A MOMENT OF GREATNESS
Mcdavid channels likes of Gretzky
It was a complete and colossal crime that there were no fans in the stands at Rogers Place on Saturday to be able to experience it, especially for Connor Mcdavid to be able to immerse himself in the adoration of Edmonton hockey fans.
It was a shame that Mcdavid couldn't look up into the faces of 18,490, including the one who had been there through the decade of darkness, to see and to hear their expressions of unrestrained appreciation and adulation on the night he dialed the clock back decades to Wayne Gretzky's milestone moment on Dec. 30, 1981. On the other hand, the faces of his teammates, which told the tale of how the captain is viewed by every one of them, more than made up for it.
There were gigantic grins on all the Oilers and an even more enormous smile on Mcdavid's own face, beyond what he ever expected to be there on the moment.
What we witnessed, with the nation watching on Hockey
Night in Canada, was the night Mcdavid blasted off into the galaxy of greats to join Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and only a few others as the greatest in the history of hockey.
Mcdavid wanted the focus to be on the team preparing for the playoffs, not his producing 100 points in 53 games. But when Leon Draisaitl scored his second goal in the 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at 12:27 of the second period, it became a frozen moment in sports history that compared to Gretzky's 50th goal in 39 games.
“It's only a number,” Mcdavid had kept repeating during the countdown to the moment. But in the end, even he had to admit it didn't turn out to be only a number at all.
It became a fully accredited great moment in hockey history and a great moment in all of sports history, a moment to be totally treasured by every teammate including Leon Draisaitl who scored the goal on the night in which he recorded his own 500th career point and was just exploding with joy for No. 97.
I asked Mcdavid if, indeed, the moment ended up becoming bigger than he ever would have imagined it.
“Yeah, for sure,” he admitted. “Obviously when you get to 97, 98 and 99 points, it's getting to be in the back of your mind. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait around too long to get there.”
And he couldn't miss the reaction of the other Oilers.
“To see my teammates' reaction was something that was very, very special to me. To see the reaction of Leo and Nursey and the whole team, I can't explain how much that means,” he said of Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse.
While he attacked his night with great gusto, scoring in the first minute, Mcdavid was mostly understated when it was over, and you wondered if the just-turned 24-year-old captain truly understood that he had just accomplished something that hadn't been done in the game since one year before he was born.
It was just days ago that people started projecting the numbers, pointing out that it would require an average of two points per game by game 56. And he did with three games and a period and a half to spare!
Mcdavid has produced 60 points in his last 28 games. He has three or more points in eight of his last 11 games — 31 points in that span. He had a goal and three assists for a four-point night Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada to put a Gretzky-like exclamation mark behind it.
I asked Dave Tippett if, as a coach, it was a thrill.
“It was a thrill and a memory,” he replied.
“That was a pretty amazing accomplishment by an elite, elite player,” said the man who was assigned to check Gretzky as a player and who was once a teammate of Lemieux's the year before Mcdavid was born.
“Any time you can be around that every day you have to savour it and realize the impact he's had on the hockey world. I think what it does is solidify that he's one of the top players to ever play the game. The level he's played at this year, and what he's accomplished, you look at Wayne and Mario. He's taken his talents to another level.
“In the last month it's beyond belief the number of points he's had. One of the coaches said you have to remind yourself this is the NHL, the best league in the world and that this is a player that gets checked harder than any other player in the league.
“It's an amazing, amazing feat what he's doing.”
I suggested to Tippett that Mcdavid probably did the team a favour by getting it done with three games to go in the regular season so they could get back to preparing for the playoffs after clinching second place Saturday, a fact pretty much lost in the moment.
“I think that Connor is probably relieved that the 100 factor is behind him and that he can concentrate on preparing for the playoffs. It's funny that everybody was talking about the 100 points, but everybody but Connor was talking about it.”
All I know is that I want to be around when Mcdavid finally pops the cork and goes out of control with great glee when he wins his first Stanley Cup.
And this would definitely be the appropriate moment to write that I feel more than privileged to have covered both Wayne Gretzky and Connor Mcdavid in the prime of their careers. I've been blessed beyond belief.
Now, what do you think? Can he get 110?