Bucky's post about Gretzky Week on the Network certainly jogged my memory about one of the greatest nights ever in the Aud -- and it was a game the Sabres lost. I was among the record crowd of 16,652 in the old barn on Feb. 24, 1982 when Gretzky broke Phil Esposito's record with his 77th goal of the season (and I know about 100,000 of you will say you saw me there too!) I remembered some of the basic facts that some of the commentors to Bucky's post have already mentioned: The Oilers won, 6-3, as Gretzky scored the game's final three goals to spoil Gilbert Perreault's hat trick. But I went back into some of my warped teen-age files and found more some more trivia on this one. ---Biggest celebrities in attendance: Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn, in town filming the forgettable "Best Friends." ---Sabres burned on Gretzky's historic goal: Steve Patrick (gave up puck), Richie Dunn (beaten wide), Don Edwards (beaten by the shot). ---Gretzky's goals came at 13:24, 18:16 and 19:43 of the third period, the latter into an empty net. He also assisted on two of Edmonton's three first-period goals, giving him season totals of 79 goals and 97 assists for 176 points. He went on to finish at 92-120-212. The Oilers' other goals were by Charlie Huddy, Pat Hughes and Jari Kurri. ---Perreault's goals were Nos. 24-25-26. The blast-from-the-past roll call of assists on them goes like this: Yvon Lambert, Mike Ramsey, Craig Ramsay, Dunn, Alan Haworth and Larry Playfair. ---Looking back on the schedule: The game was on an Wednesday night with one of those old 8:05 starts. And it was in the middle of a stretch of six games in 11 days -- where the other five teams no longer exist. It opened on Feb. 21 with a 6-2 win over the Colorado Rockies, continued on the road with a 4-4 tie against the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 26 and a 5-5 draw with the Minnesota North Stars on Feb. 27 and was wrapped up by two more ties against the Hartford Whalers (3-3 in the Aud on March 3 and 2-2 in the Civic Center on March 6). ---Mike HarringtonSource
Monday, August 25, 2008
Gretzky's big night in Buffalo
Bucky's post about Gretzky Week on the Network certainly jogged my memory about one of the greatest nights ever in the Aud -- and it was a game the Sabres lost. I was among the record crowd of 16,652 in the old barn on Feb. 24, 1982 when Gretzky broke Phil Esposito's record with his 77th goal of the season (and I know about 100,000 of you will say you saw me there too!) I remembered some of the basic facts that some of the commentors to Bucky's post have already mentioned: The Oilers won, 6-3, as Gretzky scored the game's final three goals to spoil Gilbert Perreault's hat trick. But I went back into some of my warped teen-age files and found more some more trivia on this one. ---Biggest celebrities in attendance: Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn, in town filming the forgettable "Best Friends." ---Sabres burned on Gretzky's historic goal: Steve Patrick (gave up puck), Richie Dunn (beaten wide), Don Edwards (beaten by the shot). ---Gretzky's goals came at 13:24, 18:16 and 19:43 of the third period, the latter into an empty net. He also assisted on two of Edmonton's three first-period goals, giving him season totals of 79 goals and 97 assists for 176 points. He went on to finish at 92-120-212. The Oilers' other goals were by Charlie Huddy, Pat Hughes and Jari Kurri. ---Perreault's goals were Nos. 24-25-26. The blast-from-the-past roll call of assists on them goes like this: Yvon Lambert, Mike Ramsey, Craig Ramsay, Dunn, Alan Haworth and Larry Playfair. ---Looking back on the schedule: The game was on an Wednesday night with one of those old 8:05 starts. And it was in the middle of a stretch of six games in 11 days -- where the other five teams no longer exist. It opened on Feb. 21 with a 6-2 win over the Colorado Rockies, continued on the road with a 4-4 tie against the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 26 and a 5-5 draw with the Minnesota North Stars on Feb. 27 and was wrapped up by two more ties against the Hartford Whalers (3-3 in the Aud on March 3 and 2-2 in the Civic Center on March 6). ---Mike HarringtonSource
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