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
Every game is a stepping stone to getting to the final game. We had a really good first period and all of a sudden the tide turned.
There's going to be a lot of good unrestricted free-agent defensemen (available) this summer. We're in the game for those guys now. We have the opportunity to bring in some impact players.
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 know that this country wants gold and nothing else is good enough. That's the expectation for Canada when it comes to hockey and we know that. We aren't kidding ourselves. We know we have to win the gold. We don't have anything else on our minds.
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.
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.
We looked at the tape and the referee made a good call.
By no means am I Scotty Bowman, but I know the game, I love the game, I have a really good staff and we have a really good team. It's exciting. I haven't felt this way since I was 17.
I'm really excited about the team we've put together in the last 12 months, ... We've added speed, skill and character, and I really believe we're going to be a good team.
I'm thrilled to be back in the hot seat, ... This is what I love, what I know, and I felt I was the best person to coach this team. We finally feel like we've got a pretty good hockey club, and I wanted to be part of it, simple as that.
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.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.
The sad thing about this whole scenario is that Rick is a wonderful person and a great guy, so I hope everything works out in his favor. It's hard because I love the guy. He's a great guy, you know. I just hope it all works out for him.
Blake takes a nice shot, and I think that changed the momentum of the hockey game. We just couldn't find our way back into it.