This Day in Hockey History – October 19, 1974 and 1997 – M&M Kids

Forwards Grant Mulvey and Patrick Marleau were born two days shy of 23 years apart, on September 17, 1956 and September 15, 1979, respectively. That was just the beginning of what they had in common, seeming to live parallel lives in different generations. On October 19, 1974, Mulvey became the youngest player (since World War II) to score his first NHL goal. On the same date 23 years later (October 19, 1997), Marleau became the second-youngest to score his first.

Both youngsters had been drafted in the first round with the Chicago Blackhawks selecting Mulvey 16th overall and the San Jose Sharks picking Marleau 2nd overall. Marleau’s birthday was actually the cutoff for draft eligibility for his class. The two players would each spend the vast majority of their NHL careers with these teams. After missing most of the 1982-83 season with a knee injury, Mulvey was claimed on waivers by the New Jersey Devils in 1983 and played his final 12 NHL games there. Marleau’s career has lasted over twice as long and continues. He signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2017 but returned to the Sharks after two seasons.

Even the numbers each wore for their teams were similar. Mulvey always wore No. 22. After starting with No. 14, Marleau switched to No. 12 in 2001.

Both of them scored their first rookie goals in away games in which each had three shots on goal. Chicago and San Jose each scored three goals total. However, the Blackhawks won their game 3-1, while the Sharks lost theirs 5-3.

Mulvey’s milestone was scored at St. Louis’s Arena for a crowd of 18,512. Having scored his first assist two days earlier, he netted his first goal at 5:15 into the game. According to the Chicago Tribune’s recap, “He was stopped once by Johnston on a bullet from the right, then the carom ricocheted toward the right wing corner. Mulvey centered it, and while linemates Dennis Hull and Pit Martin were swiping, the disk hopped in off St. Louis’ Gary Unger. It was unassisted.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called it a “fluke goal credited to Chicago’s No. 1 amateur draft choice.” The paper explained, “Mulvey was attempting a centering pass out of the corner when the Blues’ Garry Unger, seeking to intercept the puck, instead deflected it into the top corner of the net and Mulvey had his first NHL goal.” This was Chicago’s second goal, and the Blues only managed one goal. That made Mulvey’s the game-winner.

Marleau’s goal took place before 14,103 attendees at Phoenix’s America West Arena. As the youngest player in the NHL at the time, he scored at the opposite end of his game, at 19:34 of the final period. He made a “snap shot from the slot with 25.6 seconds remaining” that Nikolai Khabibulin could not block. The Sharks had a 2-1 lead until 8:05 of the second period, when the Coyotes rallied to score three goals in two and a half minutes. Coach Darryl Sutter replaced veteran goalie Mike Vernon for Kelly Hrudey, but the Sharks failed to score again until Marleau’s game-ender. As Marleau said, “I was excited, but the first thing I did was look up at the clock to see how much time we had left.”

The record for youngest player to score his first NHL goal is somewhat complicated. The youngest seven were rookies during 1942 and 1943 when the NHL had lost older players to military service. The next four youths on the list still include both Mulvey and Marleau. On October 3, 2013, Aleksander Barkov scored at the age of 18 years and 31 days. Following him by just a day, at age 18 years and 32 days, Mulvey is tied with Jordan Staal, who scored his on October 12, 2006. That makes Marleau technically the eleventh in the list at the age of 18 years and 34 days when he scored his first NHL goal.

Additional Sources:

• https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/chi-vs-stl/1974/10/19/1974020042#game=1974020042,game_state=final
• Bob Verdi, “Hawks struggle, but top Blues 3-1,” Chicago Tribune, 20 Oct. 1974, section 3, p. 1.
• Gary Mueller, “Hawks Topple Blues,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 20 Oct. 1974, pp. 1B and 11B.
• https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/sjs-vs-phx/1997/10/19/1997020103#game=1997020103,game_state=final
• Ross McKeon, “Sharks waste Marleau’s goal,” San Francisco Examiner, 20 Oct. 1997, p. D3.
• Tim Tyers, “Coyotes shut down Sharks after 3-goal, 2nd-period run,” Arizona Republic, 20 Oct. 1997, pp. D1 and D12.
• “Ronning leads Coyotes to 3rd home win in 4 games,” Arizona Daily Star, 20 Oct. 1997, p. C8.
• https://records.nhl.com/records/skater-records/youngest-players/youngest-players-first-nhl-goal