Wayne Gretzky By People example essay topic

Wayne Gretzky was a great hockey player, there is no question about that, but was he the greatest? He was a good hockey player since his earlier years of life. He started out fast in the National Hockey League. Through his career he has had many awards and accomplishments. Wayne, was he the greatest?

Wayne Gretzky was born January 26, 1961, in Brantford, Ontario. He started playing hockey as a small child. His dad made him an ice rink by flooding the back yard and he taught and encouraged him to play. At ten years old Wayne scored 378 goals in his 85 game season with his local team. To show some idea how good that is, the next highest goal scorer that year scored 140 goals. Wayne wore the number nine which was his idol Gordie Howe's number.

He was always playing against people who were bigger and stronger than him. Even when he played in the National Hockey League, he was only about 175 pounds, which is small for an NHL player. Wayne Gretzky only played two years of junior hockey. At the age of seventeen, he was signed to a million dollar contract with the Edmonton Oilers team.

As a rookie he scored fifty- one goals and had eighty- six assists for 137 points. This tied him in points with the scoring leader that year. Wayne Gretzky played for nine years with the Edmonton Oilers, seven and a half years with the Los Angeles Kings, one half year with the St. Louis Blues, and then finished his career with the New York Rangers, playing with many of his former Oiler buddies. He had a very long and successful career due to his many talents which include instinct, knowing where everyone is on the ice, graceful skating, and precise passing. It is easy to find proof that Wayne Gretzky is the greatest when a person looks at the facts.

Wayne holds many NHL records, sixty one in all. His records include most goals (894), most goals in a single season (92), most assists (1,962), and most points (2,856). He has won all of the most important awards in hockey, including nine Hart trophies (league MVP), five Lester B Pearson awards (player's choice MVP), two Conn Smythe trophies (play-off MVP), four Lady Byng trophies (most sportsman-like player), and ten Art Ross trophies (scoring title). Wayne Gretzky also led the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cup championships, and led the Los Angeles Kings to the Stanley Cup finals. Here are a few things that have been said about Wayne Gretzky by people who know and love the game of hockey. The great hockey player Gordie Howe, said, "He's one of the few players who knows where all twelve men are on the ice and what they " re going to do".

Glen Sather, Wayne's coach for ten years, said, "How great is Gretzky? There aren't enough adjectives. Just look at his records and longevity". Lou Na une, longtime General Manager, said of Wayne Gretzky, "He's made the record book obsolete. His only point of reference is himself". There are other great players like Mario Lemeiux, Gordie Howe, and Brett Hull, to name a few, and each may have a single skill that is better than Wayne Gretzky's, but none of them has his overall talent and effectiveness on the ice.

Some people love the game of hockey like me, and other people don't know much about it, but almost anyone a person meets knows the name Wayne Gretzky. He holds more records, has won more awards, and has done more for the game of hockey than any other player in history. Wayne Gretzky retired on April 18, 1999, the greatest player to ever play the game of hockey.