A lopsided 13-4 victory on November 19, 1983 sparked one of hockey’s most infamous post-game remarks. After the Edmonton Oilers routed the New Jersey Devils, 23-year-old Wayne Gretzky called the franchise a “Mickey Mouse organization.”

The comment came at the lowest point for New Jersey. The Devils had just moved from Colorado and were struggling badly that season. At the time, they were buried near the bottom of the standings, underscoring how fragile the franchise looked in its early years.

Gretzky's frustration that night was not about the score. The Devils' goaltender was Ron Low, a former Oilers teammate and close friend who had been traded to New Jersey.

Years later, Gretzky explained his emotions in a video resurfaced on Instagram by @fivehole_.

"Well, I was angry about the fact that we beat them, I think, 13 to 4 that evening. A teammate of mine was the goaltender, Ronnie Low, and we had unfortunately traded him to New Jersey…"

“...and he was in the net, stopping all these pucks, fighting, stumbling, and he kept having to dig himself out, that sort of thing. I felt bad for him, and I even kind of hid in the trainers' room for 20 to 25 minutes. I finally came out, and I'd cooled off, but things get blown out of proportion."

Gretzky later admitted regret.

"Well, I said some words that I regret. I called them a Mickey Mouse organization, but you know, we've all made mistakes in high school, and it was a mistake that I made. I just hope they start winning because I think New Jersey is a good hockey city, and I'd like to see them stay."

The next time Gretzky played in New Jersey, the crowd showed up wearing Mickey Mouse ears to taunt him. Even then, the Oilers still won.

From Controversy to Immortality

Reporters seized on the remark, and it spread across newspapers immediately. Yet Gretzky’s career quickly overshadowed the controversy.

Gretzky, widely regarded as hockey’s greatest player, played 20 NHL seasons with the Oilers, Kings, Blues, and Rangers.

He won four Stanley Cups with Edmonton in the 1980s, was named league MVP nine times, and led the NHL in scoring 10 times.

He retired in 1999 with 894 goals, 1,963 assists, and 2,857 points—a record untouched for decades until Alexander Ovechkin broke his goal mark in 2025.

Gretzky was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame the same year he retired, with the waiting period waived. In 2000, the NHL retired his No. 99 across the entire league—the first time the sport honored a player in that way.

That 13-4 night against the Devils came early in Gretzky’s career, before he had fully established himself as “The Great One.”

Despite his later dominance, the incident remains one of the most memorable off-ice moments of his career, a reminder that even the greatest player in hockey history once let his emotions get the better of him.

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Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Koushik Biswas