Oct. 1 marks the 25th anniversary of the night time the Edmonton Oilers raised Wayne Gretzky’s No. 99 to the rafters at Skyreach Centre.
In a ceremony earlier than their 1999-00 season-opening sport towards the New York Rangers, the Oilers celebrated the profession of the legendary centre, who had retired on the finish of the earlier season whereas a member of the Rangers.
The sellout crowd of greater than 17,000 followers on the area initially often called Northlands Coliseum gave Gretzky a prolonged standing ovation, thanking hockey’s all-time main scorer for his 10 unimaginable years in Edmonton.
1 / 4 of a century later, Gretzky’s jersey retirement stays one of the crucial memorable events in Edmonton hockey historical past, which is saying loads contemplating all that has occurred for the reason that Oilers first took the ice in 1974. Listed below are 9 enjoyable info from Oct. 1, 1999:
Wayne Gretzky Day
That afternoon, a rally was held exterior Edmonton’s Metropolis Corridor, the place 15,000 individuals braving unseasonably chilly climate packed Winston Churchill Sq. to pay tribute to Gretzky.
Invoice Smith, the town’s mayor on the time, declared that yearly, the primary day of October can be “Wayne Gretzky Day” in Edmonton. Gretzky acquired quite a lot of items on the rally, together with a guide of reminiscences signed by tens of 1000’s of Edmontonians.
Longtime Oilers radio play-by-play announcer Rod Phillips hosted the festivities, attended by many dignitaries. It was the beginning of a really busy day for Phillips, who would later emcee the pre-game ceremony earlier than heading as much as the pressbox to name the motion.
Wayne Gretzky Drive
On the rally, the Metropolis of Edmonton introduced that it was renaming “Capilano Drive” as “Wayne Gretzky Drive” in honour of The Nice One.
The freeway in Northeast Edmonton runs previous the sector that was house to the Oilers from 1974 to 2016, and was a street that many followers would take to get to Northlands Coliseum to cheer on Gretzky and his teammates.
Gretzky isn’t the one former Oiler to have an Edmonton street named after him: In 2007, a part of “St. Albert Path” between Edmonton and the suburb of St. Albert was renamed “Mark Messier Path” as a nod to the Oilers legend who grew up in St. Albert.
Messier within the Home
Messier, who turned nice associates with Gretzky throughout their many seasons collectively, first in Edmonton and later with the Rangers, attended the proceedings, despite the fact that he was enjoying for the Vancouver Canucks on the time. Vancouver’s first sport of the season wasn’t till the next night time, by the way additionally towards the Rangers, which noticed Messier choose up a pair of assists to guide the Canucks to a 2-1 win over the Blueshirts.
Two different former teammates of Gretzky from the Oilers glory days had been a part of the ceremony: Dave Semenko and Jari Kurri, who flew over from Finland to be there. Gretzky’s outdated Edmonton roommate, Kevin Lowe, was behind the bench making his debut as Oilers head coach.
Memorable Second for Moss
Simply earlier than his No. 99 ascended to the rafters, Gretzky was offered with a duplicate of the banner by Oilers locker room attendant Joey Moss. Gretzky grew extremely near Moss through the former’s Oilers tenure, and the pair remained so lengthy after The Nice One left Edmonton.
Associated: Joey Moss Will Eternally Be a A part of Oilers Historical past
Born with Down Syndrome, Moss served as an inspiration and had a profound influence on each the staff and the complete Edmonton neighborhood. He spent the higher a part of 4 a long time with the Oilers earlier than passing away in 2020.
Hottest Ticket in City
As a result of demand was so excessive from followers desirous to be there to witness the Gretzky ceremony, the Oilers didn’t put any single-game tickets on sale, as a substitute holding a lottery for all out there seats: in case you had been one of many fortunate entrants who had your identify drawn, you got the prospect to buy a pair of tickets.
The asking value on the secondary market was in contrast to something seen in Edmonton earlier than. Adverts in native newspapers and postings on the web listed tickets out there for as excessive as $4,000 apiece.
All Eyes on Edmonton
From coast to coast, many of the hockey world was tuned into Edmonton that night time, as the complete ceremony adopted by the sport was broadcast dwell on CBC on a particular Friday night time version of Hockey Evening in Canada. MSG carried the sport in the USA.
The opening night time of the 1999-00 NHL season featured just one different sport, in Texas, the place the defending champion Dallas Stars raised their 1999 Stanley Cup banner earlier than taking up the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Oct. 1 is the earliest date the Oilers have ever performed their first sport of the NHL common season. Mom Nature obtained within the spirit, dumping over an inch of snow on the Alberta capital that day.
Match to Be Tied
The gamers sat on their respective benches for practically an hour through the pre-game proceedings, earlier than the puck dropped on a sport that turned out to be the alternative of the high-scoring affairs that had been nighty occurrences throughout Gretzky’s Edmonton heyday.
Ryan Smyth scored early within the second interval to provide the house staff a 1-0 lead, Tim Taylor replied for the Rangers a couple of minutes later, and that will be it. After 60 minutes of regulation and 5 minutes of sudden demise additional time, the sport resulted in a 1-1 draw.
Whereas Gretzky clearly had many ex-teammates on New York’s roster, solely two gamers within the lineup for Edmonton that night time had performed with the Nice One: defenceman Sean Brown, who was briefly a teammate of Gretzky’s with the Los Angeles Kings within the mid-90s, and goaltender Invoice Ranford, who dressed for the sport however didn’t see the ice.
Do You Bear in mind Them?
The tune most related to Gretzky’s retirement is “I Will Bear in mind You” by iconic Canadian artist Sarah McLachlan. It was used throughout a spotlight video that performed after the ultimate sport of his profession, with the Rangers towards the Penguins at Madison Sq. Backyard on April 18, 1999, and carried out by a kids’s choir through the Wayne Gretzky Day rally at metropolis corridor. Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina, even carried out a canopy of the tune through the 2003 Heritage Basic sport at Commonwealth Stadium.
Nevertheless it wasn’t McLachlan who was the musical visitor on the pre-game ceremony. As an alternative, it was the Moffats, a platinum-selling quartet of teenage brothers from B.C. who had been among the many greatest bands within the land at the moment, having simply received A lot Music’s Fan Favorite Band of the Yr award. The pop-rock act carried out a tune devoted to the Nice One, of whom they spoke with reverence, referring to him as “Mr. Gretzky”.
The Moffats are nonetheless collectively and making music to at the present time, however to a lot much less fanfare than on the heights of the late ’90s boyband period.
First Time in Practically Two Many years
Gretzky was simply the second participant to have his quantity retired by the Oilers, and the primary since defenceman Al Hamilton had his No. 3 raised on Oct. 10, 1980. Hamilton was the primary captain of the Oilers for his or her inaugural World Hockey Affiliation (WHA) season in 1972-73 and served 4 years in that capability. The defenceman can also be the Oilers’ all-time WHA chief in video games performed, assists and factors.
Within the final 25 years, the Oilers have raised eight extra banners, which now dangle at Rogers Place. The honourees embrace gamers Kurri, Lowe, Messier, Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr, together with Phillips and coach/basic supervisor Glen Sather.
There hasn’t been a quantity retired by the Oilers since Lowe’s No. 4 three years in the past, and it may very well be fairly some time earlier than one other banner goes up in downtown Edmonton: Present Oilers superstars Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are in all probability the following two gamers to obtain that honour, and each are in all probability a decade or extra from retiring but.
