Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky CCis a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey Leaguefor four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "The Great One", he has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters, players, and the NHL itself. He is the leading scorer in NHL history, with more goals and more assists than any other player. He scored more assists than any other player scored total points,...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth26 January 1961
CityBrantford, Canada
CountryCanada
Our Achilles' heel has been killing penalties at home. They get a power play goal and it's a 2-1 hockey game. You get the number of points they have as a team by hard work, and we knew they weren't going to quit by any means.
We didn't have a very good first period to say the least. Then Johnson's goal was a big goal. That was a big sort of turning point for us in the hockey game to be able to come in after the first period only down 2-1.
When your leading goal scorer and your best player has 15 goals, you've got to play airtight. When we play airtight, we're a tough team to play against. When we believe that we can throw pucks in the middle, backhand passes, plays like that - and it's not one guy, it's a group effort - then we're in trouble.
I don't know what the record is for scoring the fastest goal on your first shift, but that's got to be up there. That's a great way to start your NHL career.
That second goal sort of broke our back. Lenny probably would like to have that one back and keep it a 1-0 game. The intensity level from their team was a lot higher tonight than when we played them a few weeks ago in Phoenix.
When people come up to me and say, "I was at your Game 7 in the playoffs in Toronto," or, "I saw your first goal in the NHL," that triggers memories. But I don't sit around my kitchen table and tell my kids, "You know, one year I got 92 goals."
I have recall. I don't know why or how. I had a guy once who said he played against me in novice [league, for kids under nine], for the Detroit Lasers. And I said, "Oh yeah, we beat you in the tournament, 8-1 and I think I scored seven goals, and the goalie was left-handed." And he was, "Oh my God. I was the goalie!" .
You'll never catch me bragging about goals, but I'll talk all you want about my assists.
Only one thing is ever guaranteed, that is that you will definitely not achieve the goal if you don't take the shot.
We finally feel like we have a pretty good hockey club here and I wanted to be a part of that, simple as that,
We have a lot of hurdles to overcome, but there's a definite light in the tunnel here. Are we satisfied with what's happened (this season)? Absolutely not. But more and more pieces of the puzzle are in place.
Over the last couple of months, I've really been leaning toward stepping in and taking on this responsibility, ... I'm really excited about it. I'm really excited to be back in the locker room and back on the ice. I'm sort of back on the hot seat. And I'm looking forward to it. I don't have to sit up top anymore. I can be on the ice. That's the part I'm looking forward to.
You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
Let me tell you, if Luongo doesn't play the way he did in the Czech game, we don't win the World Cup. It's as simple as that. And we now know what a guy like him can do.