Welcome!

Welcome to the Wayne Gretzky Fact of the Day Blog. Over the course of a year we have posted as many Wayne Gretzky facts as we could discover and have archived them all here in one easy to read website.

There are a few limitations to the blogger platform, the main one being that we cannot schedule each entry to repeat on it's specific date each year. Nor can we make the oldest post appear at the top of the page to give it a proper chronological order from the start of the year to the end. With that in mind, we have located the archives menu just to the right for you to be able to access the entries for a given date as easily as possible.

Below the archive menu there is also a search box for you to enter terms such as "hat trick", in order to locate facts of a particular type all at once.

Now that this one year project has been completed, we do intend to maintain and add to this website whenever we find any additional information or relevant video clips.

Thanks for visiting, and we would like to invite you to visit our main project, Third String Goalie, The Hockey Jersey of the Day Blog, where we feature a different hockey jersey each day and tell the story of the player, team or country it's from.

December 30

In 1981, Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers scored five goals (for his 11th career hat trick) and added an assist in a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The five goals gave Gretzky 50 goals in an unimaginable 39 games from the start of the season to shatter the existing record. The previous mark was 50 goals in 50 games set first by Maurice Richard and later Mike Bossy.

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In 1983, Wayne Gretzky picked up an assist in Edmonton's 2-0 win over Boston to set a new NHL record with at least one assist in 15 straight games. He later extended the mark to 17 (Paul Coffey tied this record in the 1985-86 season).

December 29

In 1984, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored his 32nd career hat trick and added three assists to give him 100 points in 35 games, the second-fastest 100 points in NHL history. The Oilers beat Detroit 6-3.

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In 1989, Wayne Gretzky was name "Athlete of the Decade" by the Associated Press

December 28

In 1991, Wayne Gretzky had a goal and three assists to lead the Kings to a 9-4 win over the Oilers, at Edmonton.

December 27

In 1981, in his 38th game of the season, Wayne Gretzky scored a hat trick to record the fastest 100 points in NHL history. Later in the same game, Gretzky added another goal and an assist to give him 400 career points in his 197th NHL game. It came in a 10-3 Oilers' win over the Kings, in Edmonton.

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On the same day in 1981, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky was named "Man of the Year" by the Sporting News.

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In 1989, Wayne Gretzky was honored as The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Decade. He received 307 votes by panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Second was NFL's Joe Montana with 85 votes and Magic Johnson finished third with 59 votes.

December 23

In 1988, Los Angeles' Wayne Gretzky scored two empty net goals, including the 611th of his NHL career, to pass Bobby Hull into fourth place on all time goals list, as the Kings won 5-2 at Vancouver. Gretzky also added two assists in the game.

December 22

In 1982, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored a goal and added two assists to give him 600 career points. The milestone came in career game #274, as the Oilers won 8-2 over the Minnesota North Stars in Edmonton.

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In 1987, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky picked up two assists to give him 1,600 career points in 667 games as the Oilers won 5-2 over the Kings in Edmonton.

December 21

In 1983, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored his 23rd career hat trick and added two assists as the Oilers won 7-4 against the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

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In 1991, the Los Angeles Kings' Wayne Gretzky scored his 732nd career NHL goal to move past Marcel Dionne and into the #2 spot all time. It came in a 5-2 loss to Detroit, at the Forum.

December 20

In 1985, Wayne Gretzky had six assists to lead the Oilers to a 9-4 win over the Kings, in Edmonton.

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In 1986, Wayne Gretzky scored twice and added three assists as Edmonton tied 8-8 with the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

December 19

In 1981, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky became the first player in NHL history to get 9 career hat tricks before age 21, when he scored 3 times (and added 4 assists) in a 9-6 win over the visiting North Stars. Dave Lumley had his 1st career hat trick.

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In 1984, while playing in his 424th career game, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky had two goals and four assists to become the fastest and youngest player to reach 1,000 career points (breaking Guy Lafleur's record of 720 games). Oilers won 7-3 against the visiting Kings.

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In 1988, Wayne Gretzky's first child, his daughter Paulina Gretzky, was born

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In 1989, Wayne Gretzky scored twice and added four assists in a 9-5 Kings' win against the Winnipeg Jets, at the Forum.

December 18

In 1983, Wayne Gretzky scored two goals and two assists, for his 100th point of the season as the Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets 7-5. Gretzky's 100th point came in the Oilers 34th game of the season, the fastest 100 points by a player in NHL history.

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In 1997, the New York Rangers' Wayne Gretzky scored his 1,800th career assist in a 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

December 17

In 1982, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky had a goal and three assists as the Oilers won 10-4 over the visiting New Jersey Devils.

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In 1983, in his 352nd career NHL game, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored a goal and added five assists to reach the 500 assist mark and the 800 career point mark in his NHL career. Oilers won 8-1 over the visiting Quebec Nordiques.

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In 1986, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored four goals, including a natural hat trick in the first period (for his 41st career hat trick) and picked up an assist, as the Oilers won 5-3 over the visiting Quebec Nordiques.

December 15

In 1984, Wayne Gretzky scored five goals (for his 31st career hat trick) and added an assist to lead the Oilers to an 8-2 win over the Blues at St. Louis.

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In 1990, the Los Angeles Kings' Wayne Gretzky scored a goal and added four assists in an 8-3 win over the visiting Edmonton Oilers.

December 14

In 1983, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored his 22nd career hat trick and added two assists, and Glenn Anderson had two goals and two assists as the Oilers won 9-4 against the Rangers, at New York.