On April 19th, 2021, San Jose’s Patrick Marleau will set an NHL record. The Sharks’ game against the Vegas Golden Knights will be the 1,768th of his career. If that seems like a lot, that’s because it is. Marleau will pass Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe, for first all-time in NHL games played. This is a win for all hockey fans, not just because of the record and the spectacle, but also for Marleau’s sweet gloves for the big game.
👀 the gloves pic.twitter.com/XvUk6MF3uH
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) April 19, 2021
As you can see, the Sharks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Toronto Maple Leafs logos are displayed on his thumb side, signifying the three teams Marleau has played for. If you forgot about the Penguins, don’t feel too bad; just eight of those 1768 games will come from Pittsburgh, all at the tail end of last season before COVID hit.
Missing from that list is the Carolina Hurricanes, who momentarily acquired him from Toronto before immediately buying him out as part of a salary transaction before the 2019-20 season. Carolina’s Twitter account was quick to realize their absence from the gloves.
Congratulations to a #Canes legend 💪 pic.twitter.com/83AM5Atfsb
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) April 19, 2021
It is fitting that Marleau will set the record in a Sharks uniform. After all, it is the team that he played his first 19 seasons for, as well as most of his 22nd and all of his 23rd season. In 2017-18 and 2018-19, he was with Toronto. In 15 of those seasons, he scored at least 20 goals, hitting 30 in seven of those, and 40 once, when he scored 44 times back in 2009-10. Overall, he has scored 566 goals with 530 assists for 1196 points leading up to tonight’s game.
For a guy who has played in 23 seasons, Marleau is very young, at an age of 41 years and 216 days. That is because he was very young when he came into the NHL. In fact, at 18 years and 16 days of age when he made his NHL debut in 1997, Marleau was the youngest NHL player since World War 2 ended. There have been a lot of advancements and overall changes in society since October 1st, 1997, when Marleau debuted against the Oilers. So, let’s look at some of the most notable, and crazy ones.
This writer wasn’t born
Oh, that’s not what you care about? On to the next one.
“The Peacemaker” was the top movie at the box office
Starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, this movie is not really a classic, with a 43% score on Rotton Tomatoes. It is better than the next week’s top movie, Kiss the Girls, which sits at 31%. A few months later, a mildly successful film named Titanic was released.
Top Song of the Week
It was “Honey”, by Mariah Carey. Less than two weeks later, “Candle in the Wind” came to power, and it was the top song of the year.
The Golden Knights were not even a thought
Tonight is Marleau’s 12th game against Vegas. He has only played against the Sharks less (five games). The Golden Knights did not hit the ice until 2017, 20 years after Marleau’s debut. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, and Minnesota Wild were also yet to start play.
The iPhone didn’t exist
That should not surprise you. But what may surprise you is the top internet provider at the time, Netscape. On the topic of technology, the top-selling video games were Pokemon Red and Blue and Final Fantasy VII.
Finally, in sports, there were some outdated events. Firstly, Patrick Marleau was drafted 2nd overall, behind longtime teammate Joe Thornton, although that is the point of this article. In the MLB, Matt Anderson was drafted first overall by the Tigers in a very boring draft where the most interesting athlete (unironically) was probably Antwaan Randle El. All four championship winners in the Big-4 were juggernauts. The Bulls, Packers, Marlins, and Red Wings were the champions. Yes, the Marlins were juggernauts.
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
