KING NOTEBOOK : History Was Worth Price to Krushelnyski

Mike Krushelnyski, one of those traded to the Kings along with Wayne Gretzky last August, was not on the traveling roster for the trip to Vancouver and Edmonton when Gretzky broke Gordie Howe’s all-time scoring record.

Krushelnyski, who was on Gretzky’s line until he suffered a hairline fracture of his left wrist, was left home to watch the games on TV. Which was fine when the Kings played the Canucks Friday night.

But by Sunday, the more he thought about it, the more sure he was that Gretzky was going to break the record at Edmonton, on the ice where they played together, where they waged those Stanley Cup campaigns.

He had to be there. So Sunday morning he went to Los Angeles International Airport and found himself a flight that arrived in his old hometown of Edmonton at 5:30 p.m., just in time to make it from the airport to the Northlands Coliseum for the faceoff.

He paid his own way? “I’m hoping the team reimburses me,” he said with a laugh after the fact.

So he saw the record goal. He didn’t get to stand on the ice with the rest of the team to salute Gretzky, but he did get to stand with the rest of the fans in the sold-out Coliseum and applaud--as best he could with that cast on.

“I had tears in my eyes,” he admitted.

As for the manner in which Gretzky set the record, making it a goal that really counts, a game-tying goal in the last minute of regulation? “It’s always like that with him,” Krushelnyski said. “Just when you think it’s over, it won’t happen, he comes up with something.”

As for Gretzky’s rather mystical explanation of how “something just told me to go to the front of the net” Krushelnyski laughed. “It’s not magic,” he said. “He knows where to go because he just knows things. If Dave Taylor is carrying the puck, he knows where Dave is going to go, and he knows how everybody else is going to react . . . so he knows where to go.”

After all his years of playing alongside Gretzky, he didn’t want to miss the record night. “It was a chance to witness a great event,” Krushelnyski said.

Because the Los Angeles fans missed the celebration of Gretzky’s record in Edmonton, there will be a ceremony before tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins. The NHL ran the last show, so the emphasis was on league presentations and all the memorabilia going to the NHL Hall of Fame. Tonight’s party will belong to the Kings, so there will be more emphasis on team’s appreciation of Gretzky himself and owner Bruce McNall. Too, the Kings will present a gift to Gordie Howe.

The ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m., five minutes before the start of the game.

When it was suggested the Kings might be flat after the emotional high of Gretzky’s record performance, which helped beat the Oilers in overtime, former Bruin Jay Miller said: “No way! You think Steve Kasper and Keith Crowder (also former Bruins) and I are going to be flat? We’re going to be flying! . . . And you know how the rich get richer, Gretz will probably get the winning goal.”

Al Strachan, columnist for the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, criticized the Canadian writers and columnists who chose to skip Gretzky’s record game to be at the World Series, saying: “A young man from a small eastern city has set his sights on a longstanding record held by a legend from Floral, Sask. Although politicians might not like to admit it, Gretzky is probably the best-known Canadian in the world. His records, which are nothing short of astonishing, will not be easily overcome. Hockey is a Canadian game. Despite the recent success of baseball in some pockets of the country, hockey remains the Canadian passion and its legends, among whom Howe and Gretzky are foremost, hold a special place in the hearts of Canadians. So where are all the sports journalists these days? They’re in Oakland, watching a bunch of Americans decide which team should be the baseball champion of the United States.”

Actually, they weren’t all in Oakland. In Edmonton, there were plenty of Canadians among the 76 reporters, 52 photographers and crews from CBC (both French and English) TV, CTV, TSN, NHL Films, ESPN and SportsChannel.

Already, the countdown has begun in Edmonton for Gretzky to break Howe’s goals record. Gretzky has 642. Howe has 801. Terry Jones wrote: “At his current pace of .822 goals per game, Gretzky will break that one on Jan. 4, 1992. I can’t wait.”

John Short, commenting in the Edmonton Journal: “Don’t expect NHL flacks or bureaucrats to admit as much, but Gretzky made it possible for Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec and Hartford to enter the NHL (in 1979). He’s the greatest. Always was. Always will be.”