Gretzky's Tears

I am reading a book that I heard about over at The Goose's Roost. The guys there are reading and reviewing as part of a "Read With the Roost" series that they are doing. Since they talked it up, and I happened to have a coupon for 40% off at Borders, I made a purchase. The book is Gretzky's Tears:Hockey, America, and the Day Everything Changed by Stephen Brunt. I already read Searching for Bobby Orr, another great book by Brunt so I was thinking I'd enjoy this one as well.

I'm not quite done (got another 40 or so pages), but so far I really like the book. I will probably review it in more detail in a later post, but for now I want to point something out.

On page 200, it says "In the early part of the 1989-90 season he was closing in on Gordie Howe's career NHL goal-scoring record, a stunning achievement given that it had taken Howe 1,767 games to record his 801 goals, while Gretzky would hit the mark in just 780."

There is something very wrong with this fact. Gretzky did not score his 802nd goal until 1994- March 23, 1994, to be exact-- and I remember because I WATCHED THE GAME. I still have it on tape somewhere. It was during my first, fledgling season as a hockey fan. I came on to hockey during the all-star game and watched some games here and there before becoming fully immersed during the playoffs. We knew Gretz was getting close to the record, so we started recording games and we manged to get this one on tape. It happened to be against the Canucks (my first favorite team) and they stopped the game and made a huge presentation. (it was a big deal, but couldn't they have waited till the game was over?) I think the Canucks actually won the game, and I know that Pavel Bure scored his 50th goal, and the Canucks made an ironic show of being excited for him. Wild stuff.

What I think Mr. Brunt meant to say there was that Wayne was approaching Howe's point-scoring record, which he did break in 1989, against the Oilers. (his 802 goal took around 1, 178ish games to complete, still pretty amazing.) MAJOR difference there.. and I am really surprised that no editor caught that. I noticed it just from reading, then did some quick internet research to be sure that I wasn't imagining things.

I have a really good memory for sports-related things, especially when it comes to Pavel Bure and the Canucks, so I was pretty sure I was right about this one, and it turns out I was. Hmmm..