Ferraro's 108-goal record unlikely to be equalled
Amazingly, WHL'S top sniper in '83-84 was not invited to join Team Canada
Ray Ferraro made his world junior hockey championship debut at age 47.
Nearly a decade after playing his 1,258th and final NHL game, Ferraro joined TSN'S telecast team for the 2012 tournament.
He has become a fixture in the booth at the prestigious event, alongside play-by-play man Gord Miller.
While preoccupied with analyzing what is happening on the ice, Ferraro occasionally takes a moment to ponder what might have been.
“I wanted to play in it, for sure,” he recalls from Edmonton, site of the 2021 world juniors. “Of course I did — especially in an age-out tournament.
“You only get one opportunity to do it, so I would have loved to have played and to have represented Canada. I was lucky enough to go to three world championships and, man, it's the best. I would have loved to have done it as a junior player. It would have been, by far, the highlight of my career to that point.”
That would have been saying something.
By the time the 1984 world juniors began, Ferraro had 54 goals in 36 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
He was en route to setting a WHL goal-scoring record that is unlikely to be threatened, let alone surpassed, by sniping 108 times during the 1983-84 season.
Yet, the Wheat Kings star, then 19, was not part of Team Canada.
“They just picked the team back then. They didn't have a camp,” notes Ferraro, 56, who hails from Trail, B.C. “Of course, there's no cellphones back then. The word had gone out that the team was going to be announced. When I left the rink and went home, I was certain that there was going to be a call for me.
“I had 50 goals and there was no call. The next day, there was no call. Pretty soon, you get the picture and it's not happening. I look at that roster and there were some great players on there. Even at that point, I think I was so far under the radar that I don't even know that I was really considered.”
The fourth-place Canadian squad included six forwards who played in the WHL that season — Dale Derkatch (Regina Pats), Lyndon Byers (Regina), Russ Courtnall ( Victoria Cougars), Dan Hodgson (Prince Albert Raiders), Dean Evason (Kamloops Junior Oilers) and Randy Heath (Portland Winterhawks).
Heath and Ferraro were teammates in Portland in 1982-83. That season, Ferraro scored 41 goals in 50 games as a WHL rookie, only to be traded to Brandon on Aug. 28, 1983.
Ferraro registered a hat trick in each of his first two games with Brandon. That momentum carried him through the season, but not to Sweden.
“When the guys left for world juniors, I think I was 12 or 14 points behind Dan Hodgson in scoring, and my goal was to get the scoring lead,” Ferraro says. “If I leave for 12 games or 15 games, I'm not getting that ( goal-scoring) record. No chance.
“I would have loved to have played on that team but, I'll be honest, I love still having this record. I love knowing that, given the way the game has changed, somebody might break that record, but I can't even imagine how that would be possible.”
Ferraro ended up eclipsing Hodgson in the scoring race, finishing with a league-best 192 points — 11 more than the Raiders' star.
Along the way, Ferraro shattered the WHL'S goal-scoring record of 96, set by Bill Derlago of the 197677 Wheat Kings.
I had 50 goals and there was no call. The next day, there was no call. Pretty soon, you get the picture and it's not happening.
Derlago followed up by scoring 89 times in 52 games in 1977-78. However, he suffered torn knee ligaments in an exhibition game against the Moscow Selects on Dec. 9, 1977 and did not return to the lineup until Jan. 31, 1978.
That night, Derlago scored twice to give him 50 goals in 27 games. That remains the fastest 50 goals in WHL history. Ferraro had a four-goal game in his 32nd appearance of 1983-84 to reach the 50 milestone.
Ferraro went on to spend 18 seasons in the NHL, registering 408 goals and 898 points. As proud as he is of a successful big-league career, there will always be a soft spot for the 108-goal season.
“I don't have any memorabilia from it, but I don't need it,” Ferraro says.
“It's in my head. My kids have heard the story 108 times, too.”