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Number 99
Wayne Gretzky
(1979-1999)

The greatest Oiler (and probably greatest NHL player) ever retired in 1999 after 20 years. Can it really be over already? Time flies when you're having fun ...

SLAM! Hockey: Wayne Gretzky Page

99 - The Wayne Gretzky Page

Hockey Sweater 99: Fabric of a Nation

Gretzky Statistics

Gretzky goes back to Hall

Close Encounters of The Greatest Kind

Like most fans, I watched Wayne Gretzky work his magic on television. Game tickets, though not as expensive as they are today, were hard to come by. Luckily in the 'Chuck, we got to see a lot of the Oilers -- most of the games were broadcast, if not on TV, then certainly on the radio. Then there was the blanket between-game coverage on TV, radio and in print.

I did see Number 99 up close in the flesh once. I was working as a stockboy at Woodward's Food Floor in south Edmonton, when the Wayner and then-housemate Kevin Lowe came grocery shopping down my aisle (canned soup, as I recall). This was in 1980 or so, prior to all the Stanley Cups and before the moniker "The Great One" had even been thought up. I didn't get his autograph -- all I had was an empty cardboard tray to write on, and he looked as shy as I felt!

My next Close Encounter was in 1996, at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver. The Wayner, by then with the Los Angeles Kings, had come to play the Colorado Avalanche. We got to the game early, so I was able to go right down to ice level during the warmup. I heard a Colorado fan behind me say, "That's Gretzky? Why, he's just a little guy!" He seemed preoccupied and a bit detached. Shortly after that game, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues.

Flying Finn
Jari Kurri

Before their 2001 home season opener, the Oilers retired #17, which belonged to Jari Kurri.

Sweet 17: Fabulous Finn Jari Kurri recalls glory days with Oilers

Gretzky and Kurri: Two much!

Jari Kurri Day a time to celebrate famous Finn

A perfect Finnish

Oilers honour Kurri
Video of the ceremony

Kurri from Gretz as good as it gets

Kurri's NHL sojourn memorable
Joining Gretzky in Hockey Hall of Fame caps off stellar career

The Runker's Hockey Page
Hockey, Hockey, Hockey!
Canada's National Sport

Most Canadians like hockey, probably moreso if they come from a wintry place like the 'Chuck, as I do. Now I am Stateside in Portland, Oregon, a place where, despite having some hockey history, it isn't so easy to watch and play Canada's national sport. From here, I rely on the Internet to keep up to date on hockey news and stories.

Hockey in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon Hockey History
Hockey Stories

Edmonton Oilers

"The No. 1 thing about being an Oiler fan is the sense of pride in the community. It's an extension of the 'yes we can' attitude of people who live here. The Oiler jersey is a symbol of the city. People are proud of that high-speed, flat-out, crash-into-the-boards and maybe have a fight hockey type of game everybody has just come to call `Oiler Hockey.'''
-- Pat LaForge, president and CEO, Edmonton Oilers

Who would NOT become a hockey fan watching this exciting team through the 1980s? Now Mess, Lowtide and Slats are in the Big Apple, Wayner owns the 'Yotes, Gravey's a Shark, Gelly is a 'Cane, CuJo's a Bud, Bucky's a King, and Weighter's Bluenote. The Oil Blood is still flowing, but the Stanley Cup seems like just a distant memory now. Or is it?

National Hockey League

Related Links

Diversity in Hockey

NHL Arenas I Have Been To:

A Trolleytracks Hockey Site O' the Day!
Trolleytracks Daily's
Site O' the Day
on 18 November 1999

Canada's Game? Canada once had eight teams in the NHL, but the steady rise in player salaries, the declining value of the loonie (the Canadian dollar, for you non-Canucks), high Canadian taxes, and the small size of Canadian cities have resulted in franchises moving south of the border one by one ...

Winnipeg Jets
(now the Phoenix Coyotes)

Steve Mauws'
Winnipeg Jets Archive
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Winnipeg Jets Archive
The WHA Years
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The Winnipeg Jets
Remembrance Page
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Winnipeg Jets
Memorial Page
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Winnipeg Jets
1972-1996

Québec Nordiques
(now the Colorado Avalanche)

Québec Nordiques
Tribute Site
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Québec Nordiques 1979-1995
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Québec Nordiques
Preservation Society

Which team will be next?

Revenue sharing key, says Sather
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New lottery plan to help out Canadian NHL teams
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NHL extends welfare plan for needy Canadian teams
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Canadian government won't help struggling franchises
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Canada in the right denying aid to hockey franchises
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Canadian teams forcing NHL into border war
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More new taxes -- on players -- might keep teams in Canada
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Canadian quandary
Almighty dollar causing problems
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Flames are just tip of
NHL's problematic iceberg
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Burke says aid is crucial for Canadian clubs
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Why is 'Canadian problem' on back burner?
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The Business of Hockey
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Burke embarrassed by "crazy money"
"We're dealing with people who are insane"
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2004 or bust!
If the owners lose the CBA War, there will be no Edmonton Oilers. "Hopefully the insanity will come to a halt" -- Kevin Lowe
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Bettman Concerned About High Salaries
But any attempt at what Bettman calls "cost containment" won't come until 2004
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Rich get richer in NHL
ever-growing chasm between "haves" and "have nots"
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Economist pessimistic about Habs' future
Can't compete financially with richer American-based franchises; "bound to disappear"
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Kurri tribute a reminder of what could never possibly be again
In the new NHL, Canadian teams don't make history anymore. More often they are history.
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Two leagues in one ... And guess which league the Oilers are playing in?
The Premier League is born
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Oilers owners pony up nearly $14 million for team
Money will get Oilers to 2004, but all bets are off if game economics don't change
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Rich get richer in NHL in 2001
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NHL's deep-pocketed owners refuse to look beyond their needs
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Micro-market teams will go the way of the loonie
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Alberta lottery game a gamble
Revenue won't guarantee Oilers survival
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Alberta to tax players
Visiting skaters will pay levy to help Oilers, Flames
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The Death of Hockey
The Death of Hockey
How a bunch of guys with too much money and too little sense are killing the greatest game on earth -- and how fans can save it

A national crisis!
Canadians used to think they had the best hockey players in the world. But the NHL's scoring leader lists and all-star teams have been dominated by Europeans and Americans of late. Team Canada's loss at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and their finish out of the medals at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics have Canadians asking

"What is wrong with hockey in Canada?"

Canoe's World Cup Archive
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Canoe's Nagano Archive
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Canadian hockey will be just fine
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Europeans Beating Us At Our Game
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The State of Hockey in Canada
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Canadian Content Drops

'Open Ice'
Hockey Summit
A summit meeting of hockey minds was held in the summer of 1999 to discuss ways to better Canadian hockey

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Canada must raise the bar after golds

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First posted 06 December 1998; Last updated 04 April 2002