As far as number retirement ceremonies go, there have been some great ones. My favs include Esposito in Boston when Bourque gives up his number 7 off his back and dons #77, Neely in Boston when he says to his son as the banner is on its way: “Look at it going up there, Jack…,” Clarke in Philly when he says he’d do it all over again if he had a chance, and Richter in New York when he tells a heartfelt story of the first day he arrived in New York for a game and he was penny-less after cab fare, hungry and begged a deli owner for a meal that was ultimately delivered to his hotel room prior to the game; “To this day, that is the best meal I ever had” he tells fans at MSG. Powerful moments.

But Coffey’s number ceremony last night in Edmonton takes the cake. Even Paul couldn’t keep his emotions together. Not sure words can do it justice. It was so well planned and moving, that is was a credit to the Oilers and Kevin Lowe and everyone involved. The league blew a chance to really showcase this and highlight one of the NHL’s best players of all time. It should have been a national telecast especially with Wayne Gretzky’s coaching debut in Edmonton. Wonder what goes through their minds sometimes. Seems like they blow chances to showcase the game’s best qualities over and over again. It wasn’t even broadcast throughout Canada, only in Edmonton. Unfortunate.

If you have a kid or kids that play hockey, or you coach, all you’d have to do is sit them down to watch that ceremony and if they hit the ice unmotivated or flat after that, then a new sport should be considered. Or chess.

Bully will have highlights of the ceremony uploaded in the a.m. Great stuff. Off to bed folks.

Awesome Night at Rexall for Coffey Family & Fans

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 19th, 2005 at 1:14 am and is filed under Bully's Perspective. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.