A Weekday Wonder: Stumbling Upon Hockey History in Edmonton

It was just another weekday morning in Edmonton when my son and I were driving home from his early hockey practice. As we turned onto a quiet residential street, a “Garage Sale” sign caught our eye. On a whim, we decided to stop and check it out, hoping for a bit of fun before heading home.

As we wandered through the driveway, filled with odds and ends, we found ourselves drawn to the open garage. There, hung on a wall, was a signed Mark Messier stick that immediately captured our attention. On the other side of the garage was a Phil Esposito stick.

A friendly woman, noticing our wide-eyed admiration, approached us with a warm smile. “You boys like hockey sticks?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

We nodded enthusiastically, and she continued, “Well if you think those are something, I have a game used Gretsky stick from his last season with the Oilers signed by the entire team.” She went into the house to get the stick. If you retell this story I recommend just saying the stick was at the garage sale, it seems more exciting that way.

When she returned, she was carefully carrying a stick. “This,” she said with reverence, “is a game-used Wayne Gretzky stick from his last season with the Oilers. It might even have been used in his final regular-season game.”

My son and I exchanged looks of disbelief. The stick was signed by the entire 1987-88 Oilers team, making it an incredible piece of Edmonton’s hockey legacy.

“Would you like to hold it?” she offered. We couldn’t believe our luck!

As my son was holding this piece of hockey history, she said just last month, Sotheby’s had auctioned off a Gretzky stick from the 1988 Stanley Cup finals. That stick, which Gretzky had used in the championship-clinching game against the Boston Bruins, was expected to fetch around US$500,000[1].

The stick we were holding might not have been from that exact game, but it was from the same legendary season. It was surreal to think that we were touching something that The Great One himself had used on the ice during his final days as an Oiler.

We spent a good while chatting. She was kind enough to let us take photos with the stick, creating a memory that would last a lifetime.

We thanked her profusely for the incredible experience.

Driving home, my son couldn’t stop talking about our unexpected adventure. It was a reminder of why we love Edmonton so much – you never know when you might stumble upon a piece of hockey history, even on an ordinary weekday morning.

This serendipitous encounter at a simple garage sale had given us a brush with greatness and a story we’d be telling for years to come. Only in Edmonton could a casual stop at a garage sale turn into a hockey fan’s dream come true.

Citations:
[1] https://www.barrons.com/articles/stick-that-wayne-gretzky-used-in-his-last-stanley-cup-victory-heads-to-auction-cb43ec03