FeaturedThis Day In Hockey History

This Day in Hockey History – October 10

Today in hockey history, a couple of players make quick impacts in their first games, two teams play their first NHL games, a goalie makes his way around, a ridiculous record is capped off, and a meaningful event in hockey history.

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October 10, 1974 – Buffalo rookie Danny Gare scored his first NHL goal just 18 seconds into his first NHL game, the second fastest goal by a rookie (the record is 15 seconds, set by Gus Bodnar in 1943). The Sabres beat the Bruins 9-5. Another high-scoring game back in the day.

October 10, 1979 – The Edmonton Oilers played their first game as an NHL team (merged from the WHA), and Kevin Lowe scored the Oilers first NHL goal, which was assisted by a rookie playing his first NHL game – Wayne Gretzky. Edmonton lost 4-2 at Chicago.

October 10, 1979 – Nordiques’ Real Cloutier became just the second player in NHL history to score a hat trick in his first career game, a 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Flames.

October 10, 1979 (All those “1979”s aren’t mistakes) – Gary Smith became the first goaltender in NHL history to play for seven different NHL teams, as he suited up for the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-2 loss at Pittsburgh.

October 10, 1987 – Hartford’s Doug Jarvis played in his 964th consecutive game, which was obviously an NHL record (the Whalers lost 6-2 to the Rangers). It was his last game as well – Jarvis was forced to sit out the next game with an injury, and never played another NHL game.

October 10, 1989 – A bit of a monumental event: In the closing days of the Cold War, two Soviet players faced each other for the first time in an NHL game – New Jersey’s Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Starikov went up against Calgary’s Sergei Makarov and Sergei Priakin. Sergei, Sergei, Sergei. No typos there, it’s just a common Soviet/Russian name I guess. The Flames won 4-2 at New Jersey. It was the beginning of a strong Russian presence in the NHL.

October 10, 1998 – The Nashville Predators played their first NHL game, but they couldn’t score the franchise’s first goal. They were shutout by Kirk McLean and the Panthers 1-0.

 

Source: Hockey Hall of Fame

Scott Finger
Scott is the former managing editor at Hooked on Hockey Magazine. He loves hockey, writing, and writing about hockey. He graduated from Roger Williams University in 2011 with a useless degree in Media Communications (concentrating in Journalism). Being a New York Rangers fan (and NY Giants and Mets fan) living in Boston is very uncomfortable for him, and it'll be awkward trying to celebrate a Rangers Cup win in the streets when they inevitably win sometime in the next 100 years. He also likes long walks on the beach.
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