SEMENKO’S LEGACY HONOURED
Friends, family salute Oilers legend
It was a fitting tribute to the life and times of Dave Semenko, but for the 6,000 or so that experienced it, it was so much more.
It was a testimonial to a team, a town and the kind of people it produced.
It was a combination between emotional funeral and wonderful wake and the setting turned out to be spectacular.
The transformation of Rogers Place into a virtual cathedral was accomplished by constructing a stage under the scoreboard and completed with creative curtaining and a prominently placed cross. With George Blondheim’s grand piano, the Edmonton Metropolitan Choir and a pulpit for Father Michael McCaffery, the feel was very churchlike.
Flanked by sizable video boards placed on either side of the stage, Semenko’s casket was placed between a pair of photos by pallbearers Jason, Kelly and Mark Semenko and Glenn Anderson, Dave Hunter and Ron Low.
Former Oilers coach and general manager Glen Sather touched on it right from the beginning as he led the speakers from the group that became an NHL dynasty.
“Many times I’ve been asked to speak of the great individuals who came together in the early days of this team and won glory for themselves and this city. I’ve often commented that I had the honour of coaching and managing these players, but I also had the great experience of coaching them when they came here as young men and then became fine people. There’s no greater family feeling than to set out on a journey with a spirited, committed and extremely talented and passionate group with the men who sat in the Oilers dressing room those days, including Dave Semenko.”
Wayne Gretzky followed Sather and took it upon himself to steer the event down its intended path of being a celebration of life.
Gretzky, looking at Mark Messier, who has been known to weep in emotional moments, said he thought he’d just tell some stories.
He began with the Oilers’ first year in the NHL.
“We were 1-6, the team was spiralling and David was called into Glen’s office. When you were called into Glen’s office, that was never a good sign.
“David came out and said Glen was sending him down to Wichita for two weeks.
“So two weeks goes by and he comes back and I asked him how it was down there. He said it was unreal. ‘I played the power play, penalty killing, regular shift … ’
“I said it must have been a lot of fun. He said, ‘We were 0-6.’ I asked him what else happened down there? He said, ‘When I got there, they asked me what number I wanted to wear down there. I said 27. They said no, it’s taken. I said my junior number, 17. They said that was taken. I asked if 99 was available?’ So he wore No. 99 in Wichita.”
Gretzky said the Oilers always seemed to be looking for the elusive left-winger to play on his line with Jari Kurri.
“The year we won our first Stanley Cup, he scored three goals against the Islanders and then three goals in New York against the Rangers. He was proud how he played in the Stanley Cup. He scored against Billy Smith before I did in the final. And the following training camp it was the same old story. We have to find a left-winger to play with Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri.
“So he’s sitting there and Rod Phillips, Dick Chubey, Jim Matheson and Terry Jones are interviewing him and asking him if he was worried about losing his position.
“He said, ‘Sooner or later Glen will come to his senses.’ ”
Gretzky spoke of the day Semenko got traded and the first time he came back to play the Oilers.
“We were up 5-0 when he got a breakaway on Grant Fuhr halfway through the second period. You would think we were all playing for the Hartford Whalers. Our whole bench stood up. And when he didn’t score, everybody on our bench kind of threw our arms in the air and looked at Grant Fuhr. When we got back to the locker-room, we said, ‘Grant, how could you not let him score?’ He said ‘Honestly, I opened my legs, but he hit me on the pad.’ ” Paul Coffey put it perfectly. “Rogers Place. The Edmonton Oilers. Dave Semenko. What a special place for a special guy.”
There were many other emotional moments and Semenko stories as Al Hamilton and Kevin Lowe spoke, as did friend Randy Donkersloot and brother Brian Semenko.
Daughter Hannah Semenko spoke first, but we’ll give her the last word.
She spoke about how much her dad was enjoying his new job of ambassador and told the story of his first appearance at a function in that role.
When she called to ask how it went, Dave told her, “Sweetheart, I brought the place down.”
She thanked people for coming and said it gave her the chance to say one last time, ‘Dad, you brought the house down.’ ”