Gretzky at The Gardens, 40 Years Ago
Forty years ago, this past weekend. I remember it like yesterday. My hockey hero, Wayne Gretzky was making his fifth career appearance at Maple Leaf Gardens and it was only the third time he'd be in the spotlight of a Hockey Night in Canada game in Toronto. He had recently set the amazing record of scoring his 50th goal in the 39th game of the season, and his Oilers were riding high in first place in the entire NHL. 10 year-old me was so excited fo the game that I cut out from the newspaper the rosters with current stats and added it to a scrapbook (actual clip below). I would add the boxscore the following day. And what a boxscore it was for a young Maple Leafs/Wayne Gretzky fan. On the Friday before the game, Gretzky put on a mini game on the Gardens ice surface with himself, his brothers Brent (12) and Glen (9) against Oilers Dave Semenko, Curt Brackenbury and coach Billy Harris. They played a game of shinny with nets placed at the blue lines. Glen even got into a fake tussle ...