Another Great One Showed Him Howe He Could Get Even

When Wayne Gretzky recalls the 1979 WHA All-Star game against Moscow Dynamo in which he played on the line with Gordie Howe and his son, Mark, Gretzky tells of how brilliantly Howe set him up to score in the opening seconds. Typically, Howe recalls a different highlight.

“There was this one Russian player who just insisted on hooking and chopping away at Wayne,” Howe says.

“Wayne didn’t seem to know what to do about it, so I told him what to do, I said, ‘The next time down the ice, when you see him coming, you flush off to the right and get the hell out of the way. . . . The next time down the ice I said, ‘Look out, Wayne, I think he’s about to get up.’ ”

Add Howe: Howe notes that when he set the scoring record, no one noticed. A week went by before a sportswriter thought to check on the record and discovered that Howe had long since broken it.

But when Howe set the record for goals, there was a countdown--a long countdown. It took him forever to get the record goal.

“They had put a bunch of balloons blown up, ready to let loose in the celebration when I broke the record,” Howe said. “By the time I got the record, all the air was coming out of the balloons and they flopped around like a bunch of pigeons let loose.”

Last add Howe: Howe tells of the time he was addressing a large crowd, trying to express how much he respects Wayne Gretzky and decided to say, “I feel so close to Wayne I think of him as my illegitimate son.” That got a big laugh, so he was considering the line a success until he went back to his seat. Through clenched teeth, his wife, Colleen, whispered: “I think ‘adopted son’ would sound a hell of a lot better.”

A true MVP: Stan Fischler of Inside Sports on the debate over who is the more valuable player, Gretzky or the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux: “One can only wonder what effect a Lemieux would have had on the Los Angeles Kings if he and not Gretzky had signed on to lead the Lotusland Klodhoppers out of the NHL wilderness. The answer is, there is no way Lemieux could have done as well, because, at least for now, the huge French-Canadian lacks that difficult-to-obtain commodity known as stage presence.

“The Gretzky presence was most telling when it came to the Kings’ renaissance. It was not so much that he lifted a moribund franchise that was on a treadmill to oblivion. Galvanizing the Kings into a second-place finish--even ahead of the then-Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers--was accomplishment enough. Rather, it was his catalytic effect on teammates such as Bernie Nicholls and John Tonelli, who took an almost magical view of the man. Nicholls escalated his reverence to an unusual plane when he employed Gretzky as his financial-contractural counselor before signing his new pact. Of course, the Great One didn’t send a bill.

“A year ago Nicholls was regarded as a player with unfulfilled potential. His highest goal total was 46 in 1984-85. With Gretzky casting the spell, Bernie collected an astonishing 70 goals and flowered into a bona fide superstar. ‘Wayne was the key,’ admits Nicholls.

“Meanwhile, Tonelli had been cast adrift after being regarded as too slow and too indolent for the Calgary Flames. At 31 he looked to be no more than a fourth-liner with a 10-goal limit in L.A. He finished with 31 red lights--and it wasn’t because of the California sunshine.”

Add Gretzky-Lemieux: Helene Elliott of Newsday on Lemieux: “His talent makes the real question in the NHL this season not when will Gretzky pass Howe on the all-time scoring list, but when will Lemieux pass Gretzky?”

Making an impression: Sherry Ross of Newsday writes that when New York Islander rookie Tom Fitzgerald played for Team USA in the World Championships last spring, he played against most of hockey’s greatest centers--except Gretzky, who was with the Kings in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I had never seen him face-to-face or stick-to-stick until I lined up against him for the first faceoff,” Fitzgerald said after the Islanders’ 7-4 victory over the Kings Wednesday night . “I’d only seen him on games on TV or in his commercials.”

Fitzgerald had a goal and an assist, both coming against Gretzky’s line.

Twice the honor: Gretzky wanted to wear the jersey number of his hero, Howe.

But when Gretzky began his junior career at Soo, No. 9 was being worn by Brian Gualatzie and Soo’s General Manager, Murray (Muzz) MacPherson, would not allow a player to take over a number someone else had.

Gretzky started the season in No. 19 and later switched to No. 14. That was the season when Esposito and Ken Hodges were traded to the New York Rangers, and began wearing Nos. 77 and 88, respectively. MacPherson suggested that Gretzky switch to No. 99, and the rest is history.

Trivia time: Which goaltender stopped Gretzky’s 51-game scoring streak on Jan. 28, 1984?

First things first: During an appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show Oct. 7, Gretzky was asked if his infant daughter is skating yet. Gretzky replied that she is--even though she can’t walk yet.

Trivia answer: The Kings’ Markus Mattson.

Quotebook: Bruce McNall, owner of the Kings, was explaining that Gretzky bought a share of his horse, Frankly Perfect. Asked what part Gretzky bought, McNall said: “Well, let’s put it this way. I still own the part that eats.”