November 19, 1983: The New Jersey Devils' "Mickey Mouse Game"

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, 40 years ago: 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.

*

This was also a day of several college football rivalry games. Among them: Number 8 Michigan beat Number 10 Ohio State, 24-21 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor; Number 15 Washington were upset by Washington State, 17-15 at Husky Stadium in Seattle; and Number 17 Pittsburgh were held to a tie by Penn State, 24-24 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

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."

And in New Jersey, Rutgers lost to Temple, 24-23 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.