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When you start running or playing football professionally, you don’t know for sure how it will end. Some sportsmen have moderate results, others win competitions and inspire game developers to create games for Play Amo. And these 4 hockey players are definitely from the second category.
Wayne Gretzky
Gretzky’s biography is best known as the story of a National Hockey League (NHL) legend, as well as a nine-time Most Valuable Player honoree.
Wayne was named the greatest NHL player by The Hockey News in 1998. Gretzky’s main accomplishments are being the first most points player in the NHL and nine-time Most Valuable Player. For five years from 1984 to 1988 Wayne led his team, the Edmonton Oilers, to a Stanley Cup title.
In 1988, he went to Los Angeles where he became a member of the New York Rangers. Wayne played with that team for the rest of his career.
The last game in Wayne Gretzky’s biography was on April 18, 1999.
He was elected to the National Hockey Hall of Fame. The NHL removed his number 99 from the league for a long time.
In 2000, Gretzky became one of the managers of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. in 2005, he became the team’s head coach. His first year as coach was rough. The team lost the season, Wayne’s mother and grandmother died, and there was a gambling scandal that involved the team’s second coach.
Bobby Orr
He has been called the best defender in history. His excellent skating, stickhandling, speed, and quick decision making made him a true NHL legend.
He is still the only defenseman to ever be the top scorer of the season. He owns many records in his line of work, has won 8 Norris Trophies and at 31 became the youngest member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
It was Orr who became the first hockey player to hire a lawyer to sign a contract – thus beginning the institution of hockey agents. The contract with Boston was signed in an airplane owned by the club’s manager, Hap Emms.
The hockey player was owed $50,000 for his first two seasons, and on top of that, a $25,000 signing bonus. Nowadays this money seems insignificant, but it made a huge difference in the NHL’s financial situation.
Gordie Howe
When Gordie was nine years old, his family moved to Saskatoon, the largest city in the province. He began his hockey training with the King George kids’ team, with Howe starting as a goalie. However, soon on the advice of coach Bobby Trickey, he moved first to defense, and then to offense.
In 1946, Gordie Howe made his NHL debut. Detroit took on Toronto and Howe scored his first goal. In his first years, however, Gordie was not particularly prolific. Young Howe was not well liked, he played rough, often elbowing and often fighting.
In 1950, Howe’s life was almost cut short. At the cost of a serious injury he stopped Tim Kennedy, a Toronto player. Howe’s collision with his opponent and the board was so serious that only through the incredible efforts of the famous neurosurgeon Frederick Scheiber did Gordy manage to save his life.
The hockey player had his skull cracked, and he mumbled apologies to the club’s manager, as he believed he could have played better that night. You’d think that would make you fear professional sports. But Howe was back on the ice the following season.
Mario Lemieux
The talented Canadian hockey player Mario Lemieux is known to fans of the sport. Throughout his career, he has shown incredible results, both playing for junior teams and later, playing for the American club Pittsburgh Penguins and the Canadian national team. The perennial captain, who played at No. 66, managed to leave his name in hockey history.
Parents gave their son to the hockey section early, already at the age of 7 he played for the Ville-Emard Hurricanes. Then the guy won the title of Montreal champion, as he quietly scored 5-6 goals per game. At 14 the athlete began to be predicted to have a great future in the NHL.
Professional career of the Canadian began in the team of the Main Junior Hockey League of Quebec. Three seasons passed for him with a staggering 247 goals and 315 assists.
The 1980s were the era of Wayne Gretzky and many worthy hockey players found themselves in his shadow. Lemieux avoided a similar fate. Thus, it was Mario who became the best sniper and author of the “golden goal” of the 1987 Canada Cup, as if he hinted that he intended to take away the title of top scorer in the NHL from Wayne.