LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Wayne Gretzky Hockey: Team Canada
built 220 days ago
Wayne Gretzky was named the greatest player in National Hockey League history by The Hockey News in 1998. Among his accomplishments: he was the NHL's all-time leading scorer, he was named league MVP nine times and he led the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cups in five years from 1984-88. Gretzky made hockey somewhat of a Hollywood fad when he was traded to Los Angeles in 1988, and he finished his career with the New York Rangers, playing his last NHL game on 18 April 1999. Later that year he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (the usual three-year waiting period was waived in his case), and the NHL retired his jersey number, 99, permanently throughout the league. In 2000 Gretzky joined the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes as a managing partner. Five years later, in 2005, he moved behind the bench as the team's head coach.
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Wayne Gretzky was born on January 26, 1961, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, of Russian and Polish descent. His father, Walter, had hoped himself to become a hockey player but was discouraged because of his size. Wayne displayed an early interest in skating and received his first pair of skates when he was three years old. He learned to skate on the Ninth River near his grandfather's farm in Canning, Ontario, and at public rinks on weekends. But it was the rink built for him by his father behind the little house on Varadi Avenue in Brantford that received the acclaim of being the birthplace of his skating skills.
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On February 22, 2002, Wayne Gretzky made history as the architect of Canada's first gold medal in Olympic men's hockey in 50 years. It proved that three years after retirement, "The Great One's" contribution to the game and country he loves is not over.
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Wayne Gretzky (born 1961), known by hockey fans simply as "The Great One," showed great talent even in the junior leagues in Canada. He went on to become the first player to win the Hart Trophy for eight consecutive years and beat hockey legend Gordie Howe's all-time point record of 1,850.
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"When Wayne Gretzky put together the men's hockey team, he publicly stated that anything less than gold would represent his personal failure. And in the era of millionaire, spoiled athletes, he did it for nothing. That's as close to altruism as humans can get, and a sure sign of a Nation Builder."
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Wayne Gretzky is set to coach the Phoenix Coyotes, who hope the most prolific scorer in NHL history can revive a team that has not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 1987. <more>
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