Gretzky; Canucks Program Covers
Dec. 28, 1979 Living in Vancouver for the last 30 years, I have managed to collect a fair amount of Canucks game programs featuring Wayne Gretzky on the cover. Here are the six earliest examples from my collection. The first one, pictured above is from The Kid's rookie NHL season. He was mere months into his career and had produced 51 points in 32 games to that point. Of note, his surname was still being spelled wrong back then. The Oilers won 5-3 this evening behind the goaltending of the immortal Jim Corsi who stopped 37 of 40 Canuck shots. Gretzky beat Curt Ridley in the second period for his 19th goal on the season and only point of this game. The next one is from Gretz's second NHL season. This was near the end of his second campaign and had collected a new NHL record of 157 points through 78 games. The Oilers dominated by a score of 7-2 with Gretzky beating Richard Brodeur for his 54th of the year. He also had an assist on Brett Callighen's 2nd goal of the game. Apr.