1980-81 Chicoutimi Sagueneens Normand Leveille Jersey

Born on this date in 1963 in Montreal, Quebec, Normand Leveille played his junior hockey for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens beginning with the 1979-80 season. There, the left winger scored 24 goals and 12 assists for 36 points during his rookie Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season.

During his second season, armed with more confidence and experience, Leveille made a big step forward with 55 goals and 46 assists for 101 points, good for third on the club while his 55 goals were 7th in the league. Once in the postseason, Leveille led the "Sags" in scoring with 11 goals as well as 15 assists in 12 games for 26 total points.

This performance led to his being drafted in the first round, 14th overall in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins, ahead of future NHL talents as Al MacInnis and Chris Chelios.

The 5' 10", 175 lbs winger made the Bruins roster out of his first training camp and made his NHL debut on October 8, 1981 as the Bruins hosted the Quebec Nordiques.

Leveille scored his first NHL goal, as well as his first point, during his fourth game on October 14th just 36 seconds into the Bruins game at Chicago against the Black Hawks, igniting a 8-5 Bruins victory.

He would miss several games after straining his MCL in his left knee on November 1st, but return in time to play in 66 of the Bruins 60 games, during which he scored 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points. He also racked up 49 penalty minutes and finished the season at a +16.

His second season started out promising, as Leveille scored 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points in his first 9 games, but tragedy struck on October 23, 1982 when he suffered an aneurysm between the first and second periods of the Bruins game in Vancouver against the Canucks.

The 19-year-old Leveille was taken immediately to Vancouver General Hospital, where neurosurgeons performed surgery for seven hours to save his life. Doctors determined that his hemorrhage was a congenital issue caused by a defective blood vessel in his brain rather than being due to any hockey related injury.

Although he had complained of shoulder pain and a headache prior to the game, Leveille had scored twice during the first period and had been checked once, but showed no ill effects following the hit.

It was during the first intermission that Leveille told assistant Bruins coach Jean Ratelle that he felt dizzy. Fearing Leveille had suffered a concussion, Ratelle escorted Leveille to the Bruins trainer Jimmy Kausek. There, he began to lose consciousness. The Vancouver team doctor Ross Davidson came in to see Leveille and ordered that he be rushed to the hospital immediately.

Following the operation, Leveille was in coma for three weeks and remained hospitalized for several weeks after regaining consciousness. Having lost a degree of motor skills and control over his speech, his hockey career was over just as it was about to begin.

He returned to Boston Garden for the first time 16 months later on February 11, 1984, where he, able to walk on his own but with difficulty, stepped onto the ice wearing his #19 jersey to a standing ovation from the Bruins fans.

Leveille returned to the Boston Garden one final time 11 years later on September 28, 1995 for the Garden's closing ceremonies. Aided by former teammate Ray Bourque and his Bruins coach Terry O'Reilly, Leveille skated on the Boston Garden ice for one final time in a moving moment that no one in attendance will soon forget.

He has since become an advocate and fund raiser for the disabled and founded the Centre Normand Leveille, a 200-acre recreational camp for the disabled in Quebec.

Today's featured jersey is a 1980-81 Chicoutimi Sagueneens Normand Leveille jersey from happier times, when Leveille, full of youth and promise, scored 101 points in 72 games prior to leading the Sagueneens in playoff scoring.

The franchise was founded in 1973 and has won the President's Cup as QMJHL champions in 1991 and 1994. The most notable Sags to have gone onto the NHL are Guy Carbonneau, Alain Cote, Felix Potvin, Stephane Richer and current Minnesota Wild forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

Chicoutimi has since retired Leveille's #16.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1982-83 Boston Bruins Normand Leveille jersey worn during his abbreviated second season with Boston and once again in February 1984 when he made his emotional return to the Boston Garden following his recovery from his aneurysm.

Our video selection today is the One Last Skate around the rink at Boston Garden, with such icons as Bobby Orr, Milt Schmidt, Phil Esposito, Cam Neely and Johnny Bucyk, as well as Leveille being helped around the ice by Bourque and O'Reilly.

1982-83 Verdun Juniors Pat LaFontaine Jersey

John LaFontaine was a Canadian from Tecumseh, Ontario who worked for Chrysler, who transferred him to St. Louis, Missouri where his son Pat LaFontaine was born in 1965.

It was in St. Louis where LaFontaine first learned to skate. His father was transferred once again, this time to Waterford, Michigan, just 33 miles from Detroit when Pat was seven. He was able to get in plenty of ice time as the LaFontaine's lived on Williams Lake. He also played on his older brother's team, with kids that were a year or two older than he was, which pushed him to improve his game to keep up with the older boys.

With the end goal of American kids being to play college hockey in those days, the thought of turing pro hadn't even occurred to Pat until he was fifteen, following the success of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" United States Olympic team's gold medal performance, as well as that of American Bobby Carpenter of Massachusetts, who turned pro with the Washington Capitals in 1981.

LaFontaine was clearly no ordinary talent, as while Carpenter was just turning pro in 1981-82, LaFontaine scored an Earth-shattering 175 goals and 149 assists for a stunning 324 points in a 79 game season with Detroit Compuware of the midget AAA Michigan National Hockey League. Yes, three hundred and twenty-four points, an average of over four points per game!

No doubt influenced by his father's Canadian roots, the decision was made that the best place for Pat to continue to progress was Canadian junior hockey rather than an American college. With that, LaFontaine left home at age 17 and moved to the Montreal suburb of Verdun to play for the Verdun Juniors of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for the 1982-83 season.

"Our coach, Pierre Cramer, put me together with Jean-Maurice Cool and we traded for Gerard Gallant. We gelled together," LaFontaine recalled.

LaFontaine began the season with a goal and two assists at Chicoutimi. He duplicated that in his second game at home to Saint Jean. His first hat trick came four games later to extend his point scoring streak to six. Eight games later LaFontaine had his second hat trick as well as four assists for a seven point night.

November 1st saw the streak reach 20 games at Laval with a pair of assists. Four games later Hull was victimized by LaFontaine's fourth hat trick and second seven point game.

He reached the 30 game mark November 26th with a goal and three assists against Drummondville. He surpassed 100 points on December 3rd in his 32nd game of the season and Game 35 of the consecutive point streak on December 10th was an impressive showing, as LaFontaine raised his season high with an eight point night courtesy of a two goal, six assist performance.

Game 40 was achieved December 21st with a goal. After a two week break for the World Junior Tournament, Verdun returned to the ice on January 5th and LaFontaine picked up where he left off with back to back hat tricks (numbers 6 and 7 of the season) on the 5th and the 7th. The point scoring streak now reached 43 games, as well as a total of 142 points, on this date in 1983 when LaFontaine had a pair of goals and an assist versus Chicoutimi.

For the first time all season, LaFontaine was held scoreless at Shawinigan on January 12th, but began another scoring streak of 26 games that would carry through to the end of the season.

He set a season high with four goals on the 18th, only to raise that to five on the 28th of January. LaFontaine reached the 200 point barrier on the 23rd and equalled a season high with eight points on February 25th, which included his 11 hat trick. LaFontaine finished the regular season strongly with a hat trick and three assists for six points on March 11th and then repeated those totals the very next game on March 13th.

He then put an exclamation point on his amazing season when he pumped in five goals as well as three assists for his third eight point night of the season to score 20 points in his final three games, giving LaFontaine points in 69 of the Juniors 70 games that season as well as 15 hat tricks.

In addition to his three eight point games, he had three seven point games, four with six and five games of five points apiece. His final totals were 104 goals and 130 assists for 234 points to lead the league in scoring and earn the Jean Beliveau Trophy with the second highest total in league history at the time. He had 15 more assists than his next closest competitor, Claude Verret, whom he beat by 46 points in the scoring race. LaFontaine also won the goal scoring crown by a full 20 goals over future NHL superstar Mario Lemeiux, who came third in the points race a full 50 points back of LaFontaine.

LaFontaine's remarkable season sees him still third on the single season goal scoring list as well as third on the single season point scoring record more than 25 years later.

Once the playoffs began, LaFontaine kicked off the postseason with four assists as Verdun swept Trois-Rivieres on the strength of LaFontaine's ten points. Shawingan fell in six after shutting out LaFontaine in Game 1 although he came back to score 12 points in the final five games. Verdun then won the President's Cup and qualified for the Memorial Cup by defeating Longueuil four games to one thanks to 13 points from LaFontaine, which earned him the Michel Briere Memorial Trophy as QMJHL playoff MVP after leading the playoffs in scoring with 35 points in 15 games, which added the Guy Lafleur Trophy to his ever growing hardware collection.

Additionally, LaFontaine collected the Mike Bossy Trophy as Best Pro Prospect of the Year, the Michel Bergeron Trophy as Offensive Rookie of the Year and the Frank J. Selke Memorial Trophy as Most Sportsmanlike Player thanks to his total of just 10 penalty minutes for the entire regular season.

One more award came LaFontaine's way, as he was named the Canadian Hockey League's Player of the Year for 1983.

Despite being named the Best Pro Prospect in the QMJHL, LaFontaine was drafted third overall that season behind the Minnesota North Stars first overall selection of Brian Lawton and the Hartford Whalers choice of Sylvain Turgeon second before the New York Islanders grabbed LaFontaine.

LaFontaine would only play for Verdun for a single season, one in which he dominated and proved he was ready to move up to play against a higher level of competition, which he did by spending a season with the United States National Team in preparation for the 1984 Olympic Games.

Once the Olympics were concluded, LaFontaine then joined the Islanders for the final 15 games of the 1983-84 season, which included scoring a hat trick and two assists in only his second game. He also gained valuable experience in 16 playoff games as the Islanders made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, only to see their dynasty end as the Edmonton Oilers began theirs.

He would go on to prove the North Stars and Whalers wrong by having an NHL career which would eventually see LaFontaine inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003.

Today's featured jersey is a 1982-83 Verdun Juniors Pat LaFontaine jersey. The Verdun Juniors franchise can be traced back to 1933 when they began life as the Montreal Junior Canadiens, a name they retained until 1972. Name changes then ensued, going from the Montreal Bleu Blanc Rouge to the Montreal Juniors, the Verdun Juniors, and the Verdun Junior Canadiens, all of which explains why their jerseys copied the Montreal Canadiens template so directly.

Eventually the club relocated 35 miles east to Saint-Hyacinthe where they became knows as the Saint-Hyacinthe Laser in 1989 where the Canadiens look was continued. They remained there until 1996 when they moved once more, this time 421 miles northwest to Rouyn-Noranda where they became known as the Huskies and continue to play there to this day but finally broke their ties to the Canadiens jersey template.

While today's post focused on LaFontaine's junior hockey dominance, video of that era was impossible to find, so we present to you Pat LaFontaine's top ten goals.

The Top 20 NHL Player Jersey Sales For November 2011

Despite having played in only 10 games in 2011 after suffering a concussion in the Penguins game on January 5th, Sidney Crosby led all players in NHL jersey sales in November 2011.

Shop.NHL.com's 2011-12 Sidney Crosby offerings

The popular Alexander Ovechkin predictably came in second despite his recent scoring issues which see him 35th overall. Claude Giroux of Philadelphia came in third, likely boosted by the departure of popular former Flyers Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, the long term injury issues of team captain Chris Pronger, his second place in the scoring race and most likely by the release of the Flyers new Winter Classic jerseys in time for Black Friday sales for the outdoor game which will be hosted by Philadelphia - all of which adds up to the perfect storm of jersey sales.

Grioux's Flyers teammates Daniel Briere and James van Riemsdyk also cracked the Top 20 at #16 and #18, also likely benefitting from a boost due to Winter Classic jersey sales.

Reigning Stanley Cup champion, Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins ranks fourth, along with fellow Bruins Tyler Seguin (7th), Milan Lucic (10th), Zdeno Chara (12th) and Patrice Bergeron (20th). Clearly on ice success translates into retail sales, as the Bruins continue to benefit from having won their first Stanley Cup in 39 years.

Popular Chicago Blackhawks Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane come in at 5th and 6th, which will no doubt result in some friendly competitive needling in the Blackhawks dressing room.

New York Rangers captain Ryan Callahan checks in at #8, while teammate goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is at #14. Look for both of these players to rank higher in December sales due to selling quite a few of the Rangers throwback style Winter Classic jerseys, which were not unveiled until November 28th, a week after the Flyers Winter Classic jersey.

Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos comes in 9th, lower than his talent should dictate. Once can only imagine what his sale numbers would look like if he were a Bruin, Red Wing or Ranger.

The remainder of the list comprises the Detroit Red Wings star duo of Pavel Datsyuk at #11 and teammate Henrik Zetterberg at #19, the Capitals Nicklas Backstrom at #13, Penguins star Evgeni Malkin at #15 and the San Jose Sharks Joe Thornton at #17.

Frankly, we're shocked and confused that no single Canadian team has even one player in the Top 20. Where's the Sedin twins? Not one Winnipeg Jet? We also never would have expected only two goaltenders either. It would be interesting to compare this list to one from back in the mid 1990's when the likes of Brodeur, Roy, Hasek, Belfour, Joseph, Richter and Hextall ruled the ice.

The Top 20 NHL Player Jersey Sales For November 2011

1. Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh Penguins

2. Alex Ovechkin – Washington Capitals

3. Claude Giroux – Philadelphia Flyers

4. Tim Thomas – Boston Bruins

5. Jonathan Toews – Chicago Blackhawks

6. Patrick Kane – Chicago Blackhawks

7. Tyler Seguin – Boston Bruins

8. Ryan Callahan – New York Rangers

9. Steven Stamkos – Tampa Bay Lightning

10. Milan Lucic – Boston Bruins

11. Pavel Datsyuk – Detroit Red Wings

12. Zdeno Chara – Boston Bruins

13. Nicklas Backstrom – Washington Capitals

14. Henrik Lundqvist – New York Rangers

15. Evgeni Malkin – Pittsburgh Penguins

16. Danny Briere – Philadelphia Flyers

17. Joe Thornton – San Jose Sharks

18. James van Riemsdyk – Philadelphia Flyers

19. Henrik Zetterberg – Detroit Red Wings

20. Patrice Bergeron – Boston Bruins

Source: Shop.NHL.com

2006-07 Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin Jersey

On this date in 2007, the Toronto Maple Leafs participated in the Teammates for Kids patch program, during which every player in the NHL wore a Teammates for Kids patch on their jersey for one home game between January 4th and January 13th.

All of the approximately 650 jerseys were then auctioned off for charity, with the patched Pittsburgh Penguins jersey worn by Sidney Crosby on January 7, 2007 selling for $12,131. In all, the auctions raised $385,730 with Sundin's jersey receiving the highest bids among the Maple Leafs at $1,608.

The Teammates for Kids Foundation was founded by country music star Garth Brooks in 1999 to contribute to nonprofit organizations that serve and benefit children. The concept has pro athletes contribute based on performances in games, such as $500 for each goal scored, which the foundation then triples. To date over $80 million has been distributed.

"This league-wide jersey auction highlights the level of commitment that the players, the NHLPA, the NHL and its Member Clubs have towards improving the lives of children," Garth Brooks said. "I'm very grateful to the fans who have supported this auction and children's charities."

This was the third such program where NHL jerseys carried an additional patch for the purpose of being auctioned later on to raise funds for charity, following the Hockey Fights Cancer patches worn by only the team captains in January of 2001 and the NHL Cares patch worn at the start of the 2005-06 season to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans, Louisiana two months earlier.

Today's featured jersey is a 2006-07 Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin jersey with the addition of the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation patch as worn on January 6, 2007 in a 4-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

The Maple Leafs changed to this jersey template of twin white stripes on the arms and waist back in 1992-93 following the positive reception of their Turn Back the Clock jersey worn during the NHL's 75th Anniversary season in 1991-92.

The 1992-93 jersey incorporated a vintage, multi-pointed maple leaf as the secondary shoulder patches. A new modern font for the name and numbers was first employed in 1997-98 and in 2000-01, the shoulder patches changed to a "TML" monogram became the secondary logo, as well as a change to a three color block font for the numbers, while the modern font for the names was retained.

The three color monogram and numbers saw the introduction of a third color to the Maple Leafs jerseys, a subtle silver outline. This was the first time since 1948 that a Maple Leafs jersey was anything other than blue and white, as the name "Toronto Maple Leafs" was executed in red on the main crest for three seasons in the late 1940's.

Today's first video is a look at the Teammates for Kids Foundation.

Apparently not everyone is a fan of Sundin.

1982-83 Winnipeg Jets Serge Savard Jersey

Born to be a Montreal Canadien, Serge Savard was born in Montreal in 1946 and played his junior hockey for the Montreal Junior Canadiens from 1963-64 to 1965-66, where the defenseman's best season was a 47 point effort from 56 games in 1964-65.

The following season must have been a culture shock of the highest degree, as the French Canadian found himself in the Central Hockey League as a member of the Houston Apollos. Savard was named CHL Rookie of the Year when he scored 32 points in 68 games, but also stood his ground while being tested during his first season of professional hockey with 155 penalty minutes. He would never get half that many minutes again in his 17 year career. He would also make his NHL debut with Montreal with a pair of games that season as well as appearing in a single playoff game with the Quebec Aces of the AHL.

Savard would crack the Montreal lineup the following season and never return to the minors again. As a rookie in 1967-68, the season of the great NHL expansion, he registered 15 points in 67 games, including his first NHL goal. He would also get his first taste of playoff action, which was to become a regular part of his career going forward. Savard played in 6 of Montreal's 13 playoff games, as the Canadiens swept the expansion St. Louis Blues to win the Stanley Cup, earning the rookie his name on the cup for the first time.

With the confidence of a full season behind him now, Savard doubled his point total in 1968-69 with 8 goals and 23 assists for 31 points, but really shone in the playoffs, as he racked up 4 goals and 10 points in 14 games as Montreal rolled to a second consecutive Stanley Cup and Savard became the first defenseman to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs.

Savard raised his goal total to 12 and matched his point total with 31 in 1969-70, but the Canadiens missed out on the postseason due to losing a tiebreaker in the standings. Savard did however, play in his first NHL All-Star game that season.

He was limited to just 60 games over the next two seasons in part due to a severely broken leg which he later broke again, quite nearly the only blemish on his otherwise durable nature, as 12 times in 16 seasons he would play upwards of 64 games, with 9 of those being 71 or more.

Back healthy once again, Savard played first in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union, playing in 5 of the series 8 games, during which Canada won 4 and tied 1 as Savard likes to point out!

Savard then saw action in 74 games with the Canadiens, setting a new career high with 39 points but he really came alive in the playoffs with 11 points in 17 games as Montreal won the fourth Stanley Cup of Savard's career, as they also won the title in 1971 when Savard missed the majority of the season due to injury.

After a down year offensively, with just 18 points, Savard rebounded in 1974-75 with a career best 60 points coming from 20 goals and 40 assists, both also career highs.

The 1975-76 season saw Savard score 47 points and help Montreal earn another Stanley Cup. Before the next NHL season could get underway, Savard suited up for Team Canada again during the 1976 Canada Cup, which the Canadians would win.

Montreal was now in the midst of a dynasty, as they would win their second of four consecutive Stanley Cups in 1976-77, followed by their third and fourth in 1978 and 1979. Following the 1978-79 season, Savard was named the recipient of the Masterton Trophy for perseverance, dedication and sportsmanship. That season would also see Savard compete in the 1979 Challenge Cup, a series of games against the Soviet Union which was held in lieu of the customary all-star game.

Savard would play two more seasons with Montreal while serving as the team captain before briefly retiring until being convinced to return to the ice with the Winnipeg Jets, who desired his veteran leadership on their young squad.

Savard played 47 games on his return to the NHL in 1981-82, which saw a 48 point improvement in the standings for the Jets, and a 76 games in 1982-83, which included his 1,000th NHL game on this date in 1983, making him just the 45th player in league history to reach that milestone.

Savard was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986 and had his #18 retired by Montreal in 2006. He stayed active in the Canadiens organization, later spending 12 seasons as the Canadiens general manager, a time period which included two Stanley Cup championships.

Today's featured jersey is a 1982-83 Winnipeg Jets Serge Savard jersey. The Jets adopted a new jersey style upon their entry into the NHL in 1979-80 and continued to wear it for 11 seasons throughout the 1980's.

One unique element of this jersey is the extra thin font used for the names on the back.

The template for this jersey was actually originally used by the New York Rangers for two seasons under the management of John Ferguson. After being let go by the Rangers in 1978, Ferguson became the general manager of the Winnipeg Jets and reprised the exact same jersey template for the Jets beginning with their inaugural NHL season in 1979, with the only differences being the font for the name and numbers and, naturally, the team logo. The Jets would use this style all throughout the 1980's.

Bonus jersey: Due to the length of time Savard spent with the Canadiens and the eight championships clubs on which he played, it is only fitting to include a 1974-75 Montreal Canadiens Serge Savard jersey. from the year Savard set career highs in goals, assists and points, with 60. This jersey features a lace up collar and has the sleeve numbers contained within the blue arm stripe, which Montreal did from 1966 to 1978.

This particular style with the lace up collar and sleeve number placement was used from 1966-67 to 1974-75 until the Canadiens changed to a v-neck collar.

Notice the back numbers are not centered on the blue chest stripe, a common misconception with Canadiens jerseys.

Today's first video segment is the Legends of Hockey biography of Savard.

Next, is a tribute to Savard on the occasion of having his #18 retired by the Canadiens.

Here, Savard's #18 raises to the rafters later in the ceremony. Notice the current Canadiens players all wearing #18 Savard captain's jerseys with a special commemorative patch for the occasion.

1983-84 Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky Jersey

17,498 fans filed into the Northlands Coliseum on this date in 1984 as the Edmonton Oilers were set to host the Minnesota North Stars. Grant Fuhr got the start for the Oilers, opposed by Minnesota's Don Beaupre.

At 2:07 into the game, Glenn Anderson got the scoring started with his 25th goal of the season on an assist from Mark Messier, with the goal coming at even strength. Wayne Gretzky extended the Oilers lead to 2-0 at 7:41 with his even strength goal from Charlie Huddy. It was Gretzky's 44th goal of the season, coming just two seconds after a North Stars penalty had expired.

With Dave Hunter in the penalty box for the Oilers, Minnesota got on the board when Dennis Maruk got his 10th of the season from Neal Broten and Dino Ciccarelli at 9:11.

With the feisty Gordie Roberts off for Minnesota, Edmonton restored their two goal lead when Jari Kurri scored a power play goal from Gretzky and Huddy at 15:20. Gretzky's assist extended his NHL record to 17 consecutive games with an assist, his 38th assist during the streak.

Two and a half minutes later, the North Stars struck back when Ciccarelli scored his 23rd goal from Maruk and Brad Maxwell at even strength at 17:55, still in the first period.

25 seconds later, Kurri would score his second of the period from Gretzky at even strength matched by Gretzky's second of the game 38 seconds later to make the score after just one period 5-2 in favor of the Oilers.

When the teams returned to the ice for the second period, Gilles Meloche had replaced Beaupre in the North Stars goal. Minnesota came out flying, determined to get back into the game, and in the blink of an eye, Ciccarelli has his second goal of the night from Maruk and Mark Napier at just 25 seconds. The North Stars then cut the Oilers lead to 5-4 when defenseman Maxwell netted his 12th of the season on a power play with Anderson in the box for the Oilers at 1:22.

Kurri completed his 7th career hat trick with his 38th of the year from Gretzky at 3:54, stemming the tide of the North Stars comeback - at least temporarily, as Steve Payne's 11th of the season from Broten and Willi Plett just 40 seconds later kept Minnesota within one at 6-5.

Just over three minutes later, Edmonton converted on the power play with Coffey's 20th from Gretzky and Messier at 7:31 with Brian Lawton off for Minnesota. The scoring binge subsided temporarily until the plucky North Stars got their fourth of the period from Brian Bellows, his 21st of the season at 11:27 from Napier and George Ferguson.

Taking a break from the scoring, Ken Linseman of Edmonton fought Napier at 11:50, followed by Randy Gregg's fight with Bellows less than a minute later at 12:30. Bellows received an extra minor, which put Edmonton on the power play, which they converted 16 seconds later as Gretzky completed his hat trick with his 46th goal from Anderson and Messier. The hat trick was the 24th of Gretzky's career.

Swede Willy Lindstrom joined the offensive fireworks at 14:59 from Messier and Kevin Lowe at 14:59 and Gretzky scored his 47th goal of the season, his fourth goal of the night and eighth point of the game with his goal from Messier and Kurri even strength at 17:23. Messier's fourth assist was his fifth of the game and he set an Oilers record with four coming in the span of the last 9:52.

The second period ended with the Oilers leading 10-6, thanks to their three consecutive goals to in the latter half of the period which gave them their largest lead of the night.

Despite giving up six goals, Fuhr stayed in the Oilers net for the third period thanks to the healthy Oilers lead, while the North Stars elected to stay with Meloche, as Beaupre likely wanted nothing more of the Oilers on this night.

Minnesota still had some fight left in them, as they struck back at 2:20 of the third with Keith Acton's 11th from Maxwell and Roberts, followed by Craig Hartsburg's 7th from Plett on the power play at 3:35 with Anderson back in the box.

Coffey got one back for the Oilers from Messier and Anderson at 7:10. It was Messier's sixth assist of the game. It would take over eight minutes for the next goal to arrive, the longest gap in scoring for the entire game. Gregg's 10th of the season came at 15:22 from Kevin McCelland and Pat Hughes to make the score 12-8 and send the media scrambling for their record books, as the goal was the 20th of the game, the most in the NHL since a a 21 goal game between the Toronto St. Patricks and Montreal Canadiens back on January 10, 1920 won by Montreal 14-7 nearly 64 years earlier.

With just over four and half minutes remaining, fans were hoping to witness history, but the record-tying goal never arrived, as the final stood at 12-8 despite a Minnesota power play at 17:01.

Of note, both teams had identical 12 shots on goal for each and every period, giving them 36 each for the game. Fuhr got credit for the win after making 28 saves on 36 shots, while Meloche took the loss after making 17 saves on 24 shots, while Beaupre made 7 saves on 12 shots.

This would prove to be the greatest night of Gretzky's career, with 8 points from 4 goals and 4 assists. He had one previous 8 point night earlier the same season back on November 19, 1983, which came on 3 goals and 5 assists.

Today's featured jersey is a 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky jersey. The Oilers would go on to win the Stanley Cup at the conclusion of the season, and interestingly, each of the four times the Oilers would win the cup with Gretzky as captain, it would be at home in their white jerseys.

When Edmonton first entered the NHL in 1979 following the demise of the WHA, they changed the colors of crest of their jerseys but, aside from minor detail changes to fonts for names and numbers and some tweaking of shades of color, kept the same style for 17 seasons, which included their Stanley Cup dynasty of the 1980's.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1983-84 Minnesota North Stars Craig Hartsburg jersey. With the North Stars being 40% responsible for the 20 goals scored in their game with Edmonton on this date in 1984, it only seems fair to include them in today's entry.

This jersey was first worn in 1978, but this was the only season the Pedersons brand appeared on the rear hem of the North Stars jerseys, being replaced by a different local customizer the following season.

Oddly, in 1981-82, the North Stars added black to their home white jerseys in the form of a third black stripe to the waist, black cuffs on the sleeves and black outlines on their main crest and number in an effort to look tougher, but surprisingly chose to leave the green road jerseys as is, not adding the black to them until 1988, sticking with today's featured style some seven additional seasons.

Today's video selection are highlights from the offensive explosion which resulted in the most goals scored in over 60 years in the NHL.