|
NEWSMAKER: MARIO LEMIEUX Lemieux leaves with a heavy heart
CBC Sports Online | Jan. 24, 2006
Mario Lemieux retires with 1,723 points
in 915 games. (Getty Images) |
Mario Lemieux is leaving the game he loves once
again. This time with a broken heart.
Plagued by a troublesome cardiac illness that prevents him from playing
at the breathtaking level he was accustomed to, Lemieux called an
end to his second coming Tuesday.
"This is it," said a sombre Lemieux, who also briefly retired in 1997
only to return midway through the 2000 season.
"It hurts."
Lemieux's "hurts" have often been as big a story as his scoring prowess.
The Pittsburgh Penguins superstar has had to battle through numerous
injuries during his Hall-of-Fame career, including a chronically bad
back, sore hips and cancer.
This time, it was Lemieux's heart that failed him.
Lemieux's career was finally derailed by an atrial fibrillation, a
fluttering in his heart that causes his pulse to dramatically speed
up at times.
The illness wasn't expected to be career-threatening, but when doctors
had little success treating the condition with medication, Lemieux
came to the conclusion it was time to retire.
"Even to this day I'm not feeling 100 per cent," said Lemieux, who
is considering surgery to correct the ailment.
"That was the
most frustrating thing for me."
Unmatched in his glory years
During his prime, Lemieux boasted a combination of physical skills
unmatched in the history of the NHL.
His effortless stride, exceptional hands and extraordinary reach made
him the best one-on-one player ever.
Like a maestro, he artfully dictated the tempo of the world's fastest
game.
While Wayne Gretzky seemed to be two steps ahead of everyone else,
and Bobby Orr played as if he had the puck on a string, Lemieux's
skill was an uncanny ability to create the illusion he was working
outside hockey's space-time continuum.
He could humiliate defenders with dazzling moves or hypnotize them
by not moving at all.
For a big man he was elusive. Like a shark, Lemieux would cruise unmolested,
legs barely pumping, down a wing or through the slot. Opponents waited
in fear for him to strike.
Once in perfect position, his lightning-quick hands would reward an
open linemate with a feathered pass. Or he'd snap a laser shot past
a surprised goalie, one who'd likely been the victim of Lemieux's
magnificence dozens of times.
"I knew when he was up for his next shift," said former NHL netminder
and current TSN hockey analyst Glenn Healey, who played against Lemieux.
"I didn't even care who was on the ice before him. It was 'when's
he getting out?'
"The game went at his pace and it was scary to play against him because you knew that at any time when he wanted he could beat you."
Lemieux leaves the game the NHL's seventh leading all-time scorer
with 690 goals and 1,033 assists.
Staggering statistics to be sure, but even more impressive considering
Lemieux achieved those lofty numbers in a mere 915 career games.
Injuries take a toll
Hockey fans often wonder what the numbers would look like if Lemieux's
brilliance wasn't consistently muted by injury.
"I think the thing that sticks out for me is just the adversity he's
faced throughout his career, on and off the ice and how he came through
it," said phenom Sidney Crosby, Lemieux's heir apparent in Pittsburgh.
"I think it's a lesson that everyone can take."
In addition to the recent heart ailment, Lemieux has had to deal with
two major hip problems since his return. The injuries cost him most
of the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons.
"In my mind the most talented player I've ever seen," said Orr. "If it were not for health problems, God only knows what his numbers would have been."
But the injury didn't stop Lemieux from leading Canada to Olympic
gold at the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002.
It wasn't the first, or the last, time Lemieux would carry Canada
to international glory.
The goal heard round the world
In 2004, he captained Team Canada to victory in the inaugural World
Cup, but his biggest moment on the international stage came during
the 1987 Canada Cup.
Lemieux, only 22 years old at the time, played the role of sniper
on a line centred by Gretzky. The result was magical.
Lemieux led the tournament with 11 goals, none more dramatic than
his last.
Most Canadians can vividly recall Lemieux taking a pass from Gretzky
and firing the Cup-winning goal past the Soviet netminder.
The goal would be called one of the greatest in Canadian history,
just a notch below Paul Henderson's Summit Series winner in 1972.
And it would prove to be a seminal moment in Lemieux's career. Before
that tournament, Lemieux was good, some would say, but not truly great.
According to critics, the pre-Canada Cup Lemieux would float and was
prone to taking shifts off. His half-pack-a-day cigarette habit led
others to question whether Lemieux's heart and dedication would ever
match his immense talent.
The season after the Canada Cup victory, he won the Hart Trophy as
NHL's most valuable player and the Art Ross Trophy as the league's
leading scorer, bringing to an end Gretzky's seven-year streak of
winning both.
Lemieux would go on to win two more MVP awards and five more scoring
titles.
He was also a dominating playoff performer. Lemieux appeared in 107 post-season games, scoring 76 goals and 96 assists, leading the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1990-91 and 1991-92.
Those accolades and achievements paved the way for his induction into
the Hockey Hall of Fame in the fall of 1997.
Lofty heights from humble beginnings
Born on Oct. 5, 1965 in the Montreal suburb of Ville Emard, Lemieux
was skating by the age of two and playing organized hockey at six.
At age 16 Lemieux decided he wanted to focus all his attention on
the game and dropped out of high school in Grade 10.
His dedication to the game paid off.
In his final season of junior hockey with the Laval Voisins, Lemieux
scored 133 goals and registered 282 points, 11 of them coming in his
last game. He was taken with the first pick in 1984 NHL entry draft.
Lemieux debuted in storybook fashion, scoring his first NHL goal on his first shift with his first shot -- a backhand against Pete Peeters of the Boston Bruins on Oct. 11.
Once word spread of his exploits, attendance at Penguins games rose 46 per cent.
Said current New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather at the time: "Without Lemieux, they pack up the team and move to another city."
66 versus 99
Lemieux began wearing No. 66 during his early junior days.
Whether he flipped Gretzky's number on its head as an homage or in
defiance is unclear. But it would set in motion a career's worth of
comparisons that Lemieux would spend much of his time discouraging.
Early in his career, Lemieux, unlike Gretzky, was reluctant to promote
the game. In fact, he seemed to do his best to undermine it.
At times he was difficult with the media. When he did speak, more
often that not it was to complain about the quality of play.
One of the reasons for Lemieux's retirement in 1997 was the rampant
hooking and obstruction so prevalent at the time.
He even went so far as to call the NHL, "a garage league."
Things were different the second time around.
The time off rekindled Lemieux's love affair with hockey. When he
returned he wasn't so sullen and distant. Instead, he seemed to embrace
his role of superstar ambassador.
He also returned as an owner. In 1999, Lemieux assembled the group
that saved the Penguins from bankruptcy. Lemieux as he'd done 15 years
earlier as a rookie again rescued the dying franchise.
The new-look NHL and its accompanying salary cap was supposed to give
new life to his Penguins. With a revamped lineup full of veterans
and capped by Crosby, many pundits picked the team to go far in the
playoffs.
Lemieux himself said the Penguins were among the five or six teams that had a "real good chance" to win the Stanley Cup.
But instead of thriving, the Pengins are floundering in the standings. And, despite Lemieux's
best efforts, the hockey team doesn't have the new arena it needs
to turn a profit. Many say it's only a matter of time before the Penguins
leave town.
Lemieux doesn't want any part of it, and it would seem he'd rather
sell the team than be known as the owner who relocates the team from
Pittsburgh. He put the team up for sale earlier this month.
"I have so many great memories," said Lemieux. "I want to thank the
fans in Pittsburgh.
"It's been an unbelievable ride."
|
|
|
Stanley Cup
1990-91, 1991-92
Hart Trophy
(NHL MVP)
1988, 1993, 1996
Pearson Award
(NHLPA MVP)
1986, 1988, 1993, 1996
Art Ross Trophy
(Scoring leader)
1988-89, 1992-93, 1996-97
Conn Smythe Trophy
(Playoff MVP)
1990-91, 1991-92
Calder Trophy
(Top rookie)
1985
Bill Masterton Trophy
(For Perseverance)
1993
All-Star Games
1985-86; 1988-90; 1992; 1996-97; 2001-02
All-Star Game MVP
1985, 1988, 1990
Olympic Medals
Gold - 2002, Salt Lake City
"How many more points would he have had if he stayed reasonably healthy? 400? 500? 600? We'll never know. No disrespect to Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Mark Messier, Bobby Orr, Gilbert Perreault ... but Mario did things nobody else could ever do."
- Bryan Trottier, Hall of Famer and a former Lemieux teammate
More reaction
|