1988-89 Edmonton Oilers Grant Fuhr Jersey

On this date in 1918, Georges Vezina of the Montreal Canadiens became the first goalie in NHL history to be awarded an assist when Newsy Lalonde gathered up the puck after a save by Vezina, skated the length of the ice and scored a goal during a 6-3 Canadiens win over the Toronto Arenas.

Georges Vezina

It would take 61 years before a goaltender would be credited with scoring a goal, and he never actually shot the puck. That occurred on November 28, 1979 when Rob Ramage of the hapless Colorado Rockies gathered up the puck after a save by the New York Islanders Billy Smith during a delayed penalty call and passed the puck back out of the corner, which unfortunately for the Rockies sailed by his intended teammates and had enough force to continue all the way down the length of the ice and into the Rockies unmanned goal.

It would take eight more years for an NHL goalie to genuinely shoot the puck into the opposing net when Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers score against the Boston Bruins on December 8, 1987. Hextall later scored again during the playoffs against the Washington Capitals on April 11, 1989.

Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils is the only other goalie to date to have scored twice with a playoff goal in 1997 and a regular season goal in 2000.

Jeff Reese holds the record for most points by a goaltender in a game with three, which he scored on February 10, 1983 while playing for the Calgary Flames.

It should come as little surprise to find out that an Edmonton Oiler holds the record for most points by a goaltender in a season, as well as the career record for most points by a goalie. Those honors belong to Grant Fuhr of the high powered Oilers. His record of 14 points in 1983-84 set the standard which still remains the one to beat more than 25 years later.

While Fuhr certainly earned a number of assists by simply going behind the net and teeing up a dump-in for Paul Coffey to carry up the ice and set up a Wayne Gretzky goal, Fuhr also earned a number of assists by firing the puck up the ice to an open teammate to initiate a rush.

Fuhr career total of 60 points (which includes regular season and playoffs combined) leads all goalies in career scoring, followed by Patrick Roy's 56, who just barely tops the 55 scored by Tom Barasso. Brodeur ranks fourth all time with 44 points, two of which were goals. Mike Vernon's 41 leads both Hextall and John Vanbiesbrouck at 38, with two of Hextall's points coming from his goals.

The rest of the top ten consist of Ed Belfour at 35, Curtis Joseph's 33 and the tenth spot is occupied by both Sean Burke and Dan Bouchard, who are tied at 30. Honorable mention goes to Kirk McLean (29), Andy Moog (28), Bill Ranford (26) and the duo of Mike Palmateer and Tony Esposito with 25 each. Of the 16 goalies listed, only Broduer remains active.

Today's featured jersey is a 1988-89 Edmonton Oilers Grant Fuhr jersey. Fuhr remains the all-time point scoring leader among NHL goalies with 60, four more than the next closest pursuer, and holder of the most points in a season by a goaltender for over 25 years.

Fuhr played 19 NHL seasons and won 403 games with the Oilers, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames as well as being the Oilers starting goaltender for Stanley Cup championships with the Oilers in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988. He also won the Canada Cup in both 1984 and 1987. He also won the Vezina Trophy in 1988 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003. Just to be clear, the Vezina Trophy is awarded for puck stopping ability, not goalie scoring exploits!

Here is footage of Broduer's first goal, which came in the 1997 playoffs.

Our final video today is a tribute to Grant Fuhr and a collection of some of his flashiest saves.

Dasherboard: The World Junior Championships had a light schedule yesterday. Slovakia won in 2-1 overtime in their game against the plucky Germans to pull even with the United States with two points in the Group A standings, one point behind Switzerland.

In Group B, the Czech Republic did what was require by shutting out Norway, but the 2-0 score does little to inspire anyone into believing the Czechs will be strong enough to advance to the Playoff Round in light of Sweden's 7-1 drubbing of Norway the day before.

Today's schedule is a full four games, with Switzerland and Finland battling it out in Group A. With three points for a win in international hockey, a win for Switzerland would all but guarantee them a place in the Playoff Round. The day's second game has the Czech Republic hoping to stifle Canada's scoring attack and come away with at least a point or two in the standings. A win for Canada, even if it comes in overtime, will put them in an excellent position to advance with Norway still on their schedule and a likely three points from that game.

Sweden will be facing Russia at Dwyer Arena in the best matchup the smaller rink will see all tournament. A regulation win for Sweden will certainly put the Russians in a bad spot while a win for the Russians keeps them right in the mix in the "Group of Death".

The final game of the day has the United States looking to improve upon their performance in their opening game which went to overtime. A regulation win could very well see them at the top of the group by the end of the day and in a good position to earn one of the coveted byes directly into the semifinals.

1988-89 Edmonton Oilers Grant Fuhr Jersey

Grant Fuhr, born on this date in 1952, led the Victoria Cougars to the WHL championship with a 48-9-1 record followed by a trip to the Memorial Cup Finals in 1981, which garnered the attention of the Edmonton Oilers, who drafted him 8th overall later that spring.

As a rookie, Fuhr immediately led the Oilers in games played with 48, compared to 29 for Ron Low and 8 for Andy Moog. While Fuhr rarely lost, he racked up a notable amount of ties, finishing the season with a 28-5-14 record, which set a new team mark for wins by a goaltender.

After a personally disappointing second season, in which the Oilers advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals against the New York Islanders, he bounced back in 1983-84 with a 30-10-4 record while splitting time with Moog. Fuhr also registered a remarkable 14 offensive points that season, setting a record for goaltenders which still stands to this day. He would play in 16 of the Oilers 19 playoff games, posting an 11-4 record on the way to the Oilers first Stanley Cup championship.

Before the next NHL season could begin, Fuhr began his international career when he was a member of Team Canada during the 1984 Canada Cup. His record in two games was 1-0-1.

The Oilers would again return to the finals in 1984-85 following a 26-8-7 record for Fuhr during the regular season. Fuhr would start all of Edmonton's playoff games, as they romped to their second consecutive championship with a 15-3 record in four rounds of playoffs.

Another fine regular season of 29-8-0 for Fuhr came in 1985-86, but the Oilers playoff run would fall short. The Oilers would regain their title the following season as things returned to normal for Edmonton. Fuhr was 22-13-3 during the regular season while still splitting time with Moog, and 14-5 in the playoffs.

Fuhr's international career continued when he was the goaltender for the NHL All-Stars in the two game Rendez-Vous '87 series against the Soviet Union during the season and was later the goaltender for Team Canada in the 1987 Canada Cup, in which he played in all nine Canadian games. Fuhr played brilliantly on his way to a 6-1-2 record as Canada won the tournament with a memorable 2 games to 1 defeat of the Soviet Union, with all three games being decided by one goal, two of which went into overtime. Fuhr was named the goaltender on the tournament All-Star Team.

Following Moog's departure after the season, Fuhr now assumed an unprecedented amount of work, appearing in 75 games and winning 40. The increased work load did not adversely affect Fuhr either, as he posted his lowest goals against average since his rookie season, which earned him the only Vezina Trophy of his career and second place in the voting for the Hart Trophy for the league's MVP.

The Oilers dynasty was confirmed as they marched through the playoffs virtually unimpeded, as they eliminated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1, swept the rival Calgary Flames 4-0, downed the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 and crushed the Boston Bruins 4-0 in the finals to win their fourth Stanley Cup in five years.

Fuhr remained with the Oilers for three more seasons as the team began to be dismantled, beginning with the famous trade of Wayne Gretzky in the summer of 1988. Still, the Oilers regrouped and captured their fifth championship in 1990, but did so without Fuhr, as he was limited to just 21 games that season and did not make a playoff appearance. The next season was similar, as Fuhr made just 13 regular season appearances, but was the Oilers goaltender of choice in the post season, but the Oilers fell short in the Conference Finals.

During this time period, Fuhr made his only World Championships appearance for Canada in 1989.

Prior to the start of the 1991-92 season, Fuhr was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a seven player trade. He became a workhorse for Toronto, playing 66 games that season. After playing 29 games of the 1992-93 season, Fuhr was dealt in February of 1993 after a season and a half in Toronto to the Buffalo Sabres. He played as many games in three months in Buffalo as he did in five months in Toronto.

With playing time hard to come by due to the presence of Domink Hasek in Buffalo, Fuhr played 32 games in 1994-95 and just 3 the following season before the Sabres moved Fuhr to the Los Angeles Kings for the remainder of the season after Hasek was able to establish himself as the starter following an injury to Fuhr.

His stay in Los Angeles was brief, as Fuhr would sign with the St. Louis Blues as a free agent for the 1995-96 season. In Fuhr, the Blues found their man and Fuhr was given the reins in goal, seeing action in a personal high 79 games, the same amount he played since being traded to the Sabres 2 1/2 seasons earlier.

He again did the heavy lifting in 1996-97 (73 games) and 1997-98 (58 games). While his workload was reduced to 39 games in 1998-99, in part due to a knee injury he suffered in the 1996 playoffs, Fuhr posted his fourth consecutive winning record while with the Blues. Playoff success eluded St. Louis however, and Fuhr was traded to the Calgary Flames for the 1999-00 season.

It was not a good year for the Flames though, as they were to finish last while Fuhr was used in a backup role to Fred Brathwaite. Fuhr was limited to 23 games, but the second of his five victories that season gave him 400 for his career (only the sixth goaltender in NHL history to reach that mark) in what turned out to be the final season, as he announced his retirement on September 6, 2000.

His final record shows 868 games played with 403 wins, 295 losses and 114 ties. His playoff record was 92-50 in 150 games, which led to his winning the Stanley Cup five times. He also played in six All-Star Games, being named the game's MVP in 1986 in Hartford.

Fuhr was both inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and had his #31 retired by the Oilers in 2003.

Today's featured jersey is a 1988-89 Edmonton Oilers Grant Fuhr jersey. This jersey features the Oilers 10th Anniversary patch - of being in the NHL, as the Oilers franchise dates back to 1972 when they were a founding member of the defunct World Hockey Association.

Here is footage from Fuhr's number retirement ceremony in Edmonton.

Here is Fuhr in St. Louis showing why he is considered one of the best.

Finally, a recent interview with Fuhr on shootouts and goaltending styles.