NHL History Lesson: The 1989 NHL Draft

Reports are swirling around the real world (read: the part of the world that makes you work and not watch hockey) that our country's students are learning less and less history. While this depresses the former history major in me, it also makes me sad for those who don't see the value in learning their history. Without getting too preachy about it... you should learn some history. It's important.

With that, we introduce someone who is a very good friend of the blog making her introductory guest post here on Hockey Wilderness. Jennifer Conway is the coolest librarian you may never meet, and provides the hockey world with a much needed grounding in the history of hockey and specifically the NHL. She is good people, even if she does live in the arm pit of civilization. If you want to know where that is, you'll have to ask her.

Today, she gives us a look at the 1989 NHL Draft, also known as: the last time the draft was held here in Minnesota. Make the jump for some fun history. Also, throw a thank you up for Jennifer for putting this together. Good stuff. 

by Jennifer Conway

The last time Minnesota hosted the NHL draft, George H. W. Bush was president, New Kids on the Block had the number one single, and the world had just witnessed the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and the beginning of the anti-communist revolution in Central and Eastern Europe.

At the same time the hockey world was about to undergo its own revolution, thanks to the choices made June 17, 1989 at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Here are a few other firsts and notable facts about the 1989 draft:

Editor's note: Thank you to Jennifer for contributing this post. Please be sure to follow her on Twitter at @NHLHistoryGirl for your daily dose of hockey history.