CHAPTER ONE ? May 24th, 1988 to October 13th, 1988
It all started with a Grade Six project at Sir Alexander MacKenzie school in St. Albert.
The cream of the crop of the three-year-old World Hockey Association were gathering in Edmonton to train for their upcoming eight-game series with the Soviets.
For whatever reason, my teacher decided that we all had to put together a scrapbook chronicling the second Summit Series.
That was right in my wheel-house; I had already begun clipping hockey articles from the Edmonton Journal, but now I had a purpose, a motivation.
Plus it beat the hell out of math.
Forty plus years later, I can?t recall what mark I got for my scrapbook, nor can I locate it, but it did start a craze that thankfully I weaned myself off of when I moved to Toronto in the early 90?s.
The need to chronicle, to capture, to freeze in time, every major (and many minor) event in hockey.
Keep in mind, all this cutting, and pasting, and storing, went on well before the U.S. Military permitted the rest of us to jump on board the Information Superhighway.
These days, all ya gotta do is go over to hockeydb.com, and practically everything a hockey fan would desire is there.
Great website.? Use it often.
But it isn?t as much fun as scanning the newspaper for arcane hockey information, and proudly pasting it into a scrapbook, another fish reeled in.
Over the decades, I had lost track of what became of my hockey (and baseball) treasure troves.? The need to refer to them had long since dissipated, even though I now worked in the sports business, and it would only be natural that I might reference them.
Again, the internet made all that pass?.
But it might be fun to stumble across them, and let my fingers do the walking through some hockey history, as it occurred, without the benefit of hindsight, without the fog of time.
That opportunity came about this past July, when the family flew the friendly skies with Air Canada, and went out to Calgary to help celebrate my Mom?s 70th birthday.
It was the first (and probably only) time all her children, and grandchildren, were gathered in one spot.
After endless sessions of water gun fights, touch football games, and Plants vs. Zombies marathons, I took a stroll down to the basement, and spent a wonderful hour digging through some of the boxes of stuff I had sent to Calgary when my Mom moved there in 1991.
Most of the good stuff (hockey book, O-Pee-Chee cards, Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues) I had scooped up long ago, taking them back with me to Toronto.
Still, there was gold in dem der hills, and after perusing a veritable library of baseball books, old film compendiums, and my university essay collection, I found a box I apparently hadn?t opened since it landed here two decades ago.
Ripping off the still potent packing tape, I discovered the cache of sports scrapbooks.
A dog?s breakfast of multi-coloured covers, and filled to the brim with carefully cut out newsprint from yesteryear.
One scrapbook dealt with the 1986 pennant races, and the subsequent post-season.? Still, pound for pound, my favourite MLB October ever, even though I detest both the Red Sox and the Mets.
Another covered the NHL from 1984 onwards, as did another, and another.
Most of these time machines sported gaudy yellow cover with some F1 car on it.? That ?s just the way they came; I probably bought four for a dollar from Big Bud?s on Bank Street in Ottawa.
But one scrapbook stood out from all the rest.
It wasn?t the 1974 WHA book; never did locate that one.
It looked like an overstuffed bankers book, teeming with hockey knowledge and untold other riches.
That?s the one I elected to take home with me on the plane, hoping it wouldn?t put my suitcase over the weight limit (it didn?t), or set off alarm bells with the wife as the thin edge of the nostalgia paper glut wedge (so far so good).
This particular scrapbook covers the period from May 24th, 1988 to March 25th, 1989.
Basically the Wayne Gretzky Trade.
The last Oilers? cup with the Great One, and the march towards the subsequent playoffs.
The very first article, by Tom Casey of the Ottawa Citizen, goes through the previous night?s 6-3 win by Edmonton over Reggie Lemelin and the Boston Bruins.
Turns out Gretzky had a mediocre night that night.? Only four assists.
The win gave the Oilers the upper hand in the 1988 Stanley Cup Final, putting them up 3 games to none.
Much was made in the article about how the high flying Oilers successfully adapted to the smaller Bruins? ice surface.
Ahh, the good old days, before cookie cutter arenas.
Little did anyone know what would transpire in Game Four.
Again, an article by Tom Casey chronicles one of the craziest nights in NHL playoff history.
May 24th, 1988.
That?s The Night The Lights Went Out In Boston.
A power failure led to Game Four being suspended, with 3:23 remaining in the second period.
My scrapbook contains all the pertinent commentary on the historic event, and the abbreviated game summary.
The record shows that Craig Simpson of the Oilers tied the game up at 3 goals apiece with a power play marker not all that long before the power blew.
NHL President John Ziegler called the game after only a 15 minute delay.? The heat in the old Garden was insufferable that evening, and the players had to skate around on a couple of occasions to get rid of the fog on the ice.
Edmonton scout Barry Fraser famously quipped that ?They should bomb this place?.
Eventually they would, in a sense.
Lynn McAuley of the Ottawa Citizen wrote a fine piece titled ?The Stanley Cup Has Seen It All?, listing some of the crazy things the old mug has gone through.
Remember this was Game Four.? The Cup was in the hot, muggy building that night.
Wayne Gretzky is quoted on May 25th, saying ?It was unfortunate something like this had to happen in the fourth game of a Stanley Cup final?it tarnishes everything because the hockey has been good, tough, hard and fast, but no brawls?.
See, even the Great One called it the final, not the finals.? Cased closed.
Southam News ran a piece on May 26th, saying Canadians think the quality of the NHL has deteriorated.
Geesh, what else is new?
Apparently Canadian hockey fans thought the level of play was substandard, down from earlier years.? Two third of those older than 55 really disliked the hockey, as they waddled away for their umpteenth bathroom break.? Only half of those between the ages of 18 and 35 agreed.
They?d all have something bigger to complain about once the mid-90?s arrived.
There?s a smattering of articles detailing the league scrambling to get the Cup Final back on track.? It was agreed that Game Four would be played in Edmonton.? It would start with the first period, and no score.
At home, again, the Oilers wrapped up their fourth Stanley Cup in five years, the final one with Wayne Gretzky in the lineup.? The final Cup win for Gretzky.? Not that many people knew that at the time.
One of those people who knew was veteran hockey writer Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette.? The trusty old scrapbook doesn?t have a reference to that, but it does contain a June 2nd article about the Canadiens hiring Pat Burns at the 17th head coach in franchise history.
(First though, notice the Stanley Cup Final ended before June.? The way it should still be).
Much was made of the decision to take Burns over former Quebec Nordiques head coach Michel Bergeron.? That same debate would occur again in 1992, when Burns jumped ship to Toronto, and Montreal went with Jacques Demers behind the bench.
Mike Milbury is quoted in the article.? He was the coach and GM of the AHL Maine Mariners, and spoke of run ins he had that past season with Burns when he was at the helm of the Sherbrooke Canadiens.? There was no mention of Milbury looking to sign an 8-year-old Rick DiPietro to a 15-year contract.
Around that same time (I forgot to write an exact date on the article), the Philadelphia Flyers named Paul Holmgren as their new head coach.? He was the youngest coach in the league at the time, only 32 years old.
A hockey note from June 2nd has Montreal attempting to trade for the Number Two overall selection in the 1989 Entry Draft.? It belonged to Vancouver.? Montreal was said to be coveting Hull Olympics winger Martin Gelinas.
As it turned out, Vancouver ended up drafting 8th overall, taking defenceman Jason Herter, who played all of one game in the NHL, though he did pick up as assist.
Hall-of-Famer Mats Sundin went first overall to Quebec, while Montreal took winger Lindsay Vallis with the 13th overall pick.? Vallis also played one game in the NHL.
There is a brief article about former NHL?er Brian Spencer, saying he was shot and killed in Riviera Beach, Florida, and Bob Gainey was expected to sign a one-year contract with Montreal.
A big, colourful shot of Mario Lemieux with the Hart and Art Ross Trophies appeared on June 9th, summing up the NHL Awards held the night before.? Lemieux called Gretzky the greatest player in hockey, and cited the 1987 Canada Cup as his career highlight, even more so than winning the Hart.
Lemieux was still two years away from his first of two Stanley Cups.
I clipped out the complete list of the Ontario Hockey League draft, dated May 31st.? For the record, Kingston took defenceman Drake Berehowksy first overall.
Under a photo of a beaming Wayne Gretzky with the Stanley Cup and his soon-to-be bride Janet, is an article by Malcolm Gray and Geoff Ellwand, discussing the suddenly real possibility that Soviet hockey stars might be able to ply their in the National Hockey League.
Such a development, or even the whiff of one, was practically unthinkable even a couple of years before, but stand-out defenceman Vyacheslav Fetisov is quoted as saying, ?I want to play in the NHL this fall?.
That wouldn?t happen, though Sergei Priakin would end up with the Calgary Flames within the year, a trickle which led to a breaking of the Iron Dam, and Fetisov would end up in a Devils? uniform.
This scrapbook ends up reading like a homemade version of People magazine, what with all the pre-wedding talk in Gretzkyland; a number of articles talk about the upcoming Canadian Royal Wedding.
On June 14th, Vernon Smith of the Ottawa Citizen did a great piece on former NHL enforcer Steve Durbano, and what he was up to in Fenwick, Ontario.
Turns out the old Blues/Penguins/Scouts? basher was working at the Riverview Golf Club, a place he had been at since being released from prison in 1985.? The golf club was owned by his father and brother.
After battling drug addiction for years, Durbano was trying to turn his life around.?? He made the scandalous statement that up to 25% of NHL players were on some sort of drug while he played in the league.
Things didn?t end well for Durbano, who passed away in November of 2002 due to liver cancer.
Then the scrapbook goes silent for about two months.
There?s one solitary page of news and notes; 41-year-old Nick Beverly is now the L.A. Kings director of player personnel and development, Mark Hardy traded by the Rangers to the Minnesota North Stars, but nothing substantial.
Until August 9th.
An article from the Canadian Press, originating from La Presse in Montreal, made the outrageous claim that a ?Deal To Send Gretzky to L.A. completed?.
La Presse quoted Hull Olympics Director of Operations Charlie Henry as saying ?all that remains to be decided is the date of the news conference?.
Predictably, Oilers? owner (and soon to be villain) Peter Pocklington denied the rumours.
Henry knew what he was talking about.? He nailed what the compensation would be for the Oilers.? Henry had a direct pipeline to the source; Gretzky owned the Olympics.
Kings? soon-to-be legend Luc Robitaille had the best line; ?I?ve read about the trade in the newspapers here.? The important thing is that I?m not getting traded?.
Keith Olbermann gets named in the article.? The then KTLA-TV sports directors is quoted as saying Gretzky and Kings? owner Bruce McNall have been seen together recently, and that the Great One had been dropping hints he might be on the move to Los Angeles.
Then came August 10th.
That?s the date of the flood of front page headlines all screaming that Edmonton Oilers superstar Wayne Gretzky had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings.
?Weeping Gretzky bids Oilers adieu?, read one headline.
?Edmonton mourns hockey?s biggest trade?, went another.
Shots began to be taken at Mrs. Gretzky, who was being compared to Lady Macbeth, and Yoko Ono.
The best line goes to Bob Plager, then the St. Louis Blues Director of Player Development.? Turns out Janet Gretzky was originally from St. Louis. ?Plager, picking up on that, said ?If Janet moves back to St. Louis, maybe we can get him next?.
They did.
It would be another eight years before Gretzky would don the threads of the Blues.
Peter Pocklington is quoted as saying ?Wayne has an ego the size of Manhattan?, and offered to swear an oath that Wayne initiated the trade, not him.
Hmm, what does his book say all these years later?
Even the Soviets weighed in on The Trade.? In a Canadian Press article dated August 15th, the Tass News agency states the Gretzky is the best player in the world, and Soviet hockey players and fans were still shocked by the transaction.? Tass stated the trade was completed to allow his wife to pursue her acting career.
So, did anything else happen in the NHL those months?
Glancing at the scrapbook suggests no.? August is usually a quiet month for hockey anyhow.
By the time the articles carry a September date, things picked up.
The Hockey Hall of Fame announced in September six new inductees.
Pretty stellar class here.? All my old childhood hockey heroes.
Brad Park, Tony Esposito, and some guy named Guy Lafleur.? The same Lafleur who was about to report to training camp in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, in order to get ready to start the season with the New York Rangers.
Philadelphia Flyers? owner Ed Snider was also one of the inductees, as was veteran player Buddy O?Conner, and on-ice official George Hayes.
The discussion then turns to the return of The Flower.
Lafleur had retired from the NHL in 1984, after seeing his ice-time diminish (along with his skills) under Montreal head coach Jacques Lemaire, his former line-mate.
Four years later, with less hair, the 37-year-old was under the microscope as he went through drills with the Rangers and head coach Michel Bergeron.? Most hockey observers were not in favour of the return, but Lafleur did not embarrass himself, and after one year on Broadway, finished his career where he had experienced junior fame, in Quebec City.
Around that same, Lucky Pierre packed it in.
Like Lafleur, one of the few players to score 50 goals in a season with Les Canadiens, Pierre Larouche retired after 14 seasons, and 812 games, in the NHL.? He was 29th in career scoring at the point.
Larouche also scored 50 goals with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and came very close to hitting the half-century mark with the Rangers, lighting the lamp 48 times in 1983-84.
At the time, Larouche was the youngest player to score 50 in a season (until Gretzky beat him), the first to score 50 goals in a season for two different teams, and the first to score at least 45 goals in a season for three different teams.
Pierre Larouche for the Hall of Fame!? Start the campaign now!
Maybe the most interesting article in the front part of this omnibus scrapbook is one by Hockey Hall of Fame writer Roy MacGregor, dated September 13, 1989.? An article out of sequence, this one slipped between pages, not even pasted or taped in.
Writing for the Ottawa Citizen, MacGregor tackles the topic that enthralled much of the Canadian national capital back then?would Ottawa ever get an NHL team?
Gretzky (there?s that name again) and his Kings were across in the river in Hull, Quebec for their training camp.
That question is posed to him, and the Great One responded that an NHL team in Ottawa would be counter-productive, and would hurt the two junior teams in town.
MacGregor, in a typically well written, thought out article, expounds upon that theme, and how the trade of Wayner to Los Angeles had changed the climate in the NHL.
No longer would just filling your arena suffice; you now had to guarantee eye balls watching the telly at home.
Which all came to pass, to some degree.
MacGregor concludes that the ?modern? NHL will pass on a city such as Ottawa, who will fill the barn, but won?t be big enough to qualify for NHL status.
Which, frankly, I agreed with at the time, and I was shocked?no, make that SHOCKED?when the league announced that Ottawa was granted an expansion franchise in December 1990.
For the very reasons spelled out by MacGregor.
Interesting stuff to read with 23 years hindsight.
The scrapbook also has a bunch of articles covering September 1988 NHL training camps.? Pat Burns ?breathes fire? in Montreal, and the Toronto Maple Leafs claim defenceman Brad Marsh on waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers in early October.
There is an entire list of players available in the waiver draft.? Of note the St. Louis Blues chose to not protect Ron Flockhart, Perry Turnbull, and one Alain Vigneault.
The Gipper himself makes the scrapbook, against my better judgement.? U.S. President is shown with a Christien stick in his hand (shooting right, but of course), outside in the White House garden, on a piece of artificial ice.? Apparently the U.S. Olympic team were in town to take on the Washington Capitals.? The photo is from September 25th, 1987. How did that end up in this scrapbook?
Alexander Ovechkin had just turned two. ??Sidney Crosby wasn?t even two months old yet.
In early October, the Canucks signed their first round draft pick to a multi-year contract.? 18-year-old Trevor Linden said he hoped to make the team out of camp.
An article dated October 7th, 1988 details the 8-2 thumping the new look Los Angeles Kings applied to the visiting Detroit Red Wings.? It was Wayne Gretzky?s first regular season game in a Kings uniform, and he had a typical Gretzky night.? One goal and three assists.? Steve Yzerman scored the first goal of the game, and then at the 12:54 mark of the first period, Gretzky scored his 584th career goal past an old friend, goaltender Greg Stefan.
Gerald Gallant scored the second goal for Detroit, Luc Robitaille (very happy not to have been traded) had the hat trick, and, get this, Tim Tookey scored the 8th goal for L.A.? Mr. AHL.? You don?t see that every day.
Montreal opened up their home season with a 6-5 loss to the hated Quebec Nordiques on October 12th, a game I attended, though there sadly was no mention of that.
Goaltender Bryan Hayward was quoted as saying? I?ll take the major share of the blame (for this one)?.
Much was made of the play of rookie forward Joe Sakic, who logged more ice time than even veteran Peter Stastny.
An article by Sean McAdam, dated October 13th, deals with Brian Lawton, the former first overall pick.? The ?disgruntled? Lawton had just been traded by the North Stars to the New York Rangers.? New York GM Phil Esposito had this to say, ?I don?t know why he hasn?t developed.? He should have developed a lot more. ?I?m surprised.? Everybody expected him to score 100 goals.? I think he?s a legitimate 25-30 goal scorer, a 65-80 point player?.
For the record, Lawton played 30 games with the Rangers that season, scoring 7 goals and adding 10 assists.? He finished up the campaign with the Hartford Whalers, putting up totals of 10 goals and 16 assists.? A far cry from a 65-80 point player.
His playing career would be over four years later, after turns with the Nordiques, Bruins, and Sharks.
?
Mick Kern
Source: http://www.nhlhomeice.com/2012/07/19/some-light-summer-reading-hockey-scrapbook-1988-89-part-one/
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