Wayne Gretzky: On the Ice With... (10 page)

It had taken five years for Gretzky’s Oilers to win the Stanley Cup in Edmonton. It was Wayne’s fifth year in Los Angeles.
The Kings would play for the Stanley Cup for the first time.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had as much personal satisfaction,” Gretzky commented after leading his team to their first finals
ever. The fact that Game Seven had been played just down the road from Brantford had made it all the sweeter.

The Kings invaded Montreal and won the opening Game. Game Two was lost when Montreal’s coach accused Los Angeles defenseman
Marty McSorley of playing with an illegally curved stick. The accusation proved well-founded, and Montreal converted the penalty
that followed into a game-winning goal. The next two games were played in Los Angeles before a throng of celebrities that
included former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy. The Canadiens won both in thrilling overtime battles.

Returning to Montreal for the fifth game, the Canadiens and their magnificent goalie Patrick Roy
all but shut out Gretzky and the Kings’ potent offense. Shadowed the entire night, Wayne was unable to get his usual high
caliber of offensive play up to speed.

At the end of the fifth game, the scoreboard read 4–1. Montreal walked away with their twenty-fourth Stanley Cup. The Kings’
dreams were shattered.

Though for the sixth time in his career he led all playoff scorers with 15 goals and 25 assists for 40 points, a dejected
Wayne Gretzky spoke openly about retirement. Yet even as he said the words in the Kings’ postgame locker room, he knew he
would return. One record remained to be broken.

It took a good portion of the 1993–94 season, but Wayne accomplished what he had set out to do. On March 23, 1994, at the
Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, nearing the end of a season in which he would win his tenth scoring title, he became the
NHL’s all-time goal scorer. The mark of 801 had been set by Gordie Howe and had stood for fourteen years. Howe had played
1,767 games over twenty-six seasons. The Great One, with all due respect to his hero, had needed just 1,117 games over fifteen
seasons to better the mark.

At 14:47 of the second period, Wayne connected on a wrist shot from the base of the left circle. Assisting on the goal was
his long-time teammate from his Edmonton days, Marty McSorley. The game between the Kings and Vancouver Canucks was held up
for ten minutes for a ceremony at center ice to honor the new record. As always, Wayne’s father and mother were on hand to
share the moment along with his wife, Janet.

“It’s the greatest game in the world,” the Great One told the crowd. “And I feel great that I play in the NHL.”

Wayne Gretzky is still going strong. When he does retire he can walk away secure in the knowledge that no athlete has ever
dominated a major team sport the way he has. He owns every major National Hockey League scoring record, sixty-one in all.
He has been his own competition over the course of his career.

He is responsible for spreading the popularity of the game throughout the world. Yet he has remained humble and giving through
it all, raising millions for charities such as the Canadian National
Institute for the Blind with his annual softball and tennis tournaments.

Skating in his familiar hunched-over style, he never forgot the long-ago lessons his father taught him on the Nith River at
his grandparents’ farm and the Wally Coliseum in his backyard: “Let the puck do the work… you can’t outskate it”; “Look for
the open ice between the defensemen and the forwards”; “Go where the puck is going to be, not where it’s been.”

A
USA Today
poll once rated Wayne Gretzky as the fourth-ranked athlete of the twentieth century. He trailed only Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth,
and Jim Thorpe. Like these sportsmen, Wayne has done much more than capture unbeatable records — he has given us a glimpse
of greatness.

The Kings’ 1993 appearance in the Stanley Cup finals turned out to be the high-water mark of the Great One’s tenure in Los
Angeles.

The Kings slumped badly the following year and Wayne’s hopes of bringing the Stanley Cup to southern California faded. Then
rumors of a Gretzky trade started circulating throughout the hockey world.

On February 28, 1996, the rumors became a reality. The St. Louis Blues gave up three prospects and two draft choices to bring
Number 99 to their team. But St. Louis was not to be the Great One’s home for long. On July 22, 1996, a mere five months later,
he announced that he had agreed to a two-year, $8 million contract with the New York Rangers.

His reasons for switching seemed to take some
people by surprise. Many star players make a change because they see an opportunity to earn more money. But money is not what
the Great One is about. In fact, the contract pays him nearly $2.5 million less per year than he made in the 1995–96 season
with the Kings and Blues.

“It was a tough decision,” Wayne told reporters at a press conference. “I guess probably what tipped the scale was the chance
to play with Mark [Messier] and the opportunity to get a chance to play with a team that is really focused on trying to win
a championship.”

Only time will tell whether Wayne Gretzky can help the Rangers win another Stanley Cup or whether the dynamic duo of Gretzky
and Messier that sparked the Edmondton Oilers nine years ago can recapture the rhythm that made them unstoppable. But one
thing is for sure: the greatest hockey player in history shows no signs of slowing down.

Wayne Gretzky

M
ATT
C
HRISTOPHER

Since the first time he held a hockey stick, Wayne Gretzky has been amazing the world with his unbelievable skills in the
rink. With a combination of agility, speed, and uncanny intuition, he passes and shoots with a precision that catches nearly
all his opponents off guard. He holds more than thirty National Hockey League records, including those for greatest number
of assists, goals, and points ever scored by one player. “The Great One” is without doubt the most dominant athlete ever to
play the game.

In the exciting biography Matt Christopher, the number one sports writer for children, goes on the ice for an inside look
at the triumphs and troubles, the struggles and statistics, of superstar Wayne Gretzky.

For more information on the Matt Christopher Sports Bio Bookshelf and the Matt Christopher Fan Club, please turn to the last
page of this book.