being audited by Bob Nicholson. Scott also never had a ton of input. At the end of the day, it was Peter Chiarelli making the calls.
MacT, Howson, and Bob Green BRAINSTORMED on the pro scouting and Green himself on the amateur side.
A lot of talk about “What’s in the water” in Edmonton since Bob Nicholson gave us that iconic quote. Is it all of the extra voices around the club? More from a source of mine that is close to the club,
Lowe listens because he is an Oilers fan but at the end of the day, he has ABSOLUTELY no input regarding decisions.
The “old boys club” DOES exist but not as the fans think it does. Kevin Lowe has not been involved with the hockey decisions ever since Nicholson has taken over.
But I can tell you RIGHT NOW. The ONLY men involved on the hockey side is Nicholson (CEO of OEG and leader on business AND hockey until he hires a POHO) MacT for hockey, Howson for hockey and Bob Green for pro and amateur hockey. Lowe is NOT involved on the hockey side.
As Elliotte Friedman said in the latest episode of the 31 Thoughts podcast, These old Oilers know exactly how they’re perceived in Edmonton and for me, I think they’re considering their positions within the club and whether to stay or not.
My feeling is that we will see a purging of those ex-Oilers when the new GM comes in. I’m not even sure if Keith Gretzky is safe despite his fine job with the scouting but maybe a new boss comes in and simply puts him in a more suitable role, like Director of Amateur Scouting.
A lot of fans are getting on the case of the pro scouting department and I’m not sure that’s the right direction for their fury. They’ve only got two pro scouts listed on the Oilers website, Paul Messier and Chris Cichocki. How much can two guys really do? I say, add more pro scouts, get more manpower out there attempting to discover the underappreciated players that could be had.
Pierre LeBrun and Elliotte Friedman both spoke about hockey teams putting more focus on sports science and analytics. I would hope Edmonton would dig in a bit more here too.
That might sound hypocritical of me to say if you follow me on Twitter, but I dig into the computer boys on that platform because, for the most part, they’re dicks. NOT ALL OF THEM. I’m not saying that. I’m saying that because I feel there’s a use for the advanced metrics, I use them in my posts all the time. I guess for me, I could do without the online personalities and egos.
Then again, maybe I should just “man up” and “deal with it”…
Trade Deadline Plans
Recent names coming to the forefront are players like Andreas Athanasiou, Ryan Dzingel, Daniel Carr, Charles Hudon, etc. I think it’s fair to say the team is looking to get back to what made it successful in the past, speed and hard work.
I have a feeling they’re going to find a beneficial way out of Lucic’s contract in an attempt to put themselves in a position to be in the running for Michael Ferland. Not sure how they’ll accomplish that mind you.
#PayDecker Debacle
This incarnation of the NHL All-Star game format has one plus, the 3-on-3 portion. The rest is garbage. I mean how can you only have FOUR contestants for the hardest shot contest? And how boring was the passing contest? I’m happy Leon won it but fack…
Speaking of the passing contest, it came out after the All-Star competition that Brianna Decker had performed three seconds better than Leon Draisaitl and a massive campaign to get her recognized for the accomplishment flooded hockey Twitter.
(NHL skills comp, a female player won the passing comp by 3secs, but the guy given the title & $25k despite being beaten by this amazing player, Brianna Decker, and despite earning 327x more than her, so $25k is a drop in his ocean…) https://t.co/E5ZzajwpZS
Bitter much? Here’s what Leon Draisaitl had to say,
Brianna Decker:
“Karlsson went after me, so I was like, ‘OK, I think I might have beaten him,’ but I didn’t know how long it took me. I was just casually going through the demo."
Leon Draisaitl:
“She beat me? Wow. That’s really impressive. Good for her.”#PayDecker
Oh shit… So she didn’t beat Leon after all. That sucks for the #PayDecker movement… I guess.
And while we are on the subject, Brianna Decker was incredible in the passing drill. She deserves as much recognition as she can get. But she wasn't competing, the rules were different for her on the breakout pass, and the targeted lights (manually operated) were not the same.
Maybe the NHL knew this all along but that’s not important here. CCM paid her and the NHL is also going to donate 25k to both the American and Canadian women’s national team players who participated. Everyone’s a winner! Right?
#NHL is donating $25,000 each to the charities of the choice of the American and Canadian women’s national team players who participated in Friday night’s #NHLAllStar Skills.
For what it’s worth, I thought Kendall Coyne Schofield was the most impressive. Fack can she fly! I wish I’d have seen the other ladies participate but I did not, sadly.
So here’s my suggestion, why not include the ladies in the actual 3-on-3 event? They’ve proven they’re nearly on par with the men, so why not promote inclusion by having a lady on every team? What about having a team of ladies comprised of the best female hockey players across the globe?
In Taiwan, I play hockey on a team with three members of the women’s national team and they are just as good as the men, if not better. Last year, I was on a men’s team and we had a series of games against the women’s national team that was VERY competitive.
The game is growing despite gender and I say the NHL does even more in the future to include everyone.
What are your thoughts?
A new season means a new design! Click the image above to get the new Pulju shirt!Elias Pettersson’s nickname is “Alien”. Here’s a shirt to celebrate it! Click the image to buy one!The Vegas Golden Misfits are going to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018!!! Love ’em or hate ’em it’s an amazing story and this is one punk rocker’s way of giving tribute! Click the pic above and get yours today!
