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
struggle responsibility player
As a player, you have one responsibility, to focus yourself and be ready for the game. As a coach, your responsibility is to get 20 guys ready and have them all on the same page. If you can't get every guy ready every night, you're going to struggle.
anticipate basically calling consider couple help honest loan moving offered players point seriously time
I basically told him he's been a big part of our team, and we're not going to just give him away; we're not going to loan him to any team. I was honest with him. If we were offered a couple of really good, young players that would help us for a long time we'd have to seriously consider it . . . . But we're not phoning people, we're not calling teams. At this point in time, I don't anticipate moving Curtis.
agreement alarming april august coming couple deal decided few happy hockey hope looking months next people played players scared sort three time weeks year
If this is not decided in the next few days, I'm scared we could be looking at a year, a year and a half, two years, not just three months like a lot of people thought in September. From April to October, the players don't get paid, so I can't see us coming to an agreement in August or September. If we don't find a way to make everyone who is part of this sort of happy and get a deal done, we could be looking at a long, long time before hockey is played in the NHL and that's very alarming too. I hope in the next couple of weeks we can come to an agreement.
canada elite expect february great invite move player team time training year
But you know it's time to move forward. We will invite him to our training camp. He's an elite player and I expect him to have a great year and be part of Team Canada come February in Italy.
chapter easy forward players wait work
It's not going to be easy every day, but I'm going to work hard, and our players are going to work hard, ... I look forward to this as a new chapter in my life, and I can't wait to get started.
city game good great hockey mario meant miss national pittsburgh player players replace situation tough
It's always a tough situation when a great player has to retire. He's meant so much to not only the National Hockey League, but the city of Pittsburgh and that franchise. You don't replace players like Mario Lemieux. He's a great hockey player and a good person. The game will miss him.
helmet ice son
I won't let my son go on the ice without a helmet and a visor on.
accomplish believing check excited hip hit hockey seen simple stay tonight tremendous trying within
Ballard's hit tonight was a tremendous hit. I haven't seen that in hockey in 30 years, a hip check like that. We've got to keep believing what we're trying to accomplish here and stay within ourselves, not get too emotionally excited and not get too down, simple as that.
proud
Nothing can replace the Olympics. I love the Olympics. I was so proud when I played in '98 and I was so proud when we won in 2002.
habit instinct good-and-bad
The game is played out of instinct, but everyone on the ice has habits - good and bad. So the key to the game is to exploit the bad habits of your opponent.
enjoyed factor success wanting watched
I watched him and how much he enjoyed it. His success was probably a factor on my wanting to be a coach.
fun team kids
If we're going to change the game it has to start at eight, nine and 10 years old. When we were that age we'd go to the pond or backyard rink and throw a puck on the ice and play five on five, or seven on seven. You get this creativity and this imagination that comes from within, just having fun on the pond. Now kids are so focused on team play, and the coaches are so focused on positioning. You can't change it at the NHL level.
fastest goal great record scoring start
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.
capable simple start
He just has to get off to the kind of start that he's capable of and it's as simple as that.