Sorry that I took a bit of time to read this one and post about it. It was a good book but I have been a bit busy with a few other things and only read maybe two times a week. Nothing to do with the book as I liked it. Rather that a quick review of the book I parroted the book for my summary. Sorry it is long.
The First bit is about his dad Doug’s hockey and them living in Portland. The book mentions Gretzky being sold from Indianapolis of the WHA to Edmonton with Windsor goalie Eddie Mio and a forward for $825k.
At 17 Mess played a 5 game tryout for the Indy Pacers (yes same team that originally signed Wayner). He played ok but decided not to sign with them and kept his amateur eligibility. Later that year he did sign with the WHA’s Cincinnati Stingers. In one game he Centered a young Mark Gartner and Dave Forbes against Hartford Whaler’s Dave Keon, Geordie Howe and son Mark Howe. Mess earned a salary of $35k. When the WHA folded and 4 teams joined the NHL. They were only allowed to protect a few players. Edmonton obviously protected Gretzky but they also protected Windsor boy Mio. Funny seeing his name twice in the book.
In 1981-82 Mess makes the All Star game for the first time, Gretzky beats Espo’s goal record and Mess is one of 10 players in the NHL to score 50. The next season he made the first team all star and finished seventh in scoring breaking the 100 point barrier. In 82-83 Mess lead the Oilers in playoff goals with 15 in 15 games but get swept by the Islanders. It was the Isles fourth cup.
Finally in 83-84 Mess got his Stanley cup and the Conn Smyth’s as the playoff MVP. That summer he was on the Canadian team that finally won the Canada Cup beating the USSR in the semis and the Swedes in the final but Mess was not the factor he was when he won the Conn Smythe.
In 85 Edmonton beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 the next year probably because Tim Kerr got hurt and Brad McCrimmon was out so Philly’s best D was out. Interesting to hear Pelle Lindbergh the Flyers goalie became dehydrated and developed the practice of putting his water bottle above his net. That's where the bottle on the net started. In the final game Mess had 2 unassisted breakaway goals.
Before the 86 season in September Mess smashed his Porsche into 3 parked cars and left the scene of the accident. Joining the team that year was Craig MacTavish right out of a one-year jail term for vehicular homicide. In November while driving drunk Pelle Lindbergh smashed his Porsche at 80 mph into a concrete wall and later died. The Flyers first game after was at home versus Edmonton. My favourite goalie Bernie Parent eulogized Pelle at Center ice. The Oilers swept Vancouver in the first round but lost to Calgary in game 7. Mess tied the game up on a shortie breakaway but in the the third Steve Smith scored an own goal when he sent a pass off Grant Fuhr’s leg into the net. The streak was over.
During the 87 season rather than an all star game they had Rendezvous-Vous ‘87. The NHL All-Stars against the Soviets in a two game set in Quebec. In game one the NHL won and Mess was the first star. The Soviets won game two. The Oilers reclaimed the cup over Philly in 7 games. When Gretz got the cup, with Mess and Lowe they presented it to Smith as a gesture that he had been redeemed. After the game the cup went across the street to the “ballet”.
The 1987 Canada cup was won by Canada over the Soviets 2 games to 1 with game 2 going close to 30 minutes of overtime. Mess had only 1 goal and 6 assists in the whole tourney but was a real leader and was assigned to shut down the famous KLM line of Krutov, Larionov and Makarov.
In the 88 playoff opening round against Winnipeg Mess scored a 5 on 3 short handed breakaway. They won in 5 games. Next they swept Calgary. Then they beat the Red Wings for the second year in a row. Then they kind of swept Boston for the cup. They never lost but it took more than four games as game 4 in Boston had the power go out and was cancelled so game 4A was in Edmonton and we know what happens. Four cups in five years.
That summer Mess’ sister gets married in Hawaii and he is best man. Then 9 days later he is a groomsman at “Canada’ royal wedding” of Gretzky and Jones. Trivia question. Who was Wayners best man? I mentioned Windsor boy twice. Yep Eddie Mio. Next I was driving out to UBC for grad school and I took the US route. I saw in a US Today paper box the cover story of Gretzky being traded to the LA Kings. I know the date is August 9th as my son was born on that date 17 years later.
The next season Mess was the captain and guess whom they played in the first round. You got it LA and Gretzky. It went 7 games. Both Mess and Gretz had 12 points in the series but LA prevailed. The Kings were swept in the next round by Calgary who eventually won the cup. Mess played in the Workd Championship that summer with Wayne and Canada lost in the finals to the Soviets.
Four games into the season Gretzky needed only 2 points to surpass Geordie Howe as the all time scoring leader. He was in Edmonton and tied Gordie early with an assist and passed him to tie the game up with under a minute left in regulation. Mess was on the ice. The game stopped. There were festivities with Gordie on hand and Mess on behalf of the team presented Wayne a gold bracelet with diamonds spelling out 1851. When the game went into overtime you know who scored for LA. Later in the season against LA in a 7-6 win Mess scored and had four helpers. With Mario injured for part of the season Gretzky was the league scoring leader but Mess was second going 45-84-129 and only 13 points off Wayner. In the playoffs Edmonton took Winnipeg in 7 then swept LA. In the Cup finals Edmonton was down 2 games to one when Mess went full beast mode. One goal, two assists and he broke two sticks on his first two sifts over Black Hawk players with no calls from the zebras. That was it. They won their fifth cup in seven years. He also won individual accolades of the Hart and Pearson trophy.
During the 90-91 season with a bad knee he scored his 1000th point when Glenn Anderson tipped in his 400th goal. Mess was looking to get paid $2 big per year behind Gretzky and Lemieux however he was ninth highest and Edmonton was only willing to go $1.6. He later broke his thumb and only played 53 games for 64 points. In the first round of the playoffs the battle of Alberta went to a game 7 OT with Esa Tikkanen scoring 7 minutes in. Mess had 2 goals and 6 helpers in that series. They next swept Gretzky’s Kings. Mess had 1 goal and 1 assist. In the finals against the Minnesota North Stars the Oilers won game two but that was it.
That summer he recuperated and was not going to play in the Canada Cup and didn’t report to training camp. Gretzky called him three days in a row and he finally showed up on the last day of camp. Day 25. Gary Robert’s got the boot. It was a physical Canada Cup with lots neutral traps. They beat the US in the final series two games to none. He was then traded to The Big Apple for Bernie Nicholls (I remember calling him dirty nipples) two other dudes and $1.5 big.
The Rangers gave Mess the C right off the bat . Well he wore the C on his second game which was the home opener. When the Rangers played Edmonton in January it was Mess’ 900th game and he scored his 1100th career point. He had a great year 35-72-107 which was sixth best in the league. He didn’t have to fight much with Adam Graves, Joe Kocur, Jeff Beukeboom and Tie Domi on the team. Note the Windsor ties again with Graves and Domi. In 92 the NYR finished first but there was a short labour stoppage. The Rangers eventually beat NJ in 7 but lost to the Penguins. Mess was not happy that coach Nielson was putting out a checking line against Lemieux, Jagr and Francis. He also didn’t like his neutral zone trap nor his dump and chase. The Penguins went on to win their second straight cup. Lemieux was scoring champ but Mess received the Hart trophy for his second time. At the awards banquet Mess thanked everyone except the coach.
During the 92-93 season Nielson and Mess’ problems came to a head and on January 4th the coach was fired. The team and Mess limped through the season not even making the playoffs.
For the 93-94 season Mike Keenan was hired to coach. Mess got along with him even though he was tough. They made some trades and now had 7 ex-Oilers: Messier, Graves, Beukeboom, Lowe, Tikkanen, Anderson and the last helmetless player in the NHL in MacTavish. They made the playoffs and in the first round swept the Islanders and dispatched of the Caps in 5. Mess had 6 goals. Next was the Devils. They were down 3 games to 2 and Mess promised a win to the media. They did. They won game 7 in OT. Next it was Vancouver for the cup. It went 7 with the final in NY. The final was 3-2 for NY. Mess went from goat the year before to the Messiah bringing home the cup that had not been won by the Rangers since 1940. I was disappointed as I was pulling for the Canucks having just moved back from lotus land a few years earlier and really liked the play of Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure et Al. The parade of the cup ended at city hall where the players were given the keys to the city. The Mayor called Mess Mr June like Reggie Jackson being Mr October. Guess who that mayor was? You got it Rudy Guiuliani.
The 94-95 season started with Keenan leaving to St Louis and Colin Campbell coaching. With Mess winning the cup he was able to try and renegotiate his contract. As he believed he was third best player in hockey but was being paid the 15th most. Then before the season started Betmann and the owners locked the players out. The did not resolve their differences until a January. A few games in management and Mess settled for $4.9 big for the short 95 season, $6 M the next season and the NYR had another option the year after again for the same. They had an up and down season and squeaked into the playoffs in the last spot. They eliminated Quebec in 6. Philly easily finished them off with Eric Lindros and the Legion of Doom. The Devils defensive style however won the cup.
During the 95-96 season Mess hit the 500 goal mark and the Rangers agreed to pick up his option for the following year. Mess ended the season with 47 goals and missed the final 6 games due to to rib injuries. In the playoffs the NYR beat the Habs in 6 but were swept by the Pens.
For the next season Gretzky took a pay cut to play in NY for $4M even though Vancouver offered more but they wanted Wayne to decide right then and there. Did not happen. Before the season started Wayne and Mess got to play together for team Canada in the World Cup of Hockey where they were beat in the finals by the US. That season Mess played 61 games but played injured. He surpassed the 1500 point threshold and the team barely finished above 0.500. In the playoffs the Rangers beat Florida in five. They then beat NJ in 5. They then lost in 5 to Philly.
He finished the season without a contract. Vancouver offered him a 3 year deal for $6 million per annum and he was gone. The captain Trevor Linden who was called captain Canuck gave up his “C” to Mess. After a 10 game losing streak early coach Renney and GM Pat Quinn were fired. Keenan was brought in as coach. Keenan rode Linden and it wasn’t nice. After the all star and Olympic breaks Keenan had Linden and Gino Odjik traded to the Isles. Even though Mess played between two great Russians in Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny he was only 22-38-60 and the team was dead last in the west at 25-43-14.
For the 98-99 season Brian Burke was brought in as GM and Keenan was now on a short leash. Bure refused to play and asked to be traded. He sat out until mid January when he was traded to Florida and Windsor boy Ed Jovanovski went west in return. Then Keenan was turfed for Marc Crawford who was one month younger than Mess. The season was a bust anyways with the team finishing last in the west 23-47-12. This was also Gretzky’s last season as he retired. This left Mess the last man from the defunct WHA still skating.
For the new millennium the Canucks were 10th in the West at 30-37-15. Mess wanted out. He went back to NY for the 2000-01 season. Leetch turned over the C to Mess. The team was not that good and when Theo Fleury went into drug rehab that was it for the Rangers. That was the fourth straight year Mess did not make the playoffs. He was 24-43-67 but was -25 which was one of the worst in the league.
For the 2001-02 year the Rangers picked up the concussion prone Eric Lindros and Mess even put him in a room in his apartment. Training camp was scheduled for The Garden on September 11th. You know what happened to the Twin Towers. For the season opener Mess was given a NYFD helmet with the pic of the fallen captain of their hockey team. All unscripted. He wore it and that pic was in all the newspapers. The season was a hard one for Mess as he needed shoulder surgery and Lindros had, surprise, a mild concussion, 2 knee and 1 foot injuries. They missed the playoffs.
The 2003-03 season was Mess’ 25th season. Low had been let go as coach and Trottier had been brought in. Mess gave up his C part way into the season and two weeks later Trottier was fired. Slather finished up as coach. The Rangers missed the playoffs by 5 points. Mess went 18-22-40 and minus 2.
The book finishes there but puts in one more local mention that his son Lyon was playing Jr B in Tecumseh Ontario. If you like hockey and are an old guy like me it is a good read. I always hated the Oilers as I was a Flyers fan in the day and as I said I was pulling for Vancouver when Mess won the cup with NY but still a real good read.
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