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 The Great One Gretzky: A meteor that forever changed the hockey world
Posted: Thursday July 08, 1999 01:21 PM
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- Wayne Gretzky burst onto the scene in 1978 -- a skinny 160-pound, 17-year-old kid from Brantford, Ontario. When his retirement becomes official, Gretzky will leave as the greatest hockey player in history. He owns 61 NHL records, including most goals, most assists, most points both in one season and a career. He was league MVP nine times, won 11 scoring titles, went to 18 all-star games. He seemed to play hockey as if he learned it on a more advanced planet. He possessed a magical feel for the game and its flow. He would survey the ice like a field general, coolly looking over a battlefield, often from behind the net, striking terror into the helpless opposing goalie, while his teammates waited for the perfect pass -- at the perfect time. Gretzky's anticipation was uncanny. Always thinking three moves ahead. Where others saw chaos, he saw the play unfold in slow motion. He loved to create, to control the puck, to drive the defense back. He didn't have the hardest shot. But he caused so much havoc that the goalie would lean the wrong way as the puck rocketed through the open hole and slammed into the net. Gretzky led the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cups in a reign during the mid-to late eighties that figured to continue indefinitely. But the Oilers' owner got into a financial bind and the unthinkable happened. Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. His move to Hollywood in 1988 was much more than a case of one more star in a crowded sky. His brilliance attracted a new fan base for the sport, which led to the NHL moving into other California cities and into the warm-weather states of Florida, Arizona and Texas. Gretzky almost singlehandedly willed his Los Angeles Kings into the 1993 Stanley Cup finals. The following season he won the scoring title. Two years later, with the Kings floundering, Gretzky was granted his request and traded to St. Louis. In 1996, he was on the move again, to New York where he signed as a free agent with the Rangers. But he has felt the sting of frustration there, battling injuries and the psychic pain of not making the playoffs the last two seasons. Through it all, Getzky's drive never allowed him to take a night off once he pulled on a hockey sweater. He revered the game, respected his opponents and loved to win. For all his majestic performances on the ice, Gretzky -- off the ice -- has been the finest ambassador hockey has ever known because of the class and dignity with which he carried himself.
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