No Record for Gretzky, but Canuck Fans Aren’t Laughing

Wayne, Wayne, go away, come again some other day.

You practically could hear the Canucks thinking it out loud. Welcome back to Vancouver, friend Gretzky, they were saying to themselves, how’s Los Angeles, how’s Princess Janet, how’s it goin’, eh? Now be a nice little legend and run along. Don’t go breaking Gordie Howe’s all-time scoring record against our poor, unloved, unknown, never-even-won-one-stinking-Stanley-Cup Canuckleheads. Go pick on Edmonton. Take it out on the Oilers. They’re the ones who traded you, not us. Go light their lamps.

Well, Gretzky did not get the record. But you think Vancouver is happy about that?

Canuck, yuk, yuk--no way. Gretz’s third point of the night Friday helped make 6-5 winners of the Kings--with one second to play. Now if that’s not the Wayne Gretzky we have come to know and love, what is?

“I don’t want to jump ahead of myself,” Gretzky said afterward, unwilling to predict that he will erase Howe’s record Sunday at Edmonton rather than waiting until next Tuesday’s game at home against Boston.

“I think most everybody in Edmonton wants me to do it,” Gretzky added, with just the slightest hint of mischief in his voice. “I just think they want me to do it on Tuesday.”

A full house at the Pacific Coliseum was quite naturally pleased to see No. 99 again. The man always puts a few extra chills in the rink. He is more of a hockey hero to many of these people than No. 9, The Great Gordie, ever was, seeing as how Vancouver wasn’t even in the National Hockey League during most of the Ice Age, back when Howe was playing for Detroit. Was ice even invented then?

There must have been more than a few British Columbians who were getting their first look at Gordie Howe--through binoculars--as he watched his rightful heir from King owner Bruce McNall’s luxury box. Gretzky came into the game needing five more points to eclipse Howe’s scoring record of 1,850 points. He got three--all assists. Hey, a point is a point is a point.

Presumably, Howe will keep tailing Gretzky from town to town until the record breaks, whether it be Sunday at Edmonton, or Tuesday in Inglewood, or . . . well, there’d better not be another “or.” Nobody in hockey likes an “or,” unless it’s Bobby.

Say, there’s an idea. Let’s drag Bobby Orr out of retirement. Maybe let him play for the Kings, too.

You see, there’s this goofy story going around that Gordie Howe is going to suit up with the Kings sometime soon--at age 61! Whether this idea is practical or a practical joke, we can’t yet tell. We also don’t know for sure what would happen should Howe get a hat trick on his first night playing for McNall, then decides to work a couple of shifts every game for the rest of the season. What if Howe re-breaks the scoring record after Gretzky breaks it? What if McNall also signs Alex Delvecchio to play on his line?

Listen, Los Angeles is such a one-of-a-kind hockey town, anything can happen. You think we’re pulling your skate? We couldn’t be more serious. Think about it: Who are the three greatest scorers in hockey history? Marcel Dionne, who played for the Kings; Wayne Gretzky, who plays for the Kings, and Gordie Howe, who is going to play for the Kings. Now there’s a trick for you.

We can’t help but wonder--will anybody ever break Wayne Gretzky’s record, once he breaks the thing? Where will it rank? With Pete Rose’s hits? With Nolan Ryan’s strikeouts? With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s points? Will Gretz be anything like those guys and keep playing well into his 40s? Do you have any idea when Wayne Gretzky will even turn 40? On Jan. 26, 2001--that’s when he’ll turn 40.

The guy might have 3,000 points by then. Maybe he’ll turn out to be just like Howe, his idol--still playing at age 52, still talking comeback at 61. Or maybe Old Man Gretzky will be up there watching from a luxury box by then, watching some new kid scoring goals for the Kings, challenging his record. Maybe the kid’s last name will be Gretzky. Maybe her first name will be Paulina.

It was exactly 10 years ago Tuesday that Wayne Gretzky scored his first NHL point. It was exactly one year ago Oct. 6 that Gretzky scored his first Los Angeles point. How time flies when you’re torturing goalies.

The most famous 99 since Barbara Feldon on “Get Smart,” Gretzky got a big hand when he first took the ice Friday--and after that, he was strictly the enemy. Canuck-lovers were a lot more interested in seeing their team win than in seeing Gretzky score five points against them. Still, they sold out the building for the first time all season--and we all know why, don’t we?

The Kings were behind by two goals, then ahead by two goals, then locked in mortal combat most of the third period, until the very, very end. Gretzky was stopped point-blank on his one clean bustout, but assisted twice on goals by Bob Kudelski and then on the game-winner. The record could wait. As usual, Gretzky was more concerned with winning.

Edmonton, you’re next.

And he isn’t going away.