The history of the Edmonton Oilers organization truly is a rich one in the WHA and NHL. This season I’ll be attempting to touch on some historic, funny, and momentous occasions once a week in franchise history.
Welcome to Volume 1 of Time Travels of the Orange and Blue!
October 13th, 1979: The very first NHL game in Edmonton. I could end this entry right there and chuck my laptop off my balcony because what’s more important than this day in franchise history? Gee I wonder what else…..
After playing their first game as a member of the league on the road vs the Chicago Black Hawks, the former WHA side that was a mix of vets with a few teenagers who would re write the record books would welcome the Detroit Red Wings to town, a team that was eight removed from Gordie Howe’s last game with the team and still five years away from drafting Steve Yzerman so it was safe to say this was a team that was struggling mightily for most of the 70s and early 80s.
The new kids on the block would tie the Wings 3-3 on the strength of goals from BJ MacDonald and a local 18 year old who’d spent his first year in the pros in the WHA in 1978-79 with the Cincinnati Stingers by the name of Mark Messier. I wonder what happened to that guy?
October 14th, 1979
It would take three games for goal #1 in the NHL from Wayne Gretzky but when he’d did he’d set the fans at Northlands into a frenzy in their 4-4 tie with the Vancouver Canucks. The goal which will live forever online was Gretzky making Glen Hanlon look silly with a backhander.. If anyone in attendance that night said in their seat “just wait, he’s scoring 893 more times” I hope they bought a lottery ticket also.
The first Oilers win wouldn’t come until October 19th, 1979 over the Quebec Nordiques.
October 16th, 2011
Quick! No googling!
What rookie holds the record for least games played at the start of career before recording a hat trick in team history? If you said Gretzky, Glenn Anderson, Ryan Smyth or Paul Coffey you’d be wrong! That distinction goes to Ryan Nugent Hopkins who in a 4-3 loss against the Vancouver Canucks would score three times in a 4-3 loss at Rexall Place in just his third game!
It wouldn’t just be RNH who’d have a big night as he’d combine with his line mates, Taylor Hall (sorry Megan) and Jordan Eberle for seven points on a night that would just be a sampling of what all three would do while playing in YEG.
Up Next
Next week we’ll take a look at the Oilers first NHL win, Wayne Gretzky’s return to Edmonton as a member of the Kings and their first encounter with the artists formerly known as the Atlanta Flames.
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