Today in NHL History, Dec 30th

1883: Hall of Famer Lester Patrick born in Drummondville, Que. Patrick played and coached in the NHL during his famous career.

1896: Ernie McLea scored the first hat-trick in Stanley Cup history as the Montreal Victorias regained possession of the Stanley Cup, with a 6-5 win over the defending champion Winnipeg Victorias.

1904: In the first game of a best-of-three challenge between Winnipeg and Ottawa, a red line was drawn between each set of goalposts to aid the referee in awarding goals. These became the first known goal lines in hockey history.

1925: Howie Morenz scored a hat trick in the Canadiens' 7-4 win over the Montreal Maroons.

1934: Boston's Tiny Thompson and Rangers' Dave Kerr dueled to a 0-0 scoreless tie, in New York. It was the first of a Bruins' 37 game consecutive overtime undefeated streak (10-0-27) over the next four years, the longest such streak in NHL history.

1943: Montreal's Maurice Richard scored his first career hat trick and added two assists, and Elmer Lach had two goals and four assists in the Canadiens 8-3 win against the visiting Red Wings. It was the Hab's 11th straight home win, a team record.

1944: Toronto's goalie Frank McCool recorded the second shutout of his rookie season in the Maple Leafs' 4-0 win over the visiting Chicago Black Hawks.

1967: Goaltender Gump Worsley recorded his 33rd career shutout to lead the Canadiens to a 2-0 win over the Oakland Seals in Montreal. Jean Beliveau led the scoring with a goal and an assist.....Rookie goalie Doug Favell led the Flyers to a 2-0 shutout over the Kings, in the first NHL game played at the Forum in Los Angeles. It was the third career shutout for Favell, and Ed Hoekstra scored a goal and an assist to lead the scoring.

1969: Gerry Desjardins and Fern Rivard traded shutouts as the Kings and Minnesota battled to a 0-0 tie at the Forum in the first game for North Stars' coach Charlie Burns.

1970: Bruins' Bobby Orr scored a goal and added three assists as Boston beat the North Stars 6-2, at Minnesota

1978: Hall of Fame referee Frank Udvari came out of a 12 year retirement to work the Islanders' 4-2 win over the Atlanta Flames in New York. Udvari, age 55 and an NHL Superviser of Officials, came out of the stands to replace injured Dave Newell.

1980: Montreal's rookie goaltender Rick Wamsley recorded his first career NHL shutout in the Canadiens' 4-0 win over the visiting Los Angeles Kings. Wamsley became the third Canadiens goalie to get a shutout in the 1980-81 season.

1981: Wayne Gretzky scored five goals (for his 11th career hat trick) and added an assist in the Oilers 7-5 win over the Flyers. The five goals gave Gretzky 50 for the season in just 39 games, breaking Maurice Richard's record of 50 in 50 games.....Defenseman Paul Baxter had three assists to lead the Penguins to a 6-2 win over the Capitals in Pittsburgh.....Calgary's rookie defenseman Al MacInnis played in his first career NHL game, a 4-2 Flames loss vs Boston.....Quebec Nordiques traded Robbie Ftorek to the NY Rangers, in exchange for Jere Gillis and Dean Talafous (later changed to Pat Hickey - trade on 3/8/82 - when Talafous decided to retire).

1984: Thomas Gradin became first Canucks' player to register 300 career assists, as Vancouver scored four third period goals to tie the Edmonton Oilers, 7-7. Moe Lemay led the scoring with three assists

1987: Minnesota's Dennis Maruk scored his 350th NHL career goal, and had an assist as the North Stars won 6-4, at Chicago.

1988: St. Louis Blues retired uniform #11 previously worn by head coach Brian Sutter in a ceremony before a game against Minnesota. Blues later scored twice in the final 18 seconds of regulation to earn a 5-5 tie with North Stars. ....Vancouver improved its all time record against touring Soviet hockey teams to 3-0, with a 6-1 win over Dynamo Riga during the NHL's "Super Series 88-89". Brian Bradley paced the Canucks with two goals and an assist.

1992: Washington defenseman Al Iafrate became the first player in NHL history to have his shot officially break the 100 miles-per-hour barrier, when he had one clocked at 101.4 MPH during the Caps' NHL Superskills Competition at the Capital Centre.....Peter Forsberg set a World Junior Championship record with 10 points in Sweden's 20-1 win over Japan. Forsberg ended the tournament with a record 31 points in seven games.

1995: Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux scored his 35th career hat trick as the Penguins won 6-5 over Florida, at the Civic Arena.

1997: Anaheim's Tomas Sandstrom picked up an assist to become the highest scoring Swedish player in NHL history. His 818th career NHL point moved him ahead of Thomas Steen. Sandstrom's milestone came in a 2-1 Mighty Ducks loss in Carolina.

1998: Carolina's Arturs Irbe recorded his 100th career NHL victory, when the Hurricanes beat the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3.

1999: Luc Robitaille led the scoring a goal and four assists as the Kings earned the 1,000th victory in franchise history with an 8-2 win against the visiting Edmonton Oilers..... Jaromir Jagr scored a career-high seven points, including his 6th career hat trick and four assists as the Penguins won 9-3 against the visiting New York Islanders.

2000: Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi scored three power play goals for his first career hat trick in the Canucks 6-3 win against the Sharks at San Jose.

2002: San Jose's Teemu Selanne scored to give him 20 or more goals in each of his 11 NHL seasons; the milestone came in a 2-1 win against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.....Playing in his 500th career NHL game, Daymond Langkow scored twice (including the winner in overtime) to give him 100 career NHL goals, as the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Capitals 2-1 in Washington.


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