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Remembering Wayne Gretzky’s Last Game in Edmonton

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Brian Swane | Last updated 2/21/24

It was the hottest ticket in town, sold out for months. Most fans arrived early to watch him in warm-ups. He was the last member of his team to take the ice, and the moment he appeared, the place erupted in cheers and a burst of flashbulbs. “We Still Miss You, Gretz” read a large fan-made sign (from ‘All Eyes On Gretzky But Lacroix Wins It’, New York Times, 2/22/99).

From virtually every soul in the arena, all 17,100 of them, there came an outpouring of genuine love for this man wearing enemy colours. It was the kind of emotional display you might expect from fans saying goodbye to a hero.

Except they had no idea this was their last chance to witness him in action. This is simply just how it was every time Wayne Gretzky came to Edmonton.

Gretzky and the Rangers Come to Edmonton

It was 25 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1999, Gretzky played what would be his last game in Alberta’s capital, a 2-1 victory for his New York Rangers over the host Edmonton Oilers at what was then called Skyreach Centre.

A little less than two months later, Gretzky announced his retirement, just days before playing the last game of his iconic career, on April 18, 1999, at Madison Square Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But on this winter Sunday night in Edmonton, with almost one-third of the 1998-99 NHL schedule remaining, nobody wanted to entertain the thought Gretzky might be on his last hurrah. Murmurs had started that he might be pondering retirement, but it was largely conjecture based on his age (he’d just turned 38) and declining production (he’d only scored eight goals so far that season), not because of anything he had said.

Rather, all the talk was about Gretzky’s chance to set the record for most goals scored in professional hockey, including totals from the NHL regular season, NHL playoffs, WHA (World Hockey Association) regular season, and WHA playoff action. He came into the game with 1,071 career goals, tied with his idol Gordie Howe for first place all time.

With only one goal in his previous 16 games, Gretzky was mired in one of the worst slumps of his life. But maybe his scoring drought was just the work of the hockey gods, because as far as Oilers fans were concerned, the only place Gretzky should be scoring goal No. 1,072 was back in his adoptive home. That, after all, was the place he always seemed to make history.

Edmonton’s Undying Love For Gretzky

Gretzky came of age in Edmonton, arriving in 1978 as a teenage prodigy and over the next decade became one of the world’s biggest stars while captaining the Oilers on a dynasty.

He celebrated his 18th birthday at centre ice in Northlands Coliseum. He rode with hockey’s holy grail on Stanley Cup parades down Jasper Avenue. He even got married at St. Joseph’s Basilica. He put Edmonton on the map. And when he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, on Aug. 9, 1988, the city’s heart was ripped out.

Edmontonians loved Gretzky as much as any community has ever loved one person. He was born and raised in Ontario, but Gretzky was theirs. He had departed for Hollywood and was now on Broadway, and still Gretzky was theirs. He would always be theirs.

Gretzky Breaks Howe’s Points Record in Edmonton

During Gretzky’s time with the Oilers, the team won the Stanley Cup four times while he was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy eight times and led the league in points seven times.

He rewrote the record books in Edmonton. It was at Northlands Coliseum where he became the fastest to reach 50 goals in a season, doing it in just 39 games by scoring five times against the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 30, 1981. He became the NHL’s all-time assist leader at Northlands, passing Howe when he registered the 1,050^th helper of his career, against the Kings on March 1, 1988.

Even after Gretzky was dealt to Los Angeles, fate saw to it that when The Great One moved in front of Howe for the most career NHL points, the moment came in Edmonton.

It was at Northlands Coliseum on Oct. 15, 1989, with the Oilers leading Los Angeles 4-3 in the final minute of regulation, when Gretzky fired the puck past Edmonton netminder Bill Ranford to tie the game and become the NHL’s all-time leader with 1,851 points.

The place erupted when Gretzky scored, caring not that he had just snatched victory from the home team. The game was unprecedentedly halted for a 15-minute ceremony celebrating the new record, including a speech from Howe. Gretzky had to wait for fans to stop chanting his name before he could speak. Then he went out and scored the winning goal in overtime.

A decade later, Oilers fans still recalled that moment as fondly as almost anything they had witnessed at the arena formerly known as Northlands, up to and for some maybe even including the Stanley Cup victories. And now they hoped to experience something like it again.

Oilers Keep Gretzky Off the Scoresheet

The 1999 game between the Rangers and Oilers was scoreless until 13:44 of the second period, when Edmonton winger Mike Grier scored to put the home team up 1-0. Marc Savard replied for New York at 11:31 of the third period.

With time running out in regulation, the Northlands’ faithful started chanting Gretzky’s name. When Bill Guerin, Edmonton’s leading scorer that season, aggressively checked Gretzky to break up a play, the Oilers forward was booed by his own fans.

Overtime lasted all of 45 seconds left before Eric Lacroix scored for the Rangers. Just like that, the game was over, and Gretzky was still tied with Howe.

When he spoke to media after the game, Gretzky said of his quest for the record: ”Obviously, it was small potatoes compared to what this win meant for us, but I wish I could have scored here tonight.”

It turned out Gretzky had been playing hurt. After suiting up the following night, Feb. 22, 1999, for New York’s road game against the Calgary Flames, he underwent an MRI that revealed a bulging disk in his beck. The injury kept Gretzky out of the lineup until March 22, 1999.

On March 29, 1999, Gretzky finally set the record, scoring the winning goal in the Rangers’ 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden. It would be the last goal of his career.

Gretzky Calls It a Career in 1999

Once the Rangers were officially eliminated from playoff contention, in early April, all the chatter turned to Gretzky’s future. Retirement was no longer just another rumour, it was something the Great One had acknowledged he was seriously considering.

At a news conference on April 16, 1999, Gretzky announced he would be hanging up his skates at season’s end. Two days later, No. 99 skated his last game, a 2-1 loss in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden.

– , : @WayneGretzky played his final @NHL game. pic.twitter.com/XHnDo2KeBO
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 18, 2020

The Oilers wasted little time, announcing they would raise Gretzky’s No. 99 to the rafters at their 1999-00 season home-opener against the Rangers on Oct. 1, 1999. The moving ceremony at Skyreach Centre gave Oilers fans the chance they never had to say goodbye. Earlier that day, thousands packed Edmonton City Hall for a ceremony renaming the expressway that runs in front of Skyreach Centre from Capilano Drive to Wayne Gretzky Drive.

It’s been almost eight years now since the Oilers last played at Skyreach Centre (or Northlands Coliseum, as it ultimately was titled again before closing). Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton has been home to Connor McDavid and co. since the start of the 2016-17 season. Today, when motorists take Wayne Gretzky Drive, they drive past a shuttered arena.

But the No. 99 banner hangs just as proudly in the new arena. And for all that has changed in the last 25 years, it can be safely said that Edmonton’s affection for the Great One is as fervent as ever.

This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.

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