Once An Oiler, Always An Oiler
The Edmonton Oilers have seen many stars pass through their ranks. Sometimes they’ve passed a little too quickly through, moving onto to other teams without making much of an impact on the blue and copper. Still there is one roster of guys that captured the hearts and minds of Edmontonians, and have gone down in the annals of hockey history as one of the best squads to ever play the game. They managed to re-write the rules of NHL hockey on many fronts, and formed a dynasty that is recognized throughout the league. I’m talking about the team composed of Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, Paul Coffey, Mark Messier, and many others. They were the Oilers dynasty team, and on 18 Jan 2009 about 16,000 fans descended on Rexall Place to honour yet another great from that era.
As the video said, Glenn Anderson was known for driving to the net to score goals and setup plays. He was the one of the de facto power forwards of the 1980s, scoring 498 goals and 601 assists in 1129 regular season games. He was known for being there when his teammates needed him, even scoring 17 playoff game wining goals in his career, the 5th most in the NHL. Off the ice he was just as much of a thoughtful guy, dedicating a great deal of his time to the Cross Cancer Institute, both in donations and surprise visits. There even one story where he visited a 4 year old girl by the name of Alicia Maryniuk, who was battling leukemia. He didn’t make one stop though, he followed up with her as he did with all the people he visited. She managed to beat cancer, and 23 years later has a family of her own. She and Glenn were reunited for tonight’s ceremonies. They even posed next to a picture of her at 4, propped up in the Stanley Cup, next to the moustached Anderson.
After the video rolled, #9 emerged to greet the crowd. However he didn’t come out onto the makeshift stage like the guests and presenters. No no, he skated off the bench and around the ice like any other player. I’m sure it was quite a trip for him to be back in that historic blue and orange. After a good skate around, the other players who had their jerseys retired were introduced, as were many other former top Oilers, Glenn’s family, and a host of other presenters. Speeches were made, and we were even treated to a good ol’ Glenn Anderson style end-to-end goal. Glenn Anderson’s #9 was raised to the rafters, and then it was game time.
The game that followed versus the Phoenix Coyotes was a treat. The Oilers played fairly well in both the 1st and 3rd periods, and Ethan Moreau even managed to net his first hat-trick of the season. The final has 6 – 3 in favour of the Oilers. If you want to check out a bunch of photos I took at the game, check out my Flickr Photostream. If you have no idea about half of what I’m talking about when it comes to hockey and the terminology around it, check out the Wikipedia article.
[...] guy. Being from Edmonton, he’s a big fan of the Oilers. As such, he was thrilled to attend Glenn Anderson Night at Rexall Place. They retired his #9 and the event was attended by such legendary Oilers as Wayne [...]