NHL legend Wayne Gretzky has achieved plenty of success on the ice rink. Nicknamed “The Great One“, the Canadian international is the highest scorer of this sport. Despite his accomplishments and success, there are some things which are still fresh in his memory.
One of them is the controversial high-stick call during the fierce Game 6 of the 1993 Conference final against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Reflecting back at that game, Gretzky admitted that he committed a foul and should have been in the sin bin.
The sin bin in NHL refers to the penalty box. Gretzky now thinks he should have been penalized in this game for his high-sticking. During the 1993 Conference Final, the Maple Leafs took on the Los Angeles Kings with a chance to appear in the Stanley Cup finals.
The Toronto based side entered Game 6 with a 3-2 lead. This game turned out to be one of the hotly contested ones as the match went into overtime. With the emotions running high, tempers boiled over when Gretzky would high-stick Doug Gilmour in OT.
At that time, bleeding from high stick would earn a five-minute penalty and one game major. However, the officials did not rule that as a foul allowing him to continue. The former Edmonton Oilers start would go on to score the OT winner to win the game 5-4 and level the series. Had he be penalized, the Leafs could have won the game and reached the finals.
Recently, he was joined by Chris Chelios, Ray Bourque, and Wendel Clark as they talked with Sportsnet’s Christine Simpson. In this conversations, they would look back at some of the memorable playoff moments including this incident leading to Gretzky saying:
Yeah, I probably should have been in the sin bin. It was such an emotional series for everyone, like it was… it took the whole country by storm. Everyone loved it. Everyone wanted that Montreal-Toronto matchup. And I say this everytime, I think Toronto was a better team than Montreal, Toronto probably could have beat Montreal.
Wayne Gretzky on the high-stick call during Game 6 of the 1993 Conference Final as per Sportsnet.
The aftermath of this incident involving Wayne Gretzky
The one moment that the Maple Leafs fanbase do not want to remember is the 1993 Conference Final. During the series the team were hoping to end their Stanley Cup drought and face off their Canadian rivals, the Montreal Canadiens in the finals. However, one man stood in their way and it was Wayne Gretzky.
Not only did he get away with the high-stick call in Game 6, he went on to score the winner. This led to a Game 7 showdown between the two teams.
Gretzky would later show off the world why he would go on to become one of the greats of the game. He scored a hat-trick and picked up an assist in a 5-4 win at the Maple Leafs Garden, leading his side to the finals.
The Kings though would later go on to lose the Stanley Cup finals 4-1 to the Canadiens. To this date, the question remains the same, had Gretzky being penalized and sent to the penalty box, could the Leafs have taken advantage of it and win the game themselves?
The rest is history. Gretzky would go on to become a legendary figure in hockey whereas the Leafs’ hunt for their first Stanley Cup since 1967 goes on.
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