9 Fun Facts From The Day The Oilers Retired Wayne Gretzky’s No. 99 – Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers

October 1 marks the 25th^th commemorating the night the Edmonton Oilers raised Wayne Gretzky’s number 99 on the rafters at Skyreach Centre.

In a ceremony before their 1999-00 season opener against the New York Rangers, the Oilers celebrated the career of the legendary center, who had retired at the end of the previous season while a member of the Rangers.

A sellout crowd of more than 17,000 fans at the former Northlands Coliseum gave Gretzky a standing ovation, thanking hockey’s leading scorer for his 10 years in Edmonton.

A quarter of a century later, Gretzky’s jersey retirement remains one of the most memorable moments in Edmonton hockey history, which is saying a lot considering everything that has happened since the Oilers first took the ice in 1974. Here are nine fun facts from Oct. 1, 1999:

Wayne Gretzky Day

That afternoon, a rally was held outside Edmonton’s City Hall, where 15,000 people braved unseasonably cold weather packed Winston Churchill Square to pay their respects to Gretzky.

Bill Smith, who was the city’s mayor at the time, announced that every year, the first day of October would be “Wayne Gretzky Day” in Edmonton. Gretzky received many gifts at the meeting, including a book of memories signed by tens of thousands of Edmontonians.

Longtime Oilers radio play-by-play host Rod Phillips emceed the festivities, which were attended by many dignitaries. It was the start of a very busy day for Phillips, who was to hold a pre-game ceremony before heading up to the press box to call the action.

Wayne Gretzky Drive

At the meeting, the City of Edmonton announced it was renaming “Capilano Drive” “Wayne Gretzky Drive” in honor of The Great One.

The highway in Northeast Edmonton passes the stadium that was the home of the Oilers from 1974 to 2016, and it was the road that many fans would take to get to Northlands Coliseum to cheer on Gretzky and his teammates.

Gretzky isn’t the only former Oiler to have an Edmonton street named after him: In 2007, part of the “St. Albert Trail” between Edmonton and the suburbs of St. Albert was renamed the “Mark Messier Trail” as a nod to the Oilers legend who grew up in St. Louis.

Messier in the house

Messier, who became close friends with Gretzky during their many seasons together, first in Edmonton and later with the Rangers, went to the arenas, even though he was playing for the Vancouver Canucks at the time. Vancouver’s first game of the season didn’t come the next night, fortunately again against the Rangers, when Messier picked up an assist to lead the Canucks to a 2-1 win over the Blueshirts.

Two of Gretzky’s former teammates from the Oilers’ glory days were part of the event: Dave Semenko and Jari Kurri, who flew in from Finland to be there. Gretzky’s old teammate in Edmonton, Kevin Lowe, was behind the bench making his debut as the Oilers’ head coach.

Moss’s Memorable Moment

Just before his number 99 went up on the boards, Gretzky was presented with a replica of the banner by Oilers locker room caretaker Joey Moss. Gretzky became incredibly close to Moss during his former Oilers tenure, and the pair stayed together long after the Big left Edmonton.

Related: Joey Moss Will Be A Part Of Oilers History Forever

Born with Down Syndrome, Moss served as an inspiration and had a huge impact on the team and the entire Edmonton community. He spent the better part of four decades with the Oilers before passing away in 2020.

Hot Ticket in the City

Because the demand was so high for fans who wanted to be there to see Gretzky’s event, the Oilers did not sell single-game tickets, instead holding a lottery for all available seats: if you were one of the lucky entrants with your name selected, you were given the opportunity to buy tickets.

The asking price in the secondary market was unlike anything seen in Edmonton before. Ads in local newspapers and online postings listed tickets available for up to $4,000 each.

All Eyes on Edmonton

From coast to coast, most of the hockey world was tuned in to Edmonton that night, as all the action that followed the game was broadcast live on CBC in a special Friday night program. Hockey Night in Canada. MSG dominated the game in the United States.

Opening night of the 1999-00 NHL season featured only one other game, in Texas, where the defending champion Dallas Stars raised their 1999 Stanley Cup banner before taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Oct. 1 is the earliest date the Oilers have ever played their first NHL regular season game. Mother Nature stepped into the air, dumping snow on Alberta’s capital that day.

Worthy of Arrest

The players sat on their benches separately for about an hour during the pregame, before the puck dropped in a game that coincided with the biggest goal of the night during Gretzky’s time in Edmonton.

Ryan Smyth scored early in the second half to give the home side a 1-0 lead, Tim Taylor responded for Rangers minutes later, and that would be it. After 60 minutes of regulation and five minutes of sudden death overtime, the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

While Gretzky obviously had many former players on the New York roster, only two players on the Edmonton roster that night had played with the Great One: defenseman Sean Brown, Gretzky’s former teammate with the Los Angeles Kings in the mid-90s, and goaltender Bill Ranford, who was dressed for the game but did not see the snow.

Do you remember them?

The song most associated with Gretzky’s retirement is “I’ll Miss You” by iconic Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan. It was used during a video highlight that played after the final game of his career, with the Rangers against the Penguins at Madison Square Garden on April 18, 1999, and was performed by a children’s choir during the Wayne Gretzky Day rally at city hall. Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina, even performed a cover of the song during the 2003 Heritage Classic game at Commonwealth Stadium.

But it wasn’t McLachlan who was the musical guest at the pre-match event. Instead, it was the Moffats, a platinum-selling quartet of young brothers from BC who were among the biggest bands in the country at the time, who had just won the Much Fan Favorite Group of the Year award. Pop-rock made a song dedicated to Mkhulu, who they talk about with respect, calling him “Mr. Gretzky”.

The Moffats are still together and making music to this day, but to a much smaller fan base than in the heyday of the late ’90s boyband era.

The First Time Around the Twenties

Gretzky was just the second player to have his number retired by the Oilers, and the first since defenseman Al Hamilton had his No. 3 retired on Oct. 10, 1980. Hamilton was the first captain of the Oilers in their World Hockey Association (WHA) debut in 1972-73 and served four years in that position. The defenseman is also the Oilers’ all-time WHA leader in games played, assists and points.

Over the past 25 years, the Oilers have raised eight more banners, which now hang at Rogers Place. Honorees included players Kurri, Lowe, Messier, Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr, as well as Phillips and coach/general manager Glen Sather.

There hasn’t been a number retired by the Oilers since Lowe’s No. 4 three years ago, and it may not be long before another banner goes up in the city of Edmonton: Current Oilers stars Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid could that they are following. two players to receive that honor, and both are probably a decade or more from retirement at this point.