In 1993, now 30 seasons ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs were on the cusp of achieving hockey glory. They could have won the Stanley Cup, and many fans believe they should have. That is, except for one of the most notorious incidents in franchise history.
The culprits were Wayne Gretzky (the best hockey player in the history of the NHL) and Kerry Fraser (now a former NHL referee). The incident was Gretzky’s high stick on Doug Gilmour that wasn’t called. The result was a Stanley Cup near-miss by the Blue & White. The story from a Toronto perspective is that Fraser stole the Cup from the Maple Leafs.
The 1992-93 Maple Leafs Season
The 1992-93 NHL season was memorable for the Maple Leafs. Under head coach Pat Burns, the team finished with 99 points and second place in the Norris Division. Gilmour had a career year, tallying 127 points and winning the Selke Trophy for his defensive play.
They made it to the Campbell Conference Final in the playoffs before they fell to the Los Angeles Kings in a hard-fought series.
The Los Angeles Kings 1992-93 Season
Under head coach Barry Melrose, the Kings iced a stellar lineup that included stars like Gretzky and Luc Robitaille. Gretzky had an outstanding season, finishing second in the league in scoring with 130 points, and, like the Maple Leafs, LA finished the campaign with 99 points in the Smythe Division.
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The Kings went on to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history but lost to the Montreal Canadiens in five games.
The Infamous Game and the Uncalled High-Sticking Penalty
In Game 6 of the 1993 Western Conference Final, this memorable and pivotal non-call occurred. Emotions were high, but the stakes were higher. Gretzky, the best of the Kings, high-sticked Gilmour, the heart and soul of the Maple Leafs.
The infraction was clear to everyone in the stands and television viewers at home. However, no whistle was blown. Gretzky, who obviously benefited from the uncalled penalty, went on to score the crucial goal that propelled the Kings to victory. The rest is history.
To most Maple Leafs fans, this was the turning point of the series. To this day, they believe that if a penalty had been called, and Gretzky had been exiled to the sin bin, the outcome would have been different, and it cost the franchise what has proved now, 30 years later, to be an exceedingly elusive championship.
Kerry Fraser, the Target of Franchise Frustration
Because the NHL implemented the use of a two-referee system in the 1998-1999 season, Fraser was the game’s only referee, and, after that game, he became a target of frustration and resentment from many Maple Leafs fans.
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To his credit, he later admitted that he (and his two linesmen) completely missed the call. They simply didn’t see it. A great article, written by Sportsnet Maple Leafs writer Luke Fox in 2016, gives a fine retelling of the incident in Fraser’s own words. It’s worth reading in full, but here are parts from it.
As Fraser recalled, “As the Kings set up on the power play, I was down by the far circle, away from the puck. In my brain, this is what I was processing:
Gretzky gets the puck. He shoots it, and my eyes go to the net. But Jamie Macoun blocks it. The puck rebounds between Gretzky and Doug Gilmour. When my eyes go back to Gretzky, I see a motion. Gilmour goes down. Did Gretzky’s stick follow through and catch him? Gilmour’s bent over now. He’s got blood on his chin.
(Photo By Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images)
And I have no idea what happened. That’s a helpless, helpless feeling. Under the 1993 rules, if Gretzky high-sticks Gilmour and it draws blood, it’s a five-minute major. He’s gone. It was a huge call to make — a worse one to miss.”
Fraser added, “Guys from both teams were skating up to me. … I should have known when I saw Gretzky skating away. Whenever there was a dispute, Gretz was always at the forefront arguing his side of it. But this time, he kind of slinked away. That was uncharacteristic. That should have tipped me off. But, to be honest, I was attempting to roll back the play in my mind, over and over, looking for some measure of recall that would provide the evidence I needed.”
Finally, Fraser admitted, “I had to make a decision. In referee school, they hammer it into you: Call what you see. Don’t guess. The honest-to-God truth is, I didn’t see it. I had to eat it. I said, ‘No penalty.’
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The next faceoff, Gretzky stays in the game and scores to win it. He went on to have the game of his career in Game 7, and the Kings went to the finals. … There weren’t all the slow-motion cameras like they have today. It wasn’t until the next day that I saw another angle of the play on television. You could clearly see Gretzky high-sticking Gilmour.
It was missed. Period.”
The Bottom Line
Gilmour, who often encouraged Maple Leafs fans to get past the incident and not to blame officials, later rewatched Game 6, and he was frustrated with all the penalties that went uncalled. He came to empathize with the fans who found it hard to let the painful memory of the incident go. Yet, he’s also come to believe it was ultimately Gretzky’s brilliance that sealed the Maple Leafs’ fate and not the uncalled high-sticking.
There’s a huge “what if” factor to that 1993 Playoff series between the Maple Leafs and the Kings. As the 30 years since this series have passed, the Maple Leafs are now almost 60 years from their last Stanley Cup victory.
But 1993 will remain the season that could have been.
