Over the course of the 1944-1945 NHL season, Maurice "Rocket" Richard of the Montreal Canadiens made history, becoming the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals. Even more impressive, was that he scored his 50th in the 50th and final game of the season, which created the bench mark “50 goals in 50 games.” Richard’s record of 50 goals stood for 16 years before being broken by Bobby Hull, who managed to score 54. However, due to the NHL increasing the length of the season, Hull had 70 games to do what Richard did and thus did not complete the “50 goals in 50 games” achievement.
Many hockey purists thought that no one would ever be able to match Richard’s stellar season, but 36 years later in 1981 the New York Islanders sharp shooting Mike Bossy duplicated the feat, scoring two goals in the final five minutes of the 50th game of the season to become the second player ever to score 50 goals in 50 games. He finished the season with 68 goals. Most hockey fans couldn’t believe Bossy’s achievement, and were sure the feat wouldn’t be matched for the longest time. And the fans couldn’t have been more wrong.
In his first two seasons in the NHL, Wayne Gretzky won the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the league’s most valuable player twice, and the Art Ross Trophy, awarded to the league’s leading goal scorer once. In his first season he became the youngest player to score 50 goals. In his second season he broke the NHL record for most points and assists in a season. But during the 1981-1982 season, just one year after Mike Bossy did the unthinkable, Gretzky took it to a whole other level, and set out on a path to transcend not only hockey, but sports and society as we know it.
Gretzky didn’t need 50 games to score 50 goals. In...
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...nds Coliseum, and the freeway that leads to the Coliseum is aptly named Wayne Gretzky Drive. Likewise, he has another life-size statue of himself outside of the Staples Center in Los Angeles where he played for the Kings.
Gretzky is a key figure in Canadian culture. He changed the way the entire world looks at hockey and was Canada’s hero even when he played for a United States based hockey team. He helped propel the sport to international heights it had never seen before, and has been part of so many iconic plays throughout the history of the sport, that other than the Miracle on Ice, he is a part of almost every historical event in the history of hockey. Gretzky transcends hockey, he transcends Canada, and even today is involved with hockey as he is an overseer of the Canadian National Team that just recently won a Gold Medal at the latest Olympics in Vancouver.
Wayne Gretzky played 1487 games scored 894 goals and assisted on 1963 goals for a total of 2857 points. Lemieux played 915 games scored 690 goals and assisted on 1033 goals for a total of 1723 points. These numbers are elite and some of the best all time in hockey. Although the total numbers may seem to favor Gretzky when points are divided by games played, the average points per game played are similar. Lemieux with 1.88 and Gretzky at 1.92 average points per a game played. A point per game for current players is considered elite. Gretzky had a relatively healthy career missing far fewer games, while Lemieux battled back injuries, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and eventually retired due to an irregular heartbeat. Had Lemieux been healthier and played more games the points per game shows he may have had similar total numbers to Gretzky. The style of power forward Lemieux played could have contributed to the back injury causing him to miss additional time. Yet still amazing numbers for a shortened career beset by injuries and illness. Considering where each player played during their career could affect how greatness is
in games against other teams his age. The team he played on was called the
Gretzky was a very hard worker on the ice even though his skill was superior to most players. His hard work and leadership earned him many trophies and records starting with his rookie season. He managed to score 51 goals in one season which put him in the records as the youngest player, 19 years old, to score 50 goals in one single season. He also started his streak of winning eight straight Hart Trophies after the 1979-1980 season. Some players may have been satisfied with winning awards and trophies, but Wayne became even more hungry for success.
The most memorable moment in hockey history came thirty-four years ago with the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The Americans defeating the dominant Soviet team at the Olympics was not only an important triumph for USA Hockey, but for the entire nation. Contrary to popular belief, the underdog win was not only the result of a miracle; it was also the result of a hard-working team led by Coach Herb Brooks. With increasingly negative views on the position of the United States in the Cold War, the Miracle on Ice and the gold medal win lifted the spirits of the nation and brought hockey into the American spotlight.
One minute and fifteen seconds into the second overtime. Game seven. Scoreless. The puck is grabbed by the Red Wings left defenseman, he feeds it over across the ice. Gretzky stabs at it deflects it wide. Steve Yzerman grabs it, he skates past the Blues right-winger. He brings it past the the Blues’ blue line and Winds up for a slap shot. He fires. It is a laser beam of a shot. The puck flies in the top right corner of the net, bar down. John Casey has no time to react. The Red Wings have won. Steve Yzerman is the hero. Perhaps one of his most famous goals in his career, Steve Yzerman lead the struggling Red Wings to success. The longest serving captain in the NHL, “Stevie Y” earned his way to the top with his work ethic and leadership. The game of hockey was changed forever by the imprint that Steve Yzerman left on the game. He used his determination, love of the game, and natural leadership to impact hockey for the better.
One of the few great hockey stars of the generation of the late 1940’s is Bobby Orr. He was the youngest player to ever be elected into the hockey hall of fame which was at age 31 in 1959. Bobby Orr was a skilled player that was considered a magician on the ice. ("Orr, Bobby.") Bobby was a major attraction and he brought many people to ice arenas across North America, and when he was playing in a game their arena was usually a sell out to see Orr do his magic. ("Orr, Bobby.") He considered by many hockey players and fans one of the best defenseman to ever lace up a pair of skates. A great hockey player and human being, whose rise to the NHL, throughout his career and in his person life that followed was an impact to the community is Bobby Orr.
...ng him because of his contributions to ice hockey, and because he isn’t arrogant. A lot of hockey players will boast about how amazing they are at their sport, but Bobby doesn’t boast about his playing. In fact, when the idea of writing an autobiography was suggest by his friend, he said, “Who would care about me?” I think he would’ve made a good friend since he is good sports and could help me improve my sports skills. In addition, it would be interesting to have a famous person as a friend. I also would like to know how it is like to play professional sports, and the fame in Boston. It would be really cool to join Bobby Orr golfing and meet famous people like Arnold Palmer and George H. W. Bush. I think a biography should’ve been written about him because he has received the Order of Canada and a lot of other awards, and helped the Bruins win the Stanley Cup twice.
During the winning streak, the team showed why they are one of the best teams in the NHL dominating every team that they have faced in the month of December winning every game in that month only to have the streak broken by the Washington Capitals on January
It’s February 24th 1982 and you are standing in the stadium watching the Edmonton Oilers take on the Buffalo Sabers. The score is 5-3 for Edmonton. Player number 99 has control of the puck and is headed straight for the opposing teams net. Everybody in the stands is on the edge of their seat because they know what is going to happen next. Then everyone goes wild. “AND HE SCORES”. Wayne Gretzky has just beat the all-time record for goals scored in a single season (77), previously held by Phil Esposito (76) (The Great One 1). Gretzky has done it again, he has amazed everyone in the hockey world with his amazing abilities.
Mario Lemieux, a first overall pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1984 when the Pittsburgh Penguins were last in the NHL. Automatically, Lemieux was put on the worst NHL team. Hockey is a team sport and as it evolves as a sport, teamwork and the quality of players you play with, affects your performance. Hockey is now, more defensive in comparison to the offensive hockey in the 80s, Gretzky played in. Gretzky did not play in this Generation however, Lemieux did. With all these changes to the defensive aspects of the game, Lemieux still manages to be a point-per-game player from the 2000 - 2003 season when he actually scores more points than games played. While, Gretzky did have a point a per game average, he never did this in the
Answer to the Trivia: C: Al MacInnis. The Cape Bretoner from Port Hood tallied 103 points (28 goals, 75 assists) in 1990-91 for the Calgary Flames. The three others and their best point totals during the 1990s: Leetch (102 in ‘91-92); Bourque (94 in ‘90-91) and Housley (97 in
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
Miracle is a 2004 American sports movie based on real events about the United States national men’s hockey team, which are led by the Coach Herb Brooks portrayed by Kurt Russell. The United States team is formed by players of college hockey, and they are huge underdogs going into the run for the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics. They are against the Soviets who are considered the best team in the world having won consecutively the gold medal for the last four editions of the Winter Olympics. Plus, the Games are set during the Cold War; which makes their confrontation even more important. The movie starts when Herb gets interviewed by the United States Olympic Committee, and after some uncertainty he gets the job. He watches the players
I improved my love for the game from that specific moment because that was a moment of great success, and since I had a great deal of opulence, I knew I had to keep going with the sport. Having that amount of prosperity definitely created a period of personal growth in me because I knew if I wanted more success I need to continue to work hard and push towards my goals. This specific event also made me realize that if I can score six points in a game; hopefully I can play hockey in the future- perhaps college? At any level of hockey it is extremely hard to score six points, so since I did that, I realized hockey could possibly be a part of my life in the future. This stimulated a period of growth inside me greatly because it instilled hope and drive in me to either play hockey in college or professional; which indeed is my overall goal with
Throughout my years of playing field hockey during the summer, none were as memorable as my senior season. Although many reasons to say this, some of the major ones include the many and difficult running tests, the Wyomissing game, and playing in my position of outside defensive back. Memorable can be defined as worth remembering or easily remembered. Because of this, not all the previously stated topics are positive moments in my life. All of the previously stated contributed to the memorable senior season.