Speculation: The Curse of Peter Pocklington

[oilers'72]

No curse that I can recall. There might as well be a curse of Sather, as we haven't won the cup since he left.

Too funny, my grandmother always used the expression "crooked as a dog's hind leg."

When you read about the stuff that Peter did in California to so many people it makes you cringe.

As far as Edmonton goes, people say that he was hated because of the Gretzky deal but most people understood that Pocklington's money brought Gretzky to Edmonton and Pocklington's money took him away from Edmonton. The real issue was the Gainer's strike. I was still very young at the time but I remember it as being a very ugly scene. One of the worst the city has known.

As far as the curse goes well that's for the superstitious crowd who would like to read the entrails of an owl to get the morning news.

The Gainer's strike was nasty but also from a time when unions and their leaders were far more militant. Heard stories about those on the picket lines following replacement workers home and vice-versa.

 

[Stoneman89]

One of the most ironic things in pro sports is one pro sports owner crook, Pocklington, selling Gretzky to another pro sports owner crook, Mcnall so that they could later reminisce about it in jail which should have occurred..


The world run by scoundrels. Both bastard caricatures of Businessman that of course got to the top.

Then theres the whole business of how Pocklington alleged to have obtained Gretzky from Skalbania over a game of Backgammon.

These creeps were all sordid stereotypes of crooked avarice.

Yup, McNall bought Gretzky with money that he never really had, as we later found out. Irony of inronies. Another man who would be king, just like Pocklington.

 

[rboomercat90]

No curse that I can recall. There might as well be a curse of Sather, as we haven't won the cup since he left.



The Gainer's strike was nasty but also from a time when unions and their leaders were far more militant. Heard stories about those on the picket lines following replacement workers home and vice-versa.

That strike was the nastiest and scariest thing (save for the ‘87 tornado) that I can remember happening in Edmonton in my lifetime. I knew people who were on the picket line and I also knew people who were replacement workers. The stories were true. I still can’t believe the levels of violence it reached on the picket line. Seemed like stuff you read about happening elsewhere in a different time. My grandparents lived across the alley from Santa Rosa Park. It was a surreal sight seeing the replacement workers loaded unto reinforced school busses under police escort for the short ride to the plant.

 

[MoontoScott]

That strike was the nastiest and scariest thing (save for the ‘87 tornado) that I can remember happening in Edmonton in my lifetime. I knew people who were on the picket line and I also knew people who were replacement workers. The stories were true. I still can’t believe the levels of violence it reached on the picket line. Seemed like stuff you read about happening elsewhere in a different time. My grandparents lived across the alley from Santa Rosa Park. It was a surreal sight seeing the replacement workers loaded unto reinforced school busses under police escort for the short ride to the plant.

It almost sounds like a scene from the Deep South with forced integration, something along the lines of the James Meredith story or Mississippi Burning.

The other event that Edmonton history has mostly forgotten is Pocklington's kidnapping and the standoff at his house. My uncle was a cop on the EPS SWAT squad at that time and was inside the house when a cop sniper shot the kidnapper in the arm (my uncle wasn't the guy who fired the shot but watched the event).

The kidnapping and the Gainer's strike were 2 dark events that marked the beginning of the end for Pocklington's mostly worthless paper empire (like McNall's). I remember that even though the Oilers were at their heights many people said that they would never go to another Oiler game due largely to the violence and tensions of that strike.

Another thing I remember is George Bush senior in a dark limousine coming to a party at Pocklington's place. At the same time dozens of Edmonton contractors were waiting to be paid by Pocklington for long overdue bills. The irony of the situation was not lost on Edmontonians and that (IMHO) is why Pocklington is not particularly welcome in Edmonton. Hockey after all is just a game but this other stuff was far more serious.

 

[MoontoScott]

It almost sounds like a scene from the Deep South with forced integration, something along the lines of the James Meredith story or Mississippi Burning.

The other event that Edmonton history has mostly forgotten is Pocklington's kidnapping and the standoff at his house. My uncle was a cop on the EPS SWAT squad at that time and was inside the house when a cop sniper shot the kidnapper in the arm (my uncle wasn't the guy who fired the shot but watched the event).

The kidnapping and the Gainer's strike were 2 dark events that marked the beginning of the end for Pocklington's mostly worthless paper empire (like McNall's). I remember that even though the Oilers were at their heights many people said that they would never go to another Oiler game due largely to the violence and tensions of that strike.

Another thing I remember is George Bush senior in a dark limousine coming to a party at Pocklington's place. All this while contractors around the city were waiting to get paid long overdue bills by Pocklington. The irony of the situation was not lost on Edmontonians and that (IMHO) is why Pocklington is not particularly welcome in Edmonton. Hockey, after all, is just a game but this other stuff was far more serious.