The Greatest To Ever Play Ice Hockey has had many legends play the game, but remember the greatest one of all? He goes by the name Wayne Gretzky. Wayne is the guy that holds 61 records and has won 4 Stanley Cups. He is also the guy that holds many records that will most likely never be broken, like when he scored 894 goals in his NHL career. Every kid asks their parents “ what made Gretzky so good” and every parent responds saying hard work but, hard work isn't enough alone. Wayne played every shift like it was his last and did what he was best at. If any really skilled player doesn't work hard their skill won't show. So the guys that work their hardest will have lots of skill show and are the guys that turn out like Gretzky. “I wasn’t naturally gifted in terms of size and speed; everything I did in hockey I worked for.” …show more content…
Wayne Gretzky was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the WHA. When WHA and NHL merged Gretzky started off his career as an Oiler. Gretzky was drafted by a great franchise and had some great teammates to look up to, but Gretzky didn’t need to look up to anyone after he got 137 points in his rookie season. Gretzky started to break records and become the best player in the NHL very fast. In his first year pro, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, plus that’s only his rookie season. Gretzky couldn’t have been set up better because going into his second year in the NHL already has 137 points to his name is incredible. However having teammates like Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glen Anderson, Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe and last but not least the Cement Head (Dave Semenko) was great to lead him in the right path. Especially for his first couple years
Anxious to turn professional, but unable to join the NHL because of its age restrictions, Gretzky signed with the Indianapolis Racers of the developing World Hockey Association in the fall of 1978 (“Wayne Gretzky Biography”). Not long after Gretzky arrived the franchise closed its doors and sold its young asset to the NHL's Edmonton Oilers. “In the fall of 1979, Gretzky embarked on his first full NHL season As he had at every other level, he quickly started to dominate the competition, racking up an astonishing 51 goals and 86 assists, on his way to winning the league's Hart Memorial Trophy, an award recognizing its most valuable player,” (“Wayne Gretzky Biography”). It was the first time in history a first-year player had ever been honored with the award. Gretzky went on to win the Hart Memorial Trophy nine more times over the span of his career. To this day, he still holds the record for the most times that specific award has been given to an individual (Getz). Wayne Gretzky was a leader, and although his character as a person cannot be measured by mere statistics, he sure has some outstanding
Some hockey enthusiasts say that Patrick Kane “is an elite hockey player, but more importantly a true winner” (“Patrick Kane Quotes”). People can take that in differently some think he can be a true winner because of his performance on ice. However, it could also mean how he could have a true heart to those fans out there who do not have the money to see him play in the United Center or that they are too sick to watch it for that matter, which makes him the true winner. Kaner is able to be a role model for these kids whether he is scoring goals for the Hawks or by spending time his time in charity events. Patrick Kane is able to make a living by playing the sport he loves and to spread that love to others out there whether he is on or off the
When talking about hockey greatness of recent past, two names usually come up Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Their greatness was validated with inductions into the National League Hall of Fame where only the elite of the hockey world is considered. They did share some similarities; however it is some of the differences that made them each great in their own way.
Saul Indian Horse is an Ojibway child who grew up in a land which offered little contact with anyone belonging to a different kind of society until he was forced to attend a residential school in which children were being stripped away of their culture with the scope of assimilating them into a more “civilized” community. Saul’s childhood in the school, greatly pervaded by psychological abuse and emotional oppression, was positively upset once one of the priests, Father Leboutillier, introduced him to the world of hockey, which soon become his sole means of inclusion and identification, mental well-being and acknowledged self-worth in his life. It is though universally acknowledged how, for every medal, there are always two inevitably opposite
Richard Kuklinski was a convicted hitman who worked has claimed to have killed at least 200 people over the course of his life. The theory that best describes Kuklinski and his personality is the psychodynamic theory. The psychodynamic theory states that people are affected by their early childhood experiences. Sigmund Freud best described the psychodynamic theory by talking about the 3 parts to a personality; The Id, the ego, and the superego. (Siegel 119). Those combined shape our behavior as humans in a conscious and subconscious way. The Id, is our initial primitive desire for things like food, sex, and love. Those are things we naturally subconsciously and consciously want. Then the ego comes in and takes what we want, then finds a
In an article titled, "This "Miracle on Ice" is considered to be the single most incredible moment in all of U.S. sports history. When coach Herb Brooks was made the team's coach, he spent a lot of time reviewing and searching for the right people for the team. Seeing as Brooks was the last man cut from the 1960 U.S. Olympic team, He wanted to do everything he could to win gold for his country. Once try outs started Brooks knew who he wanted on his team after one day. All of the players trying out were in college. The United States and Herb Brooks had picked their Olympic team after the first day of a week of try outs. After picking the team Herb had trained and prepared the team for the Olympics for over a year and a half. He had to prepare them for to face the Soviets. Brooks knew there was no matching them in speed, so he emphasized working on speed, conditioning, and discipline. Doing this my not make them as fast of the
game. There is a growing ambition among parents for their child to succeed in hockey
When you train hard enough you can master or finesse a skill, therefore several people don't require training. Specific people are born with genetic enhancements that assist them with the skill and grants them an upper hand. David Epstein believes that genetics assist with the activity and does all of the work(Epstein,7). Malcom Gladwell believes that training pays off, moreover that if you train hard for plenty of hours you could surpass a prodigy(Gladwell,11). In Gladwell's writing Outliers, he talks about facts on how if you train for 10k hours you can master a skill. In Epstein's writing Sports Gene it revolves around a boy that was born with a genetic enhancement that doesn't train nevertheless is almost a pro without any training at
Within his book he uses results from a study that surveyed a group of violinist from a music schools. The study concluded that the violinist who practiced for 10,000 hours or more would play professionally, and the violinist who only had 5,000 hours of practice would become school music teachers. Malcolm Gladwell also uses hockey players as a source of evidence stating that the younger they start playing with the all-star teams the more practices they will gain adding up to the minimum of 10,000 hours that they need to become successful and play in professional level. To sum up his claim of 10,000 hours he states “And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder,” (39) meaning that those who are at the highest point of success are there because they have practiced harder to get there than anyone else around them. However looking back to what Sonia Alleyne wrote about Frans Johnson’s book, areas such as music and sports are areas where rules never change. Thus deliberate practice and reaching the magical number of 10,000 hours would make a violinist or hockey player successful. Along with the result of David Z. Hambrick’s study even if 10,000 hours of deliberate practice is the ideal goal of individuals trying to reach the highest point of success, consideration must be taken that there are some individuals who have innate talent and skill with the ability to reach this point of success requiring less deliberate
John Wayne Gacy, an American serial killer also known as the “Killer Clown” was a rapist who sexually assaulted, abused, and murdered young men and children. John Wayne Gacy was not interested in women what so ever. John Wayne Gacy murdered about thirty-three young teenage boys and young men from the year of 1972 to 1978 where he lived in Chicago, Illinois.
Being great at a particular sport, such as baseball, is actually quite simple. It takes a mix of talent and even more hard work. I have seen a very large number of athletes come through this high school with all the talent in the world, but had no work ethic. Talent is only a fraction of what is needed to be great.
Hank Aaron was a famous baseball player who was respectful to his teammates and his fans. His nickname was “Hammerin’ Hank”. At one time he led the league in the most home runs. He was born in a poor family and then grew up to be a great professional baseball player. He became one of the most admired baseball players in Major League history.
To become successful you need to earn and work for it. According to Malcolm Gladwell the book outliers “Canadian hockey is a meritocracy… You can’t buy your way into Major Junior A hockey. It doesn’t matter who your father or mother is, or who your grandfather was, or what business your family is in. Nor does it matter if your live in the most remote corner in Canada. If you have ability, the vast network of hockey scouts and talent spotters will find you, and if you are willing to work to develop that ability, the system will reward you. Success in hockey is based on individual merit—and both of those words are important. Players are judged on their own performance… and on the basis of their ability…” He emphasizes that to get to success you need to work for things. If amateurs accumulate to not work for things then they will never be successful
Hundreds of people knew about Wayne Gretzky as he was growing up. He was born January 26, 1961, in Brantford, Ontario. His family included his mom, Phyllis, his dad, Walter, and his brothers and sisters: Kim, Keith, Glen, and Brent. As a child, he was a great hockey player that was the frosting on the cupcake. In other words, he was on the top of leaderboards. Most kids and parents called him “Hot Dog” because he wore white gloves. As a teen, he had a national article written about him and Canadian television had a 30 minute show all about him. He didn’t go to college. Instead, he went immediately into Ameatur Hockey League(AHL). As Wayne Gretzky was
Youth Hockey Growth in the United States is the main focus of this research. The sport of hockey has been around for nearly 200 years. The game was produced from a form of stick and ball games started by immigrants. These immigrants were British soldiers who brought their type of hockey to Canada. Paintings from the 1830’s depict the sport of ice-hockey taking off in Canada.(Garth, Vaughan) As the sport grew so did the age groups in which it was played. Many sports start their growth from the elders down to the youth. The same can be said for ice-hockey. Many gentlemen started to play the sport as a way to pass the time. This is when the children began to take a liking to the sport. Fathers began to teach their children the fundamentals and from there, the rest is history.