Jets vs Oilers Heritage Classic

[IC Khari]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

Are people really worried that there aren't going to be tickets available? 33000 seats at $600 a pop on average? I don't see the sellout coming as quickly as a lot of folks.

Isn't there still a rather large waiting list for Jets season tickets already, and don't they get first dibs at these tickets? That could make it harder to get tickets. Mind you, that's a lot to see the current day Jets and Oilers play  

Edited March 7, 2016 by IC Khari

[IC Khari]

2 minutes ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

He should have won the Oscar for that and yet they gave it to TL Jones for the Fugitive. Oh man.

Tommy Lee Jones played the same character he does in all his movies ... aaaa ... Tommy Lee Jones.

[IC Khari]

In the interest of equal time ...

 

[Jimmy Pop]

35 minutes ago, IC Khari said:

There there. Did you need a tissue?

[kelownabomberfan]

On ‎3‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 7:57 AM, HardCoreBlue said:

Thomas Steen, my all time favorite Jet.

reunite the "Trei Krone" line of Lundholm, Steen and Lindstrom.  We called them the "Trei Groaner" line as they would pass and pass and pass and never shoot.

[HardCoreBlue]

Just now, kelownabomberfan said:

reunite the "Trei Krone" line of Lundholm, Steen and Lindstrom.  We called them the "Trei Groaner" line as they would pass and pass and pass and never shoot.

This brings back memories of how Lundholm usually 'celebrated' scoring a goal (the odd time he did shoot), i.e., when right back to centre ice like nothing happened. Classic. Which it also gets me thinking wasn't it Lundholm who deked himself into the corner on a penalty shot without even shooting it? Good times.  

[kelownabomberfan]

Go to the 1:00 minute mark.  Talk about talent.  Hawerchuk had the softest hands I've ever seen.

[bb.king]

6 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

Go to the 1:00 minute mark.  Talk about talent.  Hawerchuk had the softest hands I've ever seen.

Thanks for this - I was at that game!!! It's neat watching the style of goaltending in the 80's compared to now - it was still very much a stand-up style of goaltending.

[ALuCsRED]

On March 6, 2016 at 1:07 PM, FrostyWinnipeg said:

Can not see Freddy O coming back. 

Cronin. Christ! We had a defenceman who did not have a slap shot. Heck any player who does not have a slapshot should not be the NHL.

Cronin.  Slowest player on NHLPA 92  on SEGA Genesis from what I remember.  Maybe he could have a tilt with Semenko.

Edited March 8, 2016 by ALuCsRED

[kelownabomberfan]

Hawerchuk scores a beauty at the 7:00 mark on a partial break-away.  And yes, that's Scotty Bowman doing the colour with Don Whitman doing the play-by-play.

 

[Jimmy Pop]

Bless you KBF. These videos are awesome.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

People talk about they need to make the goal posts bigger. Apparently they have been downsized since the 80's. WTF!

[kelownabomberfan]

the big difference in the game from then to now, in my opinion, is the goalies.  In those highlights Mike Vernon and Reggie Lemelin are letting in goals that would just not happen in this day and age anymore.  And more's the pity.

Edited March 8, 2016 by kelownabomberfan

[Jimmy Pop]

4 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

the big difference in the game from then to now, in my opinion, is the goalies.  In those highlights Mike Vernon and Reggie Lemelin are letting in goals that would just not happen in this day and age anymore.  And more's the pity.

Scheifele would score 100G a year on goalies of that era, with that wrister. 

[kelownabomberfan]

2 minutes ago, Jimmy Pop said:

Scheifele would score 100G a year on goalies of that era, with that wrister. 

makes you wonder how any goalies ever got any shut-outs back then.  But you also see why no one is ever going to catch Gretzky playing in the modern era.  Jagr is going to have to play until he's 150.

[Jimmy Pop]

14 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

makes you wonder how any goalies ever got any shut-outs back then.  But you also see why no one is ever going to catch Gretzky playing in the modern era.  Jagr is going to have to play until he's 150.

With most things, I say "never say never"....but never will anyone catch Gretz.  Just think; 20 seasons of 80+ points....an astounding career for even a McDavid or Eichel... would put you approx. 300 back of Gretzky's ASSIST total. Just insane what he put up in relation to anyone else, ever. 

[kelownabomberfan]

now imagine if Hawerchuk got to play with Kurri, Messier and Anderson while Gretzky had to play on a line with Paul MacLean and Larry Hopkins.  And that might have happened, if Gobuty had put down the cheddar to get Gretzky from Skalbania instead of Pocklington.

[Jimmy Pop]

1 minute ago, kelownabomberfan said:

now imagine if Hawerchuk got to play with Kurri, Messier and Anderson while Gretzky had to play on a line with Paul MacLean and Larry Hopkins.  And that might have happened, if Gobuty had put down the cheddar to get Gretzky from Skalbania instead of Pocklington.

I just heard Wayne say he almost was a Jet...and that Hull tried hard to make it happen.  

Lordy how different our franchises would be today...

[FrostyWinnipeg]

6 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

now imagine if Hawerchuk got to play with Kurri, Messier and Anderson while Gretzky had to play on a line with Paul MacLean and Larry Hopkins.  And that might have happened, if Gobuty had put down the cheddar to get Gretzky from Skalbania instead of Pocklington.

Hopkins was a bum sure but not MacLean.

4 minutes ago, Jimmy Pop said:

I just heard Wayne say he almost was a Jet...and that Hull tried hard to make it happen.  

Lordy how different our franchises would be today...

You must know that story.

[The Unknown Poster]

12 minutes ago, Jimmy Pop said:

With most things, I say "never say never"....but never will anyone catch Gretz.  Just think; 20 seasons of 80+ points....an astounding career for even a McDavid or Eichel... would put you approx. 300 back of Gretzky's ASSIST total. Just insane what he put up in relation to anyone else, ever. 

Mario could have.  But again, that's unreal talent in the right era and being injury-free which he wasnt.  But I always feel Mario was cheated out of a couple of the records.  Cheated by his body I mean.  Would have been a great story had he got the single season goals or points record.

[The Unknown Poster]

4 minutes ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

Hopkins was a bum sure but not MacLean.

You must know that story.

Backgammon?

[kelownabomberfan]

The Trade that shocked the hockey world happened 25 years ago, ripping Wayne Gretzky from Edmonton and forever making Peter Pocklington a pariah in the City of Champions. But there exists an alternate universe where Wayne Gretzky was never traded from Edmonton—because he was a Winnipeg Jet.

In Peter Gzowski's best-selling classic The Game of Our Lives, which follows the 1980-81 Edmonton Oilers, a team on the brink of becoming a dynasty, Gzowski tells a story of how Wayne Gretzky was almost traded to the Winnipeg Jets instead of the Edmonton Oilers. The deal never happened because Jets owner Michael Gobuty wasn't a bolder backgammon player.

At the time, Nelson Skalbania's Indianapolis Racers franchise of the WHA was not working out. That's an understatement. The team was a financial disaster, even with a young phenom like Wayne Gretzky playing. The Racers lost close to $1 million in 1978-79 (closer to $3.5 million in today's dollars, which is a good year in Phoenix, I suppose) and was not included in plans for a WHA-NHL merger that would eventually take place in 1979.

However dire the team's situation was, Skalbania had Gretzky, who he had signed to a seven-year personal services contract when the young prodigy was 17 years old. And Gretzky alone was going to make Skalbania a tidy profit.

Skalbania called Michael Gobuty, one of the owners of the Winnipeg Jets, to talk about Gretzky. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight it's obvious Gobuty should have paid whatever Skalbania wanted, but at the time it was believed that Skalbania wanted too much money for the burgeoning superstar, and some of Gobuty's advisors—who aren't confirmed but Gzowski guesses was coach Rudy Pilous—weren't sold on Gretzky, thinking he was "too scrawny".

Despite the hesitation on the part of the Jets, the two owners had one final meeting on board Gobuty's plane (where all big-money deals were required by law to be made in the 1980s). Flying over the country Skalbania proposed a risky, totally 80s-movie-plot deal, as Gwotzki describes in the book:
 

"Tell you what," said Skalbania. "We'll play one game of backgammon. If you win, you can have him at your figure. If I win, I get a piece of the Jets."

"I'm not that good of a backgammon player," said Gobuty.

Deal off.

Next, Skalbania called Peter Pocklington, who agreed to Skalbania's asking price and Gretzky was an Oiler.

Just like that, Gobuty lost out on the greatest hockey player ever, and Winnipeg Jets fans are left wondering whether they could have watched one of the league's greatest dynasties develop in Winnipeg instead of Edmonton.  

 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

1 minute ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Backgammon?

Yeah although Shenk said it never happened they were just outbit.

I seem to remember a Vancouver writer(forget his name) but he was drunk when he did a picture book of Gretzky and he suggested that instead of L.A., Gretzky would have come to Winnipeg and his father would have been owner of the Jets.

[The Unknown Poster]

3 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

The Trade that shocked the hockey world happened 25 years ago, ripping Wayne Gretzky from Edmonton and forever making Peter Pocklington a pariah in the City of Champions. But there exists an alternate universe where Wayne Gretzky was never traded from Edmonton—because he was a Winnipeg Jet.

In Peter Gzowski's best-selling classic The Game of Our Lives, which follows the 1980-81 Edmonton Oilers, a team on the brink of becoming a dynasty, Gzowski tells a story of how Wayne Gretzky was almost traded to the Winnipeg Jets instead of the Edmonton Oilers. The deal never happened because Jets owner Michael Gobuty wasn't a bolder backgammon player.

At the time, Nelson Skalbania's Indianapolis Racers franchise of the WHA was not working out. That's an understatement. The team was a financial disaster, even with a young phenom like Wayne Gretzky playing. The Racers lost close to $1 million in 1978-79 (closer to $3.5 million in today's dollars, which is a good year in Phoenix, I suppose) and was not included in plans for a WHA-NHL merger that would eventually take place in 1979.

However dire the team's situation was, Skalbania had Gretzky, who he had signed to a seven-year personal services contract when the young prodigy was 17 years old. And Gretzky alone was going to make Skalbania a tidy profit.

Skalbania called Michael Gobuty, one of the owners of the Winnipeg Jets, to talk about Gretzky. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight it's obvious Gobuty should have paid whatever Skalbania wanted, but at the time it was believed that Skalbania wanted too much money for the burgeoning superstar, and some of Gobuty's advisors—who aren't confirmed but Gzowski guesses was coach Rudy Pilous—weren't sold on Gretzky, thinking he was "too scrawny".

Despite the hesitation on the part of the Jets, the two owners had one final meeting on board Gobuty's plane (where all big-money deals were required by law to be made in the 1980s). Flying over the country Skalbania proposed a risky, totally 80s-movie-plot deal, as Gwotzki describes in the book:
 

"Tell you what," said Skalbania. "We'll play one game of backgammon. If you win, you can have him at your figure. If I win, I get a piece of the Jets."

 

"I'm not that good of a backgammon player," said Gobuty.

Deal off.

Next, Skalbania called Peter Pocklington, who agreed to Skalbania's asking price and Gretzky was an Oiler.

Just like that, Gobuty lost out on the greatest hockey player ever, and Winnipeg Jets fans are left wondering whether they could have watched one of the league's greatest dynasties develop in Winnipeg instead of Edmonton.  

 

I also recall a footnote to this story being that they did play the game.  I cant remember if the story went that Gobuty won the first game and lost the next nine or lost the first game and won the next nine.

How would history of changed if Wayne was a Jet?  Im not sure *that* much differently.  Maybe a cup?  But the Jets still end up leaving and so does Wayne.

[kelownabomberfan]

8 minutes ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

Hopkins was a bum sure but not MacLean.

 

Yes, fine, but that's not the point.  Imagine what Hawerchuk would have had for points if he was feeding and being fed by Kurri, Messier, Anderson, Coffey, Tikkanen, etc, instead of Mark Kumpel, Phil Sykes and Tim Trimper.  Kind of like wondering what Milt's numbers would look like if he had had a chance to play with Anthony Calvillo.