This was the only photograph of the game that I could find.
Every other photo I saw purporting to be of this one
showed the Devils in white and the Oilers in blue,
meaning it would have been at the Meadowlands.
November 19, 1983: The New Jersey Devils go into the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to play the Edmonton Oilers. At the time, the Devils were in only their 2nd season in New Jersey, but their 10th season overall, having previously been the Kansas City Scouts (1974-76) and the Colorado Rockies (1976-82), and still weren't much better than that.
In contrast, the Oilers were the defending Champions of what was then called the NHL's Clarence Campbell Conference (now the Western Conference), and were loaded with future Hall-of-Famers: Center Wayne Gretzky was breaking NHL scoring records, right wing Jari Kurri had become the League's best playmaker, Paul Coffey its best defenseman, Kevin Lowe another of its best defensemen, center Mark Messier its best team leader, right wing Glenn Anderson one of its best two-way players, and Grant Fuhr perhaps its best goaltender.
Within the game's 1st 3 minutes and 7 seconds, 3 shocking things happened: At 59 seconds, Gretzky was sent to the penalty box for hooking, giving the Devils a power play; at 1:43, Dave Cameron opened the scoring for the Devils; and, at 3:07, with the teams at full strength, Jan Ludvig scored, to give the Devils a 2-0 lead.
It was just about all Oilers thereafter: Edmonton won, 13-4. Messier, later to enrage and sadden Devils fans as Captain of the New York Rangers, was injured and didn't play. But Gretzky had 3 goals and 5 assists, Kurri had 5 goals and an assist, Willy Lindström had 3 goals and an assist, Coffey had a goal and an assist, Jim Playfair had a goal and an assist, Lowe had 3 assists, Tom Roulston had 2 assists, Anderson had an assist, even Fuhr had an assist.
The starting goaltender for the Devils was Ron Low, a former Oiler. After 2 periods, he was pulled, and former New York Islander backup goalie Glenn "Chico" Resch, later a popular broadcaster for the Devils, was put in. It made little difference.
After the game, Gretzky told a reporter for the Edmonton Sun:
How long has it been for them? Three years? Five? Seven? Probably closer to nine. Well, it's about time they got their act together. They're ruining the whole league. They better stop running a Mickey Mouse organization and put somebody on the ice. I feel damn sorry for Ron Low and Chico Resch.
I was about to turn 14. I was not a little kid anymore. I was old enough to be angry at Gretzky with something more than a child's tantrum. I was enraged. This? Coming from a guy who hadn't won a Stanley Cup yet? What right did he have to talk about my team this way?
On the other hand, at that age, I was also aware enough to know that Gretzky had a point: The Devils were horrible. From the start of the season on October 5 until November 26, Thanksgiving weekend, they won 2 games and lost 22. They were playing as poorly as any team in the history of the League. Doing that in your 1st season is understandable. Not in your 2nd season. Especially when it's really your 10th season.
Calling us "a Mickey Mouse operation" (some sources misquoted it as "a Mickey Mouse outfit") was a bit too kind: The Devils were playing like the '62 Mets, without being entertaining in their buffoonery. There was no "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry on this team. No Jimmy Piersall. No Elio Chacón. No Clarence "Choo Choo" Coleman. The '83-'84 Devils were, arguably, worse than the '62 Mets. They weren't "lovable losers," they were just losers.
Things did pick up a little: From November 29, 1983 to March 17, 1984, the Devils went 15-26-7, not quite a respectable pace, but a considerably less embarrassing one. On January 15, the Oilers came to the Meadowlands, and the Jersey fans were out for blood.
Gretzky got the hell booed out of him. Some fans came in Disney World-style Mickey Mouse ear-hats. Some wore T-shirts or sweatshirts with pictures of Mickey Mouse on them. One fan held up a sign showing a Devils player, complete with a devil's horns and tail, roughing up Mickey Mouse wearing a Number 99 Oilers jersey. The Oilers won, but it was only 5-4, and a considerably better game. The Devils were not a "Mickey Mouse operation" on that night.
My thanks to Sports Illustrated for covering this game,
and for printing this picture.
But from March 19 to April 1, they lost their last 8 games of the season. To make matters worse, they still didn't finish with the NHL's worst record: By 2 games, the Pittsburgh Penguins did, and got the 1st pick in the 1984 NHL Draft: Mario Lemieux. The Devils drafted 2nd, taking Kirk Muller: A good player, who scored 357 goals in the NHL, 183 of them for the Devils, and later helped the Montreal Canadiens win a Stanley Cup -- but hardly a legend.
After this, Gretzky led the Oilers to 4 Stanley Cups in 5 years. Then, in 1988, at his request, because he'd married an actress, Janet Jones, the Oilers traded him to the Los Angeles Kings. He never won another Cup. In contrast, the Oilers won another, without him, 2 years later. Since 1988, with Gretzky as a player, a coach and a team owner, the Cup total is Devils 3, Gretzky 0.
*
November 19, 1983 was a Saturday. These 8 other NHL games were played that day:
* Each of the NHL's "Original Six" teams played another of them. The New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins played to a tie, 6-6 at the Boston Garden.
* The Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Black Hawks, played to a tie, 5-5 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 6-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Hartford Whalers and the Quebec Nordiques played to a tie, 4-4 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The St. Louis Blues and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 4-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets, 8-7 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Brian Bellows scored the winning goal with 2:03 left in overtime.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Calgary Flames, 5-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* And the Philadelphia Flyers, the Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
There were 10 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 104-101 in overtime at Madison Square Garden. Bernard King scored 32 points.
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 109-100 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. George Gervin scored 32 points.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics, 92-91 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Utah Jazz, 126-113 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 104-92 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors, 125-105 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Phoenix Suns, 116-107 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-105 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Denver Nuggets best the Milwaukee Bucks, 133-126 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. The Nugs got 32 points from Alex English and 30 from Kiki Vandeweghe. In defeat, the Bucks got 43 points from Sidney Moncrief.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 117-110 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
And there were college football games played, including the following, some of which were rivalry games:
* Number 2 Texas beat Baylor, 24-21 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
* Rivalry: Number 4 Illinois beat Northwestern, 56-24 at Dyche Stadium (now Ryan Field) in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois.
* Number 6 Southern Methodist University (SMU) beat Arkansas, 17-0 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas.
* Rivalry: Number 8 Michigan beat Number 10 Ohio State, 24-21 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
* Rivalry: Number 9 Brigham Young University (BYU) beat Utah, 55-7 at Cougar Stadium (now LaVell Edwards Stadium) in Provo, Utah.
* Rivalry: Number 11 Iowa beat Minnesota, 61-10 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.
* Rivalry: Number 13 Clemson beat South Carolina, 22-13 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.
* Number 14 West Virginia were upset by Syracuse, 27-16 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York.
* Rivalry: Number 15 Washington were upset by Washington State, 17-15 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* Rivalry: Number 17 Pittsburgh were held to a tie by Penn State, 24-24 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* Rivalry: Number 18 Boston College beat Holy Cross, 47-7 at Sullivan Stadium (later Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.
* Rivalry: Number 19 Missouri were upset by Kansas, 37-27 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.
* Rivalry: The College of William & Mary beat the University of Richmond, 24-15 at Cary Field in Williamsburg, Virginia.
* Rivalry: Virginia Tech beat Virginia, 48-0 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville.
* Rivalry: North Carolina beat Duke, 34-27 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
* Rivalry: Tennessee beat Kentucky, 10-0 at Commonwealth Stadium (now Kroger Field) in Lexington, Kentucky.
* Rivalry: Mississippi (Ole Miss) beat Mississippi State, 24-23 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson.
* Rivalry: Louisiana State (LSU) beat Tulane, 20-7 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* Rivalry: Miami University beat the University of Cincinnati, 14-10 at Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio.
* Rivalry: Western Michigan beat Eastern Michigan, 14-10 at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo.
* Rivalry: Purdue beat Indiana, 31-30 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.
* Rivalry: Wyoming beat Colorado State, 42-17 at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming.
* Rivalry: The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) beat the University of Southern California (USC), 27-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* Rivalry: Oregon and Oregon State played to a 0-0 tie at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. The game was played in a cold, driving rainstorm, resulting in 11 turnovers, 4 missed field goals, and no points. Usually called "the Civil War," this edition of the rivalry became known as "the Toilet Bowl."
* Among the service academies, Air Force beat Notre Dame, 23-22 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana; while Army and Navy were idle, preparing for their game against each other, to be held across the country at the Rose Bowl, outside Los Angeles in Pasadena, California, the 1st time it was being held west of Chicago. Navy won, 42-13.
* And in New Jersey, Rutgers lost to Temple, 24-23 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.
Also, in English soccer, Arsenal beat Everton, "the Blue Club in Liverpool," 2-1 at Highbury in North London.
And actor Adam Driver, best known as Ben Solo/Kylo Ren in Star Wars Episodes VII, VIII and IX, was born on this day.
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