My Tribute To Wayne Gretzky
He played with the likes,
Of Messier and Fuhr.
He was the greatest player,
Of that I'm sure.
He played his 1st year,
In the NHL,
A scrawny little kid,
Tiny as hell.
But points he did score,
Game after game.
From that day on,
Hockey was never the same.
He brought in 4 cups,
To the Oilers home.
Then he sat high,
On the Kings throne.
Next with the Blues,
Where he didn't stay long.
The to New York,
Where he did no wrong.
62 NHL records,
At the tip of his stick.
So successful,
He made some sick.
He didn't have size or strength,
But driven by love and dreams,
He took over the hockey world,
At the least it seems.
But on April 18th 1999,
He wore his jersey for the final
time.
He skated round with tears in his
eyes,
And in disbelief, I began to cry....
Cindy, April 19th 1999
I grew up watching a cartoon called,
something like, "Pro All-stars". This cartoon had three main
characters by the names of Bo Jackson,
Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky. I don't remember it much, but that
is how I 1st learned about The Great One. I never really watched
him play often, mostly just when his team would come play against the Leafs,
but I thought he was incredible, and not like some players, he had class!
He was easy to respect and he was fun to watch. I missed most of
his final game, but I had watched him play his final game in Canada as
The Rangers took on the Ottawa Senators. I will never forget watching
him skate around the ice as he got a standing ovation from the appreciative
crowd. I just sat there on my desk chair in my room, and the next
thing I knew I felt a big lump in my throat and my eyes welled up with
tears. My favorite thing about Wayne was that he had a genuine love
for the game, which I was able to see perfectly that night. I will
never forget the look on his face. And I will definitely never forget
him!
Canada's Wayne Gretzky
shares a light moment with teammates Theoren Fleury (one of my all-time
fave players) and Trevor Linden during a practice in Nagano, 1998 Olympics.
-- Paul Chiasson, CP
