There’s just something special about a hat trick in hockey.
The term was actually coined in 1858 in a cricket match, where to celebrate a bowler taking three wickets with three consecutive deliveries (shout out to my parents for making me watch the Bollywood movie Lagaan so I actually know what that means), fans bought him a hat.
The term is used in other sports, with their own unique twists.
In soccer, a player who scores a hat-trick gets the game ball instead of a hat, which begs the question why they don’t call it a ball-trick (never mind, by typing that out I think I just got the answer). There is also a “perfect” hat-trick, which is where a player scores one goal with their right foot, one with their left foot, and one with their head.
Baseball is one sport where a hat-trick can be either a good thing or a bad thing. The good one is obviously hitting three home runs in one game, but the bad one is because it refers to a player being struck out three times in a game. If you get struck out four times, it is called a “golden sombrero”, which frankly is a terrible name for it because that sounds awesome.
Hat tricks in hockey
But hockey is unique in that when a player does get a hat-trick, fans will throw their own hats onto the ice in celebration, which makes for a wonderful scene but also some fairly instant regret of losing your hat.
The Edmonton Oilers have scored three hat tricks this season, two by Zach Hyman and one by Evander Kane. Kane’s was a particularly memorable one, as it was a natural hat-trick that started in the third period with the team down 4–1 and ended with the overtime winning goal.
There have been 239 hat tricks in Oilers history, but like Kane’s this year, some are more memorable than others, whether it be for the significance of the game, the timing within the game itself, a memorable goal or moment that happens to be a part of the hat trick, or even just a personal memory for some people.
Here are some of the most memorable ones, for me in any event. I’m sure I’m missing some that you find even more memorable, and if so drop them in the comments!
Ryan Smyth, October 12, 2006
The 2006–07 was a disappointing season where the Oilers missed the playoffs after the Cinderella run to the finals the year prior.
But in the third game of the season, that didn’t seem to be the case. After all, when a Wayne Gretzky record is broken, that has to be a good omen, right?
Yes, you read that correctly. The fastest hat trick in Oilers history is owned by Ryan Smyth, at two minutes and one second, beating Gretzky’s best in the Blue and Orange by a whopping 17 seconds.
And he did it in the most Ryan Smyth way possible.
Down 4–2 at the start of the third period, the Oilers were granted a 5-on-3 power play thanks to two San Jose Sharks players each taking a penalty in one shift (today’s referees could never).
With 37 seconds remaining in the power play, Jarret Stoll uncorked a one-timer off a pass from Petr Sykora, which bounced off Smyth’s leg passed Evgeni Nabokov.
Just 14 seconds later, after the Oilers won the faceoff and entered the zone, Sykora set up another one timer, this time for Marc-Andre Bergeron, which Smyth, who was again in his office in front of the net, tipped over Evgeni Nabokov’s head.
Not only did that goal tie the game, but it was Smyth’s 500th NHL point.
After taking a break on the bench, Smyth hopped back on the ice 1:49 later, and raced to the front of the net while Steve Staios took a shot. The shot ended up hitting Smyth and dropping down on the ice towards the corner. Smyth followed the puck and spun around, just whacking the puck towards the goal, and fulfilled the “anything can happen if you shoot it on net” mantra, as the puck squeezed through Nabokov’s pads to secure the lead.
Yup, nothing more Smyth than a goal off the body, another off a tip, and another one from only eight feet away.
This is the most memorable hat trick for yours truly, as I was in attendance for it and was so excited that I ended up spilling my nachos and not even caring.
Also, in true Gene Principe fashion, he managed to fit in a quality pun on the goal. Petition to bring Principe back as colour commentator anyone?
Sam Gagner, February 2, 2012
Amidst the Chicago Blackhawks dynasty years, there seemed to be one team that had their number: the lowly Oilers.
One reason may have been that Patrick Kane’s former junior linemate, Sam Gagner, was on the Oilers side and perhaps there was some “sibling” rivalry there.
Sam Gagner had 21 points in 26 games against the Blackhawks in his first stint with Oilers, with the team going 20–14 against Chicago in that time (including a 6–1 record in 2010 and 2013, the years the Blackhawks won the cup).
Granted, a big chunk of those points came in a single game.
The Oilers fell behind 2–0 40 seconds into the second period. After Taylor Hall cut the lead in half off a stretch pass from Gagner, Gagner tied the game on a wraparound goal.
The Oilers went ahead 3–2 from Ryan Whitney’s first goal of the season, assisted by Gagner, but Chicago came back to tie it minutes later.
Gagner broke the tie though to start the third period, knocking in the rebound off a Whitney shot that banked off the end boards.
A couple minutes later, Gagner won the faceoff the offensive zone, leading to Cam Barker’s second goal of the season (and last point in an Oilers uniform).
After Chicago brought themselves back to within one goal, Gagner finished off the hat trick with a top corner shot over Corey Crawford’s shoulder.
Gagner wasn’t done there though, as he notched a fourth goal, becoming the ninth player in franchise history to do so.
Gagner finished the game off with another assist, tying a franchise record for eight points in a game (with Gretzky of course), making this one of the most memorable hat tricks in franchise history, although the hat trick part is not necessarily what made it memorable.
This one is memorable for me because I had a chance to go to the game but declined. What an absolute fool.
Doug Weight, April 16, 2000
In the midst of the Oilers-Dallas Stars playoff battle years, the Oilers were down 2–0 in 2000 going back home, and had lost nine straight playoff games to the Stars.
Doug Weight was criticized entering the game, having been a minus four over the first two games of the series.
Weight, potentially fired up from said scrutiny, started the scoring off with a goal off his foot, initially waived off but overturned upon review (the current Oilers could never).
With the Oilers up 2–0 late in the first (the second goal also going to video review), Weight then leaned into a slapshot from the point on the power play for his second. Luckily, no video replay was needed to confirm this one.
Following a goal apiece, Weight notched his hat trick goal, again on the power play, with a wrist shot through Ed Belfour’s legs, making him the first Oiler to score a playoff hat trick since 1991.
It would be the only game the Oilers would win in the series, but it was a hell of a win off the back of the captain.
Georges Laraque, February 21, 2000
Georges Laraque had just started to endear himself to Oilers fans in his third season, his first full one after having played just 11 and 39 games in the previous two.
An enforcer by trade, Laraque entered the game on February 21, 2000 with three goals, tying the three career goals he had prior to the season, and eight points in 56 games.
Laraque started the scoring off in the first period, knocking in a rebound with one hand.
After the Los Angeles Kings tied it, Laraque put the Oilers back in the lead when Roman Hamrlik’s shot deflected off the big man.
After Janne Niinimaa potted an empty net goal to seal the game in the Oilers’ favour, Gorgeous Georges rewarded the fans who did not leave early to beat the traffic by scoring his first career hat trick on a beauty goal. He started with a spinorama around the defender and then a forehand backhand deke to put it past Stephane Fiset, who would go on to play only 25 more games in the NHL after that night (which is probably unrelated to this, but who can know for sure).
This would be Laraque’s only hat trick of his career, but it is one that will live on in not just his memory, but Oilers fans’ as well.
Connor McDavid, October 12, 2022
As seems to be typical with any Oilers list these days, Connor McDavid makes an appearance.
In the season opener against the Vancouver Canucks last year, the team started out shaky, with the Canucks scoring two goals in the first three minutes of the game and adding another 39 seconds into the second period to take a 3–0 lead.
The Oilers got on the board with a Leon Draisaitl powerplay goal, the first of what would be a historic season for the Oilers power play.
McDavid would score six seconds into the next power play opportunity, on a highlight reel play with all five Oilers touching the puck in succession prior to the goal.
After the Oilers would tie the game up, McDavid would score the go-ahead goal with five minutes left in the game, popping in his own rebound past Thatcher Demko.
McDavid would seal the game with the empty net goal, coming off a surprising pass from Evander Kane, who gave up the chance on the breakaway to drop the puck back to Connor.
Not only did this game result in McDavid’s 11th regular season hat trick of his career—the most of any Oilers who did not play in the ‘80s—but McDavid also notched his 700th (and 701st) career point in only 488 games, making him the sixth fastest player to do so, and again the fastest since the 1980s (even faster than Sidney Crosby). Further, McDavid became only the third player in NHL history to score a hat trick in multiple season opening games, tying Brendan Shanahan and Cam Neely with two.
Taylor Hall, December 5, 2013
Taylor Hall scored four hat tricks in his Oilers career, including his first being the last Oilers hat trick against the Atlanta Thrashers and the second last one against them in the entire NHL (which belongs to Ville Leino). But his his last one was pretty memorable for a reason that had almost nothing to do with him:
Definitely nice to see that even during the dark times the Oilers fans were still *ahem* throwing their support behind the team. Even if by that point it was already apparent the Oilers weren’t going to make the playoffs, the hat trick didn’t much other than pad his stats.
This wasn’t the first “Bra-Trick” in NHL history, nor the most recent, but it is still not a regular or usual item to be thrown to celebrate three goals in a game. It doesn’t appear that there is any specific criteria for one either, other than a bra is thrown on the ice instead of a hat. Although, in three of the five instances I could find, including this one, the other team only scored two goals in the game. So maybe it can be where the player scoring the hat trick would have won the game all by themselves?
Yeah, that idea is probably a bust, but I’m trying to get this article in under the wire here so it’s not gonna be my breast work. I just wanted to end this on an uplifting note.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
