| |
It wasn't a shootout that the Edmonton Oilers made famous in their heyday, but Saturday afternoon's MegaStars Game at Commonwealth Stadium was still quite a show.
|
Oilers blank Habs
in MegaStars game
By Shawn P. Roarke | NHL.com
November 22, 2003
EDMONTON -- It wasn't the Wild West shootout that the Edmonton Oilers made famous in their heyday two
decades ago, but Saturday afternoon's MegaStars Game
at Commonwealth Stadium was still a show few, if any,
witnesses will forget.
The Oilers alumni took their contest
against the Montreal Canadiens by a 2-0 score.
The game, contested in two 15-minute halves, was
played before an enthusiastic capacity crowd of
57,167.
What everyone will remember most is the fun, not
the conservative score. Fun remained the theme
throughout the players' post-game comments.
"We had fun today, that's for sure," said Wayne
Gretzky. "We had a ball."
In their prime, the Oilers were the most
offensively skilled squad the NHL has ever seen, using the superlative skills of stars like Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Jari Kurri to win five Stanley Cups in a seven-year span.
Saturday all four of those stars were among the 19
players on the Oilers' alumni roster, yet the team
received its goals from traditional agitators Ken
Linseman and Marty McSorley. The other stars for
Edmonton were the two goaltenders, Bill Ranford and
Grant Fuhr, who combined for 26 saves to record the
shutout.
"We played old-time Oiler hockey -- a 2-0 shutout,"
said Messier with tongue planted firmly in cheek. "Forty shots against and a shutout."
"They said the Oilers couldn't play defense,"
laughed Gretzky. "We had a shutout."
Despite the lack of expected goals -- especially
from Gretzky, Messier and Montreal's Guy Lafleur --
the event was still special.
Gretzky is the game's all-time leading scorer with
2,857 points. Messier, still active with the New York
Rangers, is second on the list with 1,872 points and
counting. Lafleur, Montreal's captain Saturday,
retired with 1,353 points.
"The fans were wonderful and the players were
great," said Gretzky, who may have played his
last-ever game. "It was kind of magical. The guys were
trying out there, but we still had fun. It was more
entertaining than a lot of games I have seen."
The memories began even before the game started as
the players were individually introduced to the crowd,
skating through a torch-lit passageway onto the
outdoor rink. Three separate fly-overs by Canadian
military planes preceded the opening faceoff.
Then, it was game on!
Just 98 seconds in, Linseman scored the game's
first goal, banging home a pass from Craig Simpson.
Linesman, who did score 257 NHL goals, was in his
usual wheelhouse -- just inches outside goalie Steve
Penney's crease when he slammed home the puck.
The offensive fireworks suggested by Linseman 's
quick marker never materialized because of some
stellar goaltending on both sides.
Penney saved the other six shots he faced in the
first half, while Fuhr stopped all 12 chances he faced
in the opening half. In the second half, it was more
of the same. Montreal's Richard Sevigny stopped four
of the five shots he encountered, while Bill Ranford
stole the spotlight with a 14-shot blanking of a
determined, incessant attack by the Canadiens.
| |
"They said the Oilers couldn't play defense ... We had a shutout." - Wayne Gretzky
|
"It was bouncing a little out there," said Fuhr.
"We both got pretty lucky. We knew it was going to be
an offensive game with everybody getting their
chances. It was a lot of fun."
Fuhr, however, was being a bit modest. The Edmonton
goalies were more good than lucky. Fuhr was inducted
into the Hockey Hall of Fame earlier this month to
attest to his greatness. Ranford, meanwhile, won 240
regular-season games and two Stanley Cups.
"The reason it was 2-0 is all four goaltenders
played great," said Coffey, who scored 1,531 points in his career. "Grant played the way he did his whole career."
Although Linseman's goal would be enough to win the
game, fan favorite McSorley provided another memory
with his goal. McSorley, a rugged defenseman who
often rode shotgun for Gretzky when they played
together, was revered more for his toughness than his
goal-scoring prowess in these parts.
But, on this day, McSorley showed the form that
earned him 108 goals during a 961-game career.
Coming down the wing, McSorley was in perfect
position to one-time home a pass from Linesman and off
Sevigny's pads. For his part, McSorley said his good
fortune was partially the result of his regular
skating schedule as head coach of the American Hockey
League's Springfield Falcons.
"I think I should have fresh legs because I am on
the ice every day with my team," said McSorley. "But,
scoring goals is secondary. (On the play), I was out
there with Larry Robinson and he was yelling, 'Shoot
it! Shoot it! Shoot it!' It was competitive, but
respectful."
The players also put on a show at times. Edmonton's
Esa Tikkanen took one of his patented runs at Lafleur
who was against the end boards. But, at the last
second, he threw himself against the glass just to the
left of a smiling Lafleur. Montreal's Stephane Richer
generated a couple of his patented rushes up ice, one
time leaving a sweet drop pass for Guy Carbonneau that
forced Ranford to make a spectacular save. Montreal's
Russ Courtnall threw a bodycheck and Gretzky spent a
fair deal of time in his office -- behind the Montreal
net -- trying to generate offense.
Between halves, the
players picked up shovels and cleaned the ice, just
like during their childhood on the pond.
"The fans were wonderful," said Gretzky, who did not
manage a shot, " and the players were great. It was
kind of magical out there."
And, in the end, it was just as good as any of the
Wild West shootouts that made these Oilers so famous
in their prime.
| 
