Wayne Gretzky Fondly Remembers Goal Number 802

Having your name etched above your childhood hero in the record books is something that most hockey players only dream of. For Wayne Gretzky, it was just another chapter in his legendary career.
Twenty-five years ago, on March 23, 1994, Gretzky became the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history when he scored his 802 career goal, vaulting him ahead of his boyhood idol, Gordie Howe, on the league's all-time list.
A quarter century later, that record is still something that resonates with Gretzky. Although he is often modest when reminiscing about his accomplishments on the ice, it is clear that the record is still something he is still proud of.
"The 802 record is unique in that you can't have one good year or two or three good years, you have to perform over a period of time because Gordie Howe was such an icon and did so much for our game," Gretzky recently recalled.
Ever since Gretzky began sharpening his skills on his family's backyard rink in Brantford, Ontario, Howe had been his hockey hero. The 802 goals milestone is still so meaningful to Gretzky after all these years because it forever intertwines his legacy with Howe.

When Gretzky was 10 years old, he had his first chance to meet Mr. Hockey himself. The moment was captured on camera, as Howe, in all his glory, playfully hooked the beaming youngster beneath his chin.
As Gretzky continued to evolve into a prodigious player, he and Howe developed a friendship that transcended their age difference. For Gretzky, that friendship was always the toughest part about overtaking his hero's records.
Still, after Howe hung up his skates in 1980 at 52 years old, Gretzky began setting the league ablaze with his point totals. With each season that passed, Gretzky inched ever closer to Howe's benchmarks, but their friendship still remained strong.
"Once you start getting close to a record there's always a little bit of nerves that goes into that, but what made it a little bit tougher was that Gordie was such a good man and such a good friend," Gretzky explained.

"Part of me of was even disappointed that I was going to break his record and that I was going to change the names."
In poetic fashion, in his first season with the Kings, Gretzky surpassed Howe's point totals against the Oilers in Edmonton, the very place he won seven straight Art Ross trophies and led the Oilers to four Stanley Cups in five years. It was poignant that he achieved the milestone in the building where he had tallied so many of those points.
When Gretzky accomplished the feat, Howe was there every step of the way, celebrating the milestone achievement on the ice and in the dressing room after the game.

Breaking the goal scoring record would prove to be just as significant, but the backdrop would be different.
Following his arrival in LA in the summer of 1988, Gretzky's presence immediately raised hockey's profile in Hollywood and elevated the sport to new heights across the United States. Five years into his tenure with the Kings, the game had never been more popular, and it was only fitting that, this time, when he rewrote the league's record books, it was on home ice at the Great Western Forum.
Gretzky may have had some reservations about chasing down Howe's goal-scoring record, but as he got closer, the excitement began to build within the hockey world.
"When you start getting close to it, I know when I got to 800, that's when I really realized that there's that possibility to break the record," he noted. "One of the fun parts of that particular record, all the players I was playing with on the Kings, you could just tell everyone was emotional and excited to be a part of that game and history."
Late in the second period in a game against the Vancouver Canucks, Marty McSorley, a long-time friend and teammate in both Edmonton and Los Angeles, dished the puck to Gretzky, who easily found twine to break the record. As Gretzky jubilantly raised his arms into the air and skated away from the net, the faithful crowd at the Forum erupted into a raucous ovation.

The significance of Gretzky becoming the NHL's greatest all-time goal scorer in Los Angeles was not lost on anyone.
"We couldn't ask for better fans to support our team and come out and cheer every night. I was very thrilled and honored to do it in LA. It was only reasonable that I broke the points record in Edmonton because I played so many years there and when I finally broke the goal record that it was done in LA," Gretzky proclaimed.
Had Gretzky not scored that night at the Forum, his next opportunity would have been on the road against the Oilers, which would have set the stage for him to make history yet again in Edmonton. When he was chasing down the points record in 1989, he knew Edmonton was coming up on the schedule, but with the goal record it didn't really cross his mind.
"I was just hoping I could do it as fast as I could and let my mom and dad go home, and get place back to a normal sense of life. I was really only thinking I want to do this as fast as I can, but when you get to within one it's matter of time. I was really just concentrating on hoping to finish it in LA," Gretzky remembered.

Gretzky had some extra motivation to surpass Howe's record as quickly as possible. His father, Walter, who suffered a brain aneurysm in 1991, was running short on his medication while he and wife, Phyllis, followed their son on the record-breaking tour.
"We didn't really correlate the goals and the medication, but if I didn't get it done he was going to have to go home to Canada. It probably motivated me a little bit to hopefully do it in front of my parents and have my dad there," he stated.
In the years that have followed, Gretzky has had the time to reflect on what the record meant to him and what it meant to surpass Howe.
"I've always said he played in a different era than I did in a lot of ways, so his records should stand alone and they should almost be side-by-side and not so much one ahead of the other," Gretzky noted. "That will never change in my mind and I told him that night that 'he was still the greatest player who ever lived,' and that's never going to change."

The graciousness that Howe displayed toward Gretzky that record-setting night and in the years that followed is something that he will never forget. The two remained close friends until Howe passed away in 2016, and the lessons that he taught Gretzky off the ice have remained with him to this day.
Gretzky has yet to be in the same position as his late mentor, but it's not inconceivable that one day in the not too distant future, Gretzky could find himself touring with Alex Ovechkin and his family as the Russian sniper approaches his 895 career goal.
If that happens, Gretzky hopes to be able to take a page out of Howe's book and be as gracious as he was.
"If he's close to 894 then there's no question I'd be the first guy there to shake his hand," Gretzky guaranteed. "My dad always said that records are made to be broken. If Alex gets close then there's no question I'd be a part of it, because I think it's a positive for the NHL."
As Ovechkin approaches his eighth 50-goal campaign of his career, he sits 239 goals back of Gretzky's record total. Many believe that if Ovechkin maintains his health and prolific scoring into his late 30s, he has a shot at topping the all-time list. Gretzky doesn't disagree, "if anybody can do it, he's the guy."
Only time will tell if Ovechkin will surpass Gretzky's milestone. He may have his work cut out for him, but as the Great One says, "you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take."