MARIO LEMIEUX

Tim OShei

Chelsea House Publishers

Philadelphia

MARIOLEMIEUX

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Introduction by James Scott Brady,Trustee, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence

Vice Chairman, the Brain Injury Foundation

CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERSEDITOR IN CHIEF Sally CheneyDIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Kim ShinnersPRODUCTION MANAGER Pamela LoosART DIRECTOR Sara DavisPRODUCTION EDITOR Diann Grasse

Staff for Mario LemieuxSENIOR EDITOR John ZiffASSISTANT EDITOR Rob QuinnLAYOUT 21st Century Publishing and Communications, Inc.

2002 by Chelsea House Publishers, a subsidiary of Haights Cross Communications. All rights reserved. Printed and bound in the United States of America.

First Printing

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

The Chelsea House World Wide Web address is

http://www.chelseahouse.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

OShei, TimMario Lemieux / by Tim OShei

p. cm (Overcoming adversity)Includes bibliographical references and index.Summary: Describes the life and hockey career of Mario Lemieux,Pittsburgh Penguins star.ISBN 0-7910-6307-0 (alk. paper)

1. Lemieux, Mario, 1965- 2. Hockey playersCanadaBiographyJuvenile literature. 3. Pittsburgh Penguins (Hockey team)Juvenile literature [1. Lemieux, Mario, 1965- 2. Hockey players.] I. Title. II. Series.

GV848.5.L46 O84 2001796.962092dc21[B]

2001047726

Dedication: To Jake Eck: A courageous superstar and Hall of Famekid. Thanks for sharing your inspiring story . . . T.O.

CONTENTS

On Facing Adversity James Scott Brady 7

SIMPLY THE BEST 11

THE HALLWAY STAR 17

THE NEXT GREAT ONE 25

THE TOP PICK 33

ON THE WORLD STAGE 41

CHASING THE CUP 47

WINNING IT FOR BADGER 57

THE BIGGEST BATTLE 65

A STAR RETIRES 73

BUYING THE TEAM 81

THE MAGNIFICENT COMEBACK 87

LIVING A DREAM 95

Career Statistics 104

Chronology 105

Further Reading 107

Index 108

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

TIM ALLENcomedian/performer

MAYA ANGELOUauthor

APOLLO 13 MISSIONastronauts

LANCE ARMSTRONGprofessional cyclist

DREW BARRYMOREactress

DREW CAREYcomedian/performer

JIM CARREYcomedian/performer

BILL CLINTONU.S. president

TOM CRUISEactor

GAIL DEVERSOlympian

MICHAEL J. FOXactor

MOHANDAS K. GANDHIpolitical/spiritual leader

WHOOPI GOLDBERGcomedian/performer

EKATERINA GORDEEVAfigure skater

SCOTT HAMILTONfigure skater

JEWELsinger and poet

JAMES EARL JONESactor

QUINCY JONESmusician and producer

MARIO LEMIEUXhockey legend

ABRAHAM LINCOLNU.S. president

JOHN MCCAINpolitical leader

WILLIAM PENNPennsylvanias founder

JACKIE ROBINSONbaseball legend

ROSEANNEentertainer

MONICA SELEStennis star

SAMMY SOSAbaseball star

DAVE THOMASentrepreneur

SHANIA TWAINentertainer

ROBIN WILLIAMSperformer

BRUCE WILLISactor

STEVIE WONDERentertainer

TRIUMPH OF THE IMAGINATION:The story of writer J. K. Rowling

I GUESS ITS a long way from a Centralia, Illinois, train yard to the GeorgeWashington University Hospital Trauma Unit. My dad was a yardmas-ter for the old Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. As a child, Iused to get to sit in the engineers lap and imagine what it was like todrive that train. I guess I always have liked being in the drivers seat.

Years later, however, my interest turned from driving trains to driv-ing campaigns. In 1979, former Texas governor John Connally hiredme as a press secretary in his campaign for the American presidency.We lost the Republican primary to a former Hollywood star namedRonald Reagan. But I managed to jump over to the Reagan campaign.When Reagan was elected in 1980, I was sitting in the catbird seat, ashumorist James Thurber would saypoised to be named presidentialpress secretary. I held that title throughout the eight years of the Rea-gan administration. But not without one terrible, extended interruption.

It happened barely two months after the Reagan administration tookoffice. I never even heard the shots. On March 30, 1981, my life wentblank in an instant. In an attempt to assassinate President Reagan, JohnHinckley Jr. armed himself with a Saturday night speciala low-quality, $29 pistoland shot wildly as our presidential entourage exit-ed a Washington hotel. One of the exploding bullets struck me justabove the left eye. It shattered into a couple dozen fragments, some ofwhich penetrated my skull and entered my brain.

7

ON FACING ADVERSITYJames Scott Brady

INTRODUCTION

The next few months of my life were a nightmare of repeatedsurgery, broken contact with the outside world, and a variety of med-ical complications. More than once, I was very close to death.

The next few years were filled with frustrating struggles to functionwith a paralyzed right side, struggles to speak and communicate.

To people who face and defeat daunting obstacles, ambition is notbecoming wealthy or famous or winning elections or awards. Wordslike ambition and achievement and success take on very differ-ent meanings. The objective is just to live, to wake up every morning.The goals are not lofty; they are very ordinary.

My own heroes are ordinary folksbut they accomplish extraordi-nary things because they try. My greatest hero is my wife, Sarah. Shesaccomplished a lot of things in life, but two stand out. The first hasbeen the way she has cared for me and our son since I was shot. Atremendous tragedy and burden was dropped unexpectedly into herlife, totally beyond her control and without justification. She couldhave given up; instead, she focused her energies on preserving ourfamily and returning our lives to normal as much as possible. Week byweek, month by month, year by year, she has not reached for themiraculous, just for the normal. Yet in focusing on the normal, she hashelped accomplish the miraculous.

Her other most remarkable accomplishment, to me, has been spear-heading the effort to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and chil-dren in America. Opponents call her a gun grabber; I call her anational hero. And I am not alone.

After a seven-year battle, during which Sarah and I worked tireless-ly to educate the public about the need for stronger gun laws, the BradyBill became law in 1993. It was a victory, achieved in the face oftremendous opposition, that now benefits all Americans. From the timethe law took effect through fall 1997, background checks had stopped173,000 criminals and other high-risk purchasers from buying hand-guns, and the law has helped to reduce illegal gun trafficking.

Sarah was not pursuing fame, or even recognition. She simply start-ed at one pointwhen our son, Scott, found a loaded handgun on theseat of a pickup truck and, thinking it was a toy, pointed it at Sarah.

8

INTRODUCTION

Fortunately, no one was hurt. But seeing a gun nearly bring a secondtragedy upon our family, Sarah became determined to do whatever shecould to prevent senseless death and injury from guns.

Some people think of Sarah as a powerful political force. To me,shes the person who so many times fed me and helped me dress dur-ing my long years of recovery.

Overcoming obstacles is part of life, not just for people who arechallenged by disabilities, illnesses, or tragedies, but for all people. Nomatter what the obstaclefear, disability, prejudice, grief, or a diffi-culty that isnt likely to just go awaywe can all work to make thisworld a better place.

9

Pittsburgh Penguins owner and Hall of Fame player Mario Lemieux returns tothe ice, December 27, 2000. It was the third time he resumed his career afteran extended layoff.

11

HAT TRICK. THATS what four-year-old Austin Lemieux expectedfrom his dad. Three goals is a pretty steep order, especially for a guywho hasnt played hockey in three and a half years. Austin had neverbefore seen his father play, but he must have heard that his dad had beengood, really good. In fact, some might say he was the best in the world.

So on December 27, 2001, the first time Austin would get to see hisfather play, a hat trick is what he wanted. The pressure is on!Austins father, Mario Lemieux, said a few hours before he wouldmake history.

Some fans were referring to the game as Super Marios Return.Forty-four months earlier he had retired after playing 13 seasons andwinning two Stanley Cups and six scoring championships with thePittsburgh Penguins. His jersey number 66 had been retired, symbol-ized by a huge banner hanging from the rafters of Mellon Arena inPittsburgh. In the autumn of 1997, just a few months after he retired,Mario was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Normally a player

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SIMPLY THE BEST

is not eligible for induction until three seasons have passedsince his retirement. Indeed, Marios status as one of thebest players ever to play the game was already secure.

In fact, Penguins fans saw him as something of a saviorof their beloved franchise. With the money-troubled ownersof the Penguins threatening to move out of Pittsburgh in1999, Mario put together a deal to buy the club. Once heowned the team, he made it clear that the Penguins wouldbe staying put in the Steel City.

Just one year after becoming an owner, though, Mariowas itching to play hockey again. At age 35, with threeseasons of rest, he felt young and strong enough to do it.Plus, he had made comebacks before: one from cancer, andanother from serious back surgery. But this would be hisultimate comeback, his chance to shine one more time asthe finest player in the world.

He had been getting ready for this day for nearly twomonths. In November, Mario had begun working out. Newsof his comeback broke in early December. I will try toregain the title of best player in the world, he had toldreporters when he officially announced his intention to playthe remainder of the 20002001 season, and possibly more.

With the Pittsburgh Penguins ready to face the TorontoMaple Leafs, 17,148 people squeezed into Mellon Arena,and more than a million viewers watched on television as theenormous number 66 banner was lowered and folded. Withthe Tina Turner song Simply the Best blaring from thesound system, the real number 66 stood on the ice andwatched as the banner descended and disappeared into a box.Marios wife, Nathalie, was there with the couples threedaughters (Lauren, Stephanie, and Alexa) along with hismother and father. Austin was standing nearby in theZamboni entrance. Just before the game began, Mario skatedby and tapped his stick on the glass. Austin waved back.

Now it was time for Mario to show his son what it meantto be the best. Lemieux skated to the red line, squared upagainst the Maple Leafs center and captain, Mats Sundin,

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and hunched over for the opening face-off. As the puckwas dropped, Mario Lemieux was officially back in theNational Hockey League. A half-minute later, he wasbehind Torontos net, the puck on his stick. He threw a passto Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburghs captain and star player sinceMario had left, who shot the puck past Leafs goalie CurtisJoseph. Just 33 seconds into his comeback, Mario hadnotched an assist and helped give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.

An ear-piercing cheer rose from the crowd for that play,

Fans lined up outside the Mellon Arena for a chance to see Mario return for thePenguins in a home gameagainst Toronto. Mario is thefirst player/owner in the NHL.

but the volume would only increase later. Halfwaythrough the second period, Mario sprinted down the leftside of the ice, skated to the right circle, and yelled overto Jagr to pass him the puck. Jagr did, and Lemieux shotthe puck past Joseph. That intensified the cheering to avolume never before heard in Pittsburgh. Even many ofthe 175 reporters covering the game, usually a quiet(and much smaller) group, were excited. The fact thathe did what he did left even the most hardened of us justshaking our heads in amazement, said Jim Kelley,senior writer for FoxSports.com. I was sitting therewith a lot of people who have seen a lot of hockey, andthere wasnt one of them who didnt say, I cant believewhat Im seeing.

One of the fans who saw the game on television wasactor Christopher Reeve, who is most famous for playingSuperman in the movies of the 1970s and 1980s. LikeMario, Reeve knows all about overcoming adversity: in1995, the actor was paralyzed from the neck down after ahorse-riding injury. Also like Mario, Reeve has a son, Will,who is a hockey fanatic.

Though they are both New York Rangers fans, ChristopherReeve and his eight-year-old son Will watched Lemieuxscomeback game together. By games end, they admittedthat Mario had gotten them interested in the Penguins,too. We were overjoyed, Reeve said. As fans of thegame, to see him come out there after everything hesbeen through, and it was only a couple of months to getback in shape, it was a tremendous act of courage. Wewere thrilled to see that. So now whenever the Rangersare not playing but the Penguins are, we always tune in towatch Mario. Hes a real hero.

During his first game back, Mario went on to recordanother assist as the Penguins won, 5-0. A three-pointevening wasnt exactly the same as the three goalsAustin had hoped for, but it was enough. (In theNational Hockey League, points represent a players

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S IMPLY THE BEST 15

offensive statistics. With assists and goals being worth onepoint each, Marios game of two assists and a goal gavehim three points for his comeback game.) Everyone, fromthe players to the fans to Austin himself, was dazzled byMarios performance. After the game, Austin ran intothe dressing room, smiling wide and pointing at hisfather. I saw you, he said. I saw you!

Mario grew up in the birthplace of hockey, Montreal, Quebec. The sport is asbig a part of Canadian culture as baseball once was in the United States.

17

IF MARIO LEMIEUXS life was a mystery, if nothing was knownof his childhood, nobody could make up a story to top the real one.The actual version of Marios life is more dramatic than a Holly-wood movie.

As a child, he was a hockey phenom at the same age that he waslearning to write in cursive. He was scouted by one of the greatesthockey men in history (and, incidentally, his future Penguins coach)before he was even in high school. When Mario was too young tocross the street on his own, his mother and father built a skating rinkatop the carpet inside their home. When people hear that, they dontbelieve it. But its a true story, and face it: Who could possibly makeup something like that? Like many parts of Lemieuxs life, itsbeyond imagination. People just dont do that.

But Mario Lemieux has always done the things that others cant do.When he was born on October 5, 1965, he was already the best. In

Frenchwhich is the language Mario spoke growing up in Montreal,

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THE HALLWAY STAR

Quebecthe words le mieux mean the best. So fromthe moment he was born to Pierrette and Jean-GuyLemieux, he was Mario the Best.

The Lemieuxs house, in the suburban town of VilleEmard, was located about 10 minutes away from a skat-ing rink called the Forum in Montreal. With the arena ofthe NHLs Canadiens within walking distance, Mariowas never far from his ultimate destiny: the NationalHockey League.

Hockeys origins are actually rooted in Montreal. Thehistory of the sport traces back to 1875, when the firstorganized hockey league began play in Montreal. Sincethen, the sport has been like a religion in Canada. Every-body watches, talks about, and plays the game.

So, like most people in Canada, Jean-Guy and Pierrettewere hockey fans. Before their three sons were born, theyoften bought tickets to Canadiens games at the Forum.Jean-Guy was a construction worker; Pierrette was ahousewife who kept busy raising the three Lemieux boys.The first, Alain, was born in 1960, five years ahead ofMario. Richard was born in 1963, and Mario, theyoungest, came along a year and a half later.

Growing up, Mario was a shy boy. Except for hisfamily, he didnt have a lot of friends. While other kidsmight want to go out and play or just hang out, Mariopreferred to sit home and play video gamesunless, ofcourse, he had the chance to play hockey. All threeLemieux boys played plenty of hockey. Alain was aforward, and Richard was a defenseman. Along withMario, they got their start in skating inside their veryown house. Lots of cold, fresh snow covers the groundduring the long Canadian winters. Pierrette used thatsnow to clean the rugs inside her house. While cleaningthe rugs one day, she got an idea: Using the snow, shecould create a miniature ice rink for her three little sons!Pierrette brought in a few shovelfuls of snow anddumped it on the living room rug. She packed it down

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THE HALLWAY STAR 19

and opened up all the doors and windows to make thehouse icy cold. Pierrette and Jean-Guy strapped theirsons tiny feet into their skates and let them trudgearound the hallway and living room.

As the boys got older, they played more and more onreal ice rinks. The closest was located right across thestreet, behind St. Jean de Matha Church. Young Mariocould often be seen playing there until nine or ten oclockevery night.

Pierrette Lemieux, seen herewith her son Mario in 1997,supported the hockey aspira-tions of all three of her sons.She literally turned her carpetinto a skating surface whenthe boys were very young.

Hockey was simply a priority in the Lemieux house-hold, and nothing got in the way. One night, the boys16-year-old cousin was babysitting them. Alain, Richard,and Mario wanted to watch Hockey Night in Canada,which is broadcast every Saturday evening and is con-sidered a dont-miss program amongst fans. Their cousinchanged the channel and refused to switch it back toHockey Night. Frustrated, the boys waited for her to usethe bathroom. When she did, they locked her inside andput the game back on. They wouldnt let her out until thebroadcast was over.

When he was six, Mario started playing organizedhockey for a team called the Hurricanes. He wore jerseynumber 27, the same as Alain. Quickly, Mario realizedthat he had an extra helping of talent. As a young player,around age eight, Mario frightened a goalie right out ofthe crease! He reared back, ready to unleash a hot slapshot, but before Mario could whack the puck, the goaliescooted out of the crease. With the net wide open, Mariorelaxed and gently flipped the puck into the goal. (Later,Mario and the goalie, Carl Parker, became teammates onthe peewee Hurricanes.)

Even as a kid, Mario was blessed with an obvioustalent for seeing everything that was happening on the ice.In practice, Mario once left a drop pass for a teammatehe hadnt seen. Afterward, someone asked Mario how heknew his teammate was there. He explained, I could tellby the sound of his skates.

Playing in youth leagues while he was in elementaryschool, Mario regularly scored more than 100 goals in aseason. Word spread quickly around the province ofQuebec that a future superstar was playing for the VilleEmard Hurricanes. Crowds started gathering to seeMario. One year during a championship game, over5,000 people came to see him play.

To stop Mario, other teams would often take cheapshots at him. After games, it wasnt unusual for Mario to

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THE HALLWAY STAR 21

have a couple of black eyes and slash marks coveringhis body. But he gave out some punishment, too: some-times he would retaliate, which caused him to lose icetime in the penalty box. Once, after Mario was chargedwith several minutes in penalties during the first periodof a game, his coach sat him out for the second. With theteam down 6-1 entering the third period, Mario apolo-gized and was put back into the game. He scored sixgoals, leading his team to a 7-6 comeback win.

Mario had very high expectations for himself, andpushed himself hard. Between the ages of 10 and 14 hisyouth coach was Ron Stevenson. Like a teacher hand-ing out a punishment for poor behavior, Stevenson hadplayers do things such as write I must not take badpenalties numerous times. Seeing this, Mario decidedto discipline himself. Without his coach even tellinghim to do it, Mario made himself write I must workharder on back-checking.

When Mario was 13 years old, he was scouted by thealready-legendary coach of the Montreal Canadiens,Scotty Bowman. One day, Bowman would coach Lemieuxto a championship with the Pittsburgh Penguins. If some-body had told him that at the time, Bowman might evenhave believed it. He could tell that this kid was good.I saw him play when he was 13, Bowman told reportersyears later. I was coaching the Canadiens, and he wasplaying a peewee league in Montreal. He was the bestI ever saw at that age. . . . With Lemieux, you always knew.Even when he was 13.

Ron Stevenson knew Mario was going to be ateenage celebrity and, probably before he reached age20, an NHL star. Knowing that such stardom carrieswith it a lot of responsibility, Stevenson coachedMario in politeness and people skills. Because he wasshy, Mario didnt naturally go out of his way to smileand greet people warmly when he met them. It wasntthat Mario didnt like people; it simply wasnt in his

nature to shake hands and be talkative with those hedidnt know.

When Mario was 14 or 15, he began being comparedwith another young Canadian who was nearly fiveyears older. Wayne Gretzky, who would eventually winsix Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers in the1980s, was becoming known as hockeys greatestsuperstar ever. Most people felt Mario was just behindhim, and might one day be even better. There was one

MARIO LEMIEUX22

Wayne Gretzky raises his arms after scoring a goal onToronto goalie Paul Harrison.While still in youth leaguesMario was already being compared with the Great One.

THE HALLWAY STAR 23

differenceand this comes back to Stevensons off-icecoaching: Gretzky was likable and personable. Peoplethought he could serve as a symbol for hockey, an exciting,friendly athlete who made the sport more popular aroundNorth America and even the world.

Now, it appeared Mario Lemieux might be able to dothe same thing.

Marios talent on the ice was obvious from a young age. A stubborn streakwould become the only question mark scouts had about the future superstar.

25

EVEN WHEN HE was a young teenager, people knew Mario Lemieuxwas destined to be an NHL star. But before he could get there, he hadto perform at the next level. In Canada, the training ground for the prosis the junior hockey level. Currently there are three leagues at thislevel: the Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League(OHL), and the one in which Mario played, the Quebec Major JuniorHockey League (QMJHL).

Most Canadian boys with enough talent get signed to junior con-tracts at age 15 and have to leave home to play in another city. In theirnew town, they will live with a local family (called a billet) that willbe responsible for feeding, transporting, and supervising them. Mariowas lucky. In the 1981 midget draft, he was picked first overall by theLaval Voisins, which were located just outside Montreal. To play inLaval, he didnt have to travel far at all.

Junior hockey players are paid a small stipend (Mario got $65 a week)to cover expenses such as food. Just like professionals, they can be

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THE NEXT GREAT ONE

traded to other cities or cut. But unlike pros, they travel bybus from city to city in the dead of the Canadian winter. Inother words, playing junior hockey was not a glamorous life.

Having Mario in the league, however, was about to makejunior hockey in Quebec a lot more exciting. When he wassigned, Mario promised to revive the struggling Voisins bywinning the QMJHL scoring title and leading the team to achampionship. Certainly, the hopes of the Voisins fans werepinned on this superstar named Lemieux.

In light of the expectations, Marios first season with theVoisins was a disappointment. The team finished in themiddle of the league standings, and Mario finished 17th inscoring with 96 points. The Voisins were selling more tick-ets, and fans were excited to see Mario, but he wasnt happywith the results. He didnt even win rookie of the year; thataward went to another future NHL star, Pierre Turgeon,who had scored 23 fewer points than Mario that season.

Thinking about what he could do to improve his perfor-mance, Mario came to a tough conclusion: he decided toquit school. That way, he figured, he could spend moretime practicing and getting himself ready for games. With-out attending classes during the day and doing homeworkat night or in the mornings, Mario knew he could focustotally on hockey. Everyone already knew that Mario washeaded to the NHL, so he was confident that he didnt needa diploma or degree to get a job. And, if for any reasonhockey didnt work out, Mario knew he could alwaysreturn to school and graduate when he was older.

Pierrette and Jean-Guy Lemieux were always supportiveof Marios hockey, but his dad really didnt want his son toquit school. Only after a lot of convincing did Jean-Guyagree to give Mario his blessing to drop out. With that,Mario ended his schooling after completing the 10th grade.

During the 198283 season, Mario scored a superhuman 84goals and recorded 184 points in 66 games. But, unbelievably,that wasnt enough to win the scoring championship. InDecember, Mario had left Laval to join the Canadian national

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THE NEXT GREAT ONE 27

junior team in the Soviet Union. The 1982 world juniorchampionships were being held in Leningrad, and Mariowould be there for two weeks.

At first, he had been eager to play on the national juniorteam. But Mario quickly found that he didnt get along withthe coach, Dave King, who thought that Lemieux didntwork hard enough on defense. Because of this, King usedMario sparingly, even benching him for some games.

Dave King, head coach ofCanadas national junior teamin 1982, didnt like Marioswork ethic. He benched thebudding star more than onceduring the championships.

Though he managed to notch five goals and five assists in10 games, Mario hated the experience.

Meanwhile, back in Quebec, he was getting beaten inthe QMJHL scoring race by an American rookie named PatLaFontaine. Playing for the Verdun Junior Canadiens,LaFontaine scored 104 goals and 234 points in 70 games.The Voisins were the best team during the regular season,with a 53-17-0 record. But they lost in the semifinal roundof the playoffs.

During the summer of 1983, Mario worked harder thanever to prepare himself for the season. This would be hisfinal year of junior hockey; he would be eligible for theNHL draft in the spring of 1984. He wanted to be the firstplayer taken, so he cut back on his off-season golf andstarted working out both on and off the ice.

The extra work paid off. Mario tore through his finalseason, smashing all his previous goal totals and evensurpassing LaFontaines astronomical mark from the yearearlier. By the end of the 198384 season, Mario hadscored 133 goals and 282 points, erasing the record thatGuy Lafleur (130 goals) had set in 197071. If anyonehad doubted Marios marketability as the top amateurplayer for the pro draft, they didnt anymore.

What some people did doubt was his attitude. Some-times Mario appeared too laid back on the ice, as if he weregliding around for fun. Other people defended him, sayingthat he was such a natural talent that he had an effortlessskating style. Controversy was also a part of his final juniorseason: When Mario was again picked to play in the WorldJunior Championships in December, he refused to join theteam. He said he wanted to stay and play for the Voisins,who had a good chance at winning the Memorial Cup asthe leagues top team. He also wanted to chase the scoringtitle. Ive been thinking about my decision for a long time,since we came back from the tournament last year, hesaid. It was very tough to play in the league after. I wastired. It hurt my game.

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The QMJHL said that Mario would be suspended fromplaying in league games during the junior tournament if hedidnt go. Believing that the decision was unfair, Mariotook the league to court and asked the judge to block theQMJHLs decision and allow him to play. The judgeagreed and issued a permanent injunction that made itimpossible for the league to suspend a player for refusingto play in the world junior tournament. Taking the leagueto court as an 18-year-old showed that Mario was notafraid of controversy and was willing to stand up for whathe believed. Some people admired his confidence, callingit a gutsy move. Others thought he was being petty andbabyish, not to mention disloyal to Canadian hockey.

Mario responded by saying he was being loyal to histeam by staying to play. He kept playing for Laval andwent on to do exactly what he had hoped: win the leaguescoring title and break Guy Lafleurs one-season goalrecord of 130. With one game remaining, he neededthree goals to reach 130 and tie Lafleur. With Gretzky inthe stands watching (the Oilers were on a road trip inMontreal), Mario scored six goals. He ended the regularseason with 133 goals and 149 assists for 282 points.Marios only other quest was to lead Laval to a MemorialCup championship. In that quest, he failed: the Voisinswere eliminated three games into the championshiptournament.

The superhuman accomplishments Mario made duringhis final year in junior hockey also heated up comparisonswith Wayne Gretzky. Five years older than Mario, Gretzkywas already established as a scoring champion playing forthe Edmonton Oilers while Mario was playing in juniorhockey. Both players shared the same agents, Gus Badaliand Bob Perno, and had even met at a charity golf tourna-ment in Toronto. That was in August 1981, just beforeMarios rookie season with Laval. Gretzky took Mario tothe filming of a commercial, then out to dinner on YongeStreet in Toronto. That night, Gretzky reportedly gave

Mario some insight on things he would be dealing with asa pro, like contracts, commercial deals, and handling themany people who would approach him with businessdeals. [Gretzky] is his idol, Badali said. That first timethey met, Mario was in awe of Wayne.

Mario is famous for wearing number 66, a number hechose in Laval. Gretzky, of course, wore number 99.People have always speculated about whether Mariopicked the jersey number 66 because it is 99 upside-down. Mario has denied that, but in any case, he andGretzky would be forever linked by much more thantheir uniform numbers. Beginning in the early 80s, theywere mentioned together in conversations among hockey

MARIO LEMIEUX30

Mario poses with his idol and 1997 All-Star teammate,Wayne Gretzky. The two firstmet in 1981, and Gretzkyoffered the younger Marioadvice on handling his soon-to-arrive celebrity.

THE NEXT GREAT ONE 31

analysts and fans from all over. Back then, the questionwas simple: Who would be betterGretzky or Lemieux?Everyone had an opinion. Mario was bigger and, manypeople thought, had a tad more natural talent. Gretzky,on the other hand, seemed to have more ability as aleader. He was more energetic and enthusiastic whendoing interviews or meeting fans.

Back in the early 1980s hockey was struggling to estab-lish itself in North America as one of the four major sports.One of the ways a sport becomes popular and respected isfor its best athletes to become household names. In otherwords, people in homes across America would know whoWayne Gretzky was, even if they werent hockey fans.Within hockey, it was hoped that Mario could reach thatsame level of recognition.

But people were getting nervous. If Mario did thingslike refuse to play for a national team and take his leagueto court, he couldnt be a celebrity spokesman for thegame. What he was about to do at the NHL draft afterbeing picked by Pittsburgh didnt help, either.

Mario Lemieux was a sure-shot superstar. Everyoneagreed that he would be a great player. But would he begood for hockey?

There was no sure answer to that.

A young Mario stands with his mother at the announcement of his new contractwith the Pittsburgh Penguins. Upon being drafted he was seen as a savior ofthe franchise.

33

SOMETIMES, BEING THE worst team in the league isnt so bad. Forthe Pittsburgh Penguins, it was at least a familiar position. From thetime they joined the NHL in 1967 until the 198384 season, Pittsburghhad been consistently bad. Only nine times had the Penguins made theplayoffs, and in only three of those playoff appearances did theyadvance beyond the first round.

In 198384, the Penguins 16-58-6 record made them the NHLsworst team. But few people seemed to mind that poor distinction.First, the Penguins had averaged 6,839 fans per game in Civic Arena(now known as Mellon Arena). They were losing money and games;there was even talk of moving the team to Hamilton, Ontario. In aPennsylvania steel town with a football mentality, Pittsburghers werehardly concerned about the Penguins poor fortune.

Secondly, those people who were Penguins fans found some solacein their last-place status. Being the worst team in hockey gave thePenguins the right to pick first in the NHL draft on June 9, 1984. For

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THE TOP PICK

Eddie Johnston, the man charged with running the Penguins,that was good news. For three years, he had tracked MarioLemieuxs junior hockey career and had watched theyoung French Canadian man play. Now, Johnston wasgoing to pick him to do much more than play for thePittsburgh Penguins. Johnston knew that Mario could savethe Penguins. Mario Lemieux, he said, is the bestplayer in the draft, by a mile.

Even while Mario endured a string of controversiesduring his junior careertaking the league to court, notgetting along with King, being accused of lazinessJohnston stuck by his man. You just dont have thosekind of skills, to do the things he can do with the puck,Johnston said. It doesnt matter what level youre at.Then I watched him do it in the Memorial Cup. Peoplesaid he was lazy and things like that, but I saw him takethe puck twice and go right through the whole team andI said, Ooooh. It was a very easy decision.

Johnston had plenty of offers to deal away the top pickin the draft to another team, which could then take Mario.Some of the offers were attractive: simply for giving upMario, who was then a teenager and unproven at the prolevel, Johnston could get several solid players and a star.That would improve the Penguins roster immediately,probably even quicker than simply landing Lemieux. ButJohnston said no.

Two teams that were under special pressure to tradefor Lemieuxthe Montreal Canadiens and QuebecNordiqueswere both from French-speaking Quebec.French Canadians are particularly proud of their heritageand like to see their own succeed, preferably at home. Soit was no surprise that many fans from the Province ofQuebec wanted to see Lemieux end up there. The teamsfelt that pressure, too. Its an opportunity that arrivesmaybe once every 10 years, said the president of theQuebec Nordiques, Marcel Aubut. Our scouts are unan-imous that hes the closest thing to Gretzky. Hes also a

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guy from our neighborhood and thats why you have todo everything you can to make sure [a trade] is doable.

The general managers from both Montreal and Quebectold Johnston to give them a call if the other team made anoffer for Lemieux, because they would match it. Montrealsaid if we were going to trade him to Quebec, Johnstonsaid, to come back to them before we made the deal, thatthey would more than match the deal.

Other teams were just as interested. The MinnesotaNorth Stars offered all 12 of their draft picks to Johnstonjust for Lemieux. If he wanted, Johnston could have namedhis price for Lemieux and gotten it. But he said no toeveryone. He wanted nothing but Lemieux. I was veryemphatic I was not going to do anything, Johnston said.

When draft day finally arrived, representatives from everyteam in the league gathered in the Montreal Forum. So didreporters, fans, and eligible junior players and their families.The Lemieux family was one of those in the stands; ofcourse, their home was only 10 minutes away, which madethe day all the more exciting. Not only was Mario going tobe drafted number one overall in the NHL, he was going toget that honor in front of a hometown crowd.

It surprised no one when Johnston stood at the podiumand proudly announced, in French, that the PittsburghPenguins were picking Mario Lemieux. What happenednext was a little surprising and, to many observers insidethe Forum, quite upsetting. Its a draft day tradition in theNational Hockey League that players put on the jersey ofthe team that just picked them over their shirt and tie andpose for pictures. Following the advice of his agent, GusBadali, Mario refused to join the Penguins management,wear the jersey, or pose for any pictures. The reason wasthat Mario and his representatives were unhappy with theway contract talks were progressing with the Penguins.Badali and Johnston had begun talking about the details ofa contract a few weeks earlier and still were not close toagreeing on financial terms. I didnt go to the table

because the negotiations are not going well, Mario toldreporters. Im not going to put on the sweater if they dontwant me bad enough. (Years later, Mario admitted that heregretted not posing for pictures with his new jersey.)

The fans in the Forum were outraged, and reportersexpressed their anger with negative columns. Lemieuxacting like a petulant prima donna, read one headline.Despite the bitter beginning, it did not take too long forMario and the Penguins to reach agreeable terms. Oneweek later, he agreed to a contract worth approximately$700,00 over two years, making him the best-paid rookiein NHL history at the time.

With Mario now officially part of their franchise, thePenguins began using his name and image to entice thepeople of Pittsburgh into buying tickets. Pittsburghs mostpopular sports team had always been the National FootballLeagues Steelers, who had been epitomized by quarter-back Terry Bradshaw. Mario Lemieux, the Penguinshoped, could be their Terry Bradshaw.

The Penguins advertised the first home game in the fallof 1984 as the Lemieux Debut. But catchy phrases willnever do more to attract sales than actual superstar feats,and Mario provided one of those in his first seconds as aPenguin. The team opened the 198485 season on the roadin Boston, playing against the Bruins. During Marios firstshift, he blocked a shot by Boston defenseman RayBourque and carried the puck down-ice. Mario now hada breakaway on Bruins goaltender Pete Peeters. As hecarried the puck along the ice, even Mario was surprisedthat this was happening. When he came up close to Peeters,he followed his instinct and shot.

That shot was the first of his shift, his first of the game,and the first of Marios career. The goal that followed, ofcourse, was also the first of his NHL life.

Mario Lemieux would always accomplish things inquick and glamorous style. His first game at Civic Arena inPittsburgh came on October 17 versus the Vancouver

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Canucks. On his first shift, Mario registered an assist on agoal by Doug Shedden. Later in the game, he had his firstfight in the National Hockey League, against VancouversGary Lupul.

While Marios professional career started well on theice, he was struggling away from it. Having grown upspeaking French, he was now learning to speak English.Before going to Pittsburgh, he had taken a Berlitz intensiveEnglish-language course, spending five hours per day for

The Pittsburgh skyline. Despitea rocky initial reception, Mariowas quickly embraced by theSteel City.

three weeks in the class. It helped, but not enough.Reporters bombarded Mario with questions after nearlyevery game, and almost all of them spoke English. Thatmeant that Marios struggle with the English languagewas broadcast for the world to hear. Every time he madea mistake or couldnt come up with exactly the words heneeded to express what he was feeling, there were cameras,microphones, and notepads recording it. Because of hisdiscomfort with the language, along with his natural shy-ness, Mario didnt like doing interviews.

To help himself learn the language, Mario watchedtelevision soap operas during the daytime. He also gothelp from the family of Tom and Nancy Matthews, withwhom he lived during his first year. Eddie Johnston,knowing that Mario would be adjusting to many differ-ent kinds of pressure during his rookie season, arrangedfor him to live with the Matthews family. Tom and

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Mario celebrates after scoringhis first goalon his very firstshot in the NHL. The date wasOctober 12, 1984; the victim,goaltender Pete Peeters of theBoston Bruins.

THE TOP P ICK 39

Nancy, who were friends of Johnston and his wife,Diane, had three sons who had left home for school. Allthree of our sons had played hockey and they were aboutthe same ages as Mario and his brothers, NancyMatthews told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Eddie wasaware of the similarities and he thought we would be aperfect place for Mario.

Nancy cooked for Mario, took care of his laundry, helpedhim find his away around Pittsburgh, and basically dideverything a mother would do. Even in his second seasonand beyond, when Mario lived with his girlfriend and futurewife, Nathalie Asselin, Nancy would check on the couple.

Marios first season was an astounding success. He piledup 100 points, including 43 goals, which earned him theNHLs Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year. He was pickedto play in the midseason All-Star Game and earned MVPhonors. Pittsburgh didnt make the playoffs that year, butthe Penguins did improve from previous seasons. And evenbetter, people who followed hockey had a gut feeling that thePittsburgh Penguins fortunes were changing. With MarioLemieux carrying the club, things were going to get better. Itwouldnt happen right away. In fact, it might not even happenin the first few years. But people suspectedno, they knewthat one day, Mario Lemieux would lead the Penguins to atrophy they had never seen before: the Stanley Cup.

Mario himself knew that it would take a while for thePenguins to become a winning team. Even he couldnt pro-vide a quick fix; it takes more than one superstar to make achampionship team. So while Mario stacked up scoringmilestones, the Penguins struggled through the mid-1980s.

In 198586, his second season, Mario put together a 28-game point streak, scoring 21 goals and 38 points betweenJanuary 11 and March 15. The next year, he scored over100 points for the third season in a row. Mario was unques-tionably living up to the expectations that he would be astar, but he and the Penguins had yet to score the goal theyreally wanted: making the playoffs.

At practice with Team Canada during the 1987 Canada Cup, Mario waits forWayne Gretzky to relace his skates. Mario learned a great deal watchingGretzky perform day-in and day-out.

41

MARIO LEMIEUX WANTED to be a winner. He wanted to proveto people that he could play under pressure and lead his team to achampionship. With the Penguins poor records the first few years ofhis career, Mario had no chance to do that. Other than playing in theworld championships in the spring of 1985 and helping lead Canadato a bronze medal, Mario had become accustomed to having hishockey season end early. May through August were months for golf,not chasing the Stanley Cup or any other championship.

That changed in the summer of 1987. Prior to the start of the NHLseason, in August and September, the best players from around theworld gathered in Canada. There they played for their countries in aninternational tournament called the Canada Cup. With all the NHLplayers available, it was easy to predict which teams would be amongthe best. Team Canada was stocked with superstars, the biggest twobeing Wayne Gretzky and Mario. The Soviet Union team was alsoguaranteed to be great: with the cold war and communism still going

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ON THE WORLD STAGE

strong, the Russian team was a mysterious hockey machine.Their players werent allowed to play in the NationalHockey League, but they were certainly good enough.Tensions always grew high when the Soviets playedCanada, and this tournament would be no different.

Mario would also be spending five weeks learning howto be a leader and a superstar. Gretzky got more mediaattention than anyone else, and Mario watched the way hehandled it. Gretzky made a habit of smiling and jokingwith reporters, keeping things relaxed and friendly. Thereporters appreciated the easygoing rapport they had withhockeys biggest star, and having the media on his sidemade Gretzkys life easier, too.

Watching Gretzky practice also provided valuablelessons. With or without the puck, he always pushed hardand competed during practice. Especially for superstars,who can be good even when theyre not giving 100percent, its easy to relax a little during practice. Fairlyor not, Mario had been accused of doing just that duringhis first few years in Pittsburgh.

But Gretzkys teammatesand Mario in particularsaw that he was always fighting for the puck, skating hard,and encouraging his fellow players. Most people whoknow both men agree that watching and working withGretzky for five weeks was one of the greatest lessons ofMario Lemieuxs career.

Of course, we had all played against Wayne and knewhow great he was, said Ray Bourque, a Team Canadateammate and a Boston Bruins defenseman at the time.But what we didnt know and the thing that impressed,maybe even surprised everyone, was how hard he works.All that talent, and he competes with such intensity everyshift. He made us all better with his example, and for ayoung player like Mario, it is a great experience to bearound him for a long stretch and see how the number oneguy operates, especially how he never, never coasts.

At the beginning of the tournament, Team Canada coach

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ON THE WORLD STAGE 43

Mike Keenan wouldnt play Gretzky and Mario on thesame line, except on the power play. He had wanted tospread out his offensive power. But by the time TeamCanada reached the championship round, a best-of-threeseries against the Soviet Union, Keenan considered theidea. Canada lost the first game, 6-5, which meant they hadto win games two and three. In the second game, Keenanplayed Gretzky and Lemieux together in the second period.It was a magical match: Mario scored two goals before theend of the third. With the score tied, the game went intosudden death. In the second overtime period, Mario scoredto even the series and send it to a third and deciding game.

The lead in game three bounced back and forth, withValery Kamenski tying the score at 5-5 with a goal for theSoviets. With less than two minutes remaining in the thirdperiod, Keenan sent Mario, Gretzky, and Dale Hawerchuk(all of whom would one day be in the Hall of Fame) ontothe ice. Hawerchuk won the face-off and dumped the puckto Gretzky, who carried it up the left side of the rink.Mario was skating behind Gretzky, waiting for a pass.Here, Gretzky had a choice to make: he could take the shothimself, hold the puck and keep moving, or pass it toMario. Playing with Gretzky, Mario said after the tour-nament, you just find some open ice and he finds youwith the puck.

Thats exactly what happened. Giving up his ownchance to be the hero, Gretzky sent the puck back to Mario.After receiving the pass, Mario relied on his instinctivesense of timing. He waited a moment, then unleashed ahigh shot that plunked into the corner of the net.

With that goal, Team Canada had won the champion-ship. For me, that probably still ranks as the greatesthockey game I ever saw in person, said Jim Kelley, ahockey writer for FoxSports.com who has covered thegame since the early 1980s. To me, Gretzky givingMario the puck in the Canada Cup that year for the game-winning goal against the Russians, thats an unselfish act

that elevated Mario on the world stage. . . . Wayne couldhave taken that shot.

Mario was now a champion. His next step was to do itagain, but this time with his own team and for the StanleyCup. In the 198788 season that followed the Canada Cuptournament, Mario did what he could by dominating theNational Hockey League with 79 goals and 98 assists for

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Mario lifts Wayne Gretzky asthe two celebrate MariosCanada Cupwinning goal,September 13, 1987.

ON THE WORLD STAGE 45

168 points. All three marks were Penguins records, as werehis 22 power play goals. For his accomplishments, Mariowon the Art Ross Trophy (given to the leagues top scorer)and the Hart Trophy (awarded to hockeys most valuableplayer). He had also been named MVP of the All-StarGame for scoring three goals and adding three assists in avictory for his squad.

The only problem was, even in the most outstandingseason of Marios young career, the Penguins failed tomake the playoffs. The team finished with a record of 36wins, 35 losses, and 9 ties. That totaled up to 81 points,which had the Penguins finishing 12th out of 21 teams.They were sixth in the Patrick Division, having just misseda playoff spot.

But there was good news. The Penguins had finishedwith a winning record. Mario was playing better than ever.Soon, very soon, the fortunes of hockey in Pittsburgh hadto change.

Entering the 198889 season, the Penguins were finally able to surround Mariowith a solid supporting cast. He would lead his team to the playoffs that season.

47

MARIO LEMIEUX WAS learning to deal with superstardom, and hewas happy to be doing it in Pittsburgh. He knew that if he played in ahockey-crazed city like Montreal, he would never have any privacyespecially as a French Canadian. Its kind of hard to play inMontreal, Mario said early in his career. You have a lot of pressurefrom the media and the fans. They know their hockey and its harderon a player when youre from Montreal.

Mario was growing more comfortable with the English language,but he remained a shy, private person. He also remained focused onmaking the playoffs.

Finally it happened. In the 198889 season, the Penguins had astronger lineup that included a line of Mario, Rob Brown, and BobErrey, who combined for 160 goals. Their second center, Dan Quinn,scored 34 goals. Defenseman Paul Coffey, a Canada Cup teammate ofMarios who was acquired in a trade with Edmonton, scored 30 goalsand tallied 83 assists. In short, the Penguins had plenty of firepower to

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CHASING THE CUP

use against opposing goalies, and the results earned thema second-place finish in the Patrick Division. In the firstround of the playoffs, the Penguins swept the New YorkRangers. That was Pittsburghs first victory in a playoffseries since 1979. Round two versus the PhiladelphiaFlyers went to seven games, and this time the resultwasnt so positive: the Flyers won game seven, 4-1.Saddening as that outcome was, Mario and the Penguinswere encouraged. They were playing well, having domi-nated the first playoff series and playing tough to the endin the second. I know Ill drink from the Cup one day,Mario said, I just know it.

Mario had good reason to believe. His teammateswere playing well, and he had shattered his own records.He scored 85 goals that year, including 5 in one game onDecember 31 versus New Jersey. That night, he scoredevery kind of goal a player can: one at even-strength, oneon the power play, one short-handed, one on a penaltyshot, and one into an empty net. That same year, Marioalso recorded 114 assists, giving him 199 points andmaking him the winner of the Art Ross Trophy as theleague-leading scorer.

Traditionally, the top scorer was also the most likelycandidate for the Hart Trophy as the leagues most valuableplayer. After the season ended in 1989, Mario expected to winit. When the votes were announced, however, it turned out thatWayne Gretzky was the winner. Gretzky had been traded tothe Los Angeles Kings and led his team to the playoffs.

I think the ultimate insult to Mario from the media wasthe year that he was the scoring champion, dominated theleague, and Wayne got the Hart Trophy for guiding the LosAngeles Kings into the playoffs, said writer Jim Kelley,who worked for the Buffalo News at the time. For years,essentially, if you were the best scorer in the league, youwere also the best player. Somebody unearthed the phras-ing that said, Player judged to be most valuable to histeam and used that to swing a lot of votes towards Wayne.

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CHAS ING THE CUP 49

I think [Mario] was really bothered by that. I think thatswhen he actually first realized that personality comes intoplay as well as ability.

It would be years before Mario was to match Gretzkysrole as a spokesman and salesman for the game of hockey.He would have many more challenges to meet first, thefirst of which would present itself the very next season.The Penguins began the 198990 season in a streaky,stumbling style. Losing 14 of their first 26 games wasenough to get head coach Gene Ubriaco and generalmanager Tony Esposito fired. One man, Craig Patrick, washired to fill both jobs for the remainder of the season.

For his part, Mario began the 198990 season explosively.He embarked on a scoring streak that began in October andspanned the entire months of November, December, andJanuary, in which he scored a goal or dished out an assistin every game. The streak was big news; everywherethe Penguins played, all eyes focused on Mario to seewhether he would extend his streak.

For as well as he was playing, Mario was feeling awful.Sometime around the first of the year, his back began toache. Soon the pain became unbearable; it got so bad thatMario couldnt even bend over to tie his skates or shoes.For about 20 games, he played through the pain. But onFebruary 14, during a game against the New YorkRangers, Mario decided that the pain was too severe andtoo alarming. He ended the streak at 46 games and flew toCalifornia to see a doctor who specialized in back treat-ment. Mario spent the next six weeks working with Dr.Robert Watkinss staff in Los Angeles, trying to rehabili-tate his back without going through surgery. With all thepromise the Penguins had shown one season earlier, Mariodesperately wanted to return to the team and do his part tohelp the team make another playoff run.

While Mario worked out in southern California, thePenguins played a lot of tight-scoring games. Theyentered the final game of the season with 72 points in the

standings. One more point would be enough for Pittsburghto squeeze into the playoffs, so the Penguins needed to tieor beat Buffalo in their last regular season game. Afterskating in L.A., Mario felt strong enough to return for thatfinal game in Buffalo. He registered a goal and an assist tohelp tie the game at 2-2, but Buffalo scored in overtime towin the game and end Pittsburghs season.

That summer, two major operations took place thatwould affect the fortunes of the Penguins. One was onMarios back. Further testing showed that surgery wouldbe the best way to correct his problems. On a July day inPittsburgh, doctors opened Marios back and removed aherniated disc. There were lots of nights that I tossedand turned in bed and couldnt even sleep becauseI would feel a sharp pain running up and down my spine,Mario said. Then after the surgery, I couldnt play golfwithout having it bother me again. I couldnt bend over toline up a putt. Maybe Mario wouldnt be playing golfthat summer, but doctors predicted he would be ready fortraining camp.

The other operation that happened in Pittsburgh duringthat off-season was performed by the Penguins frontoffice. Patrick kept his job as general manager but hired aman named Badger Bob Johnson to be the Penguinsnew head coach. A longtime coach at the University ofWisconsin and a former director of USA Hockey, BadgerBob had a reputation as a positive, encouraging coach whoexcelled at motivating his players.

Patrick also hired one of the most successful hockeymen in history, Scotty Bowman, to be the Penguinsdirector of player development. As a head coach with St.Louis, Montreal, and Buffalo, Bowman had won fiveStanley Cups. In stark contrast to Badger, Bowman wasknown as a stern taskmaster who rarely smiled. But hissuccess as a hockey man was unmatched. Thats apretty impressive front-end team theyve put together inPittsburgh, said Glen Sather, who, as general manager

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of the Edmonton Oilers, led a team that won five StanleyCups in the 1980s.

Things had never looked better for the Penguins. Theyhad a top front office. They had a strong lineup that nowincluded strong contributions from Mark Recchi and KevinStevens. Their new young superstar from the CzechRepublic, Jaromir Jagr, was said to be the next Mario. Andthe dazzling superstar himself was about to return. Or soeveryone thought.

On a preseason trip to Houston for an exhibition game,Mario felt an excruciating pain in his back. He tried toexercise and stretch it out, which only made the throbbingpain worsen. When doctors stuck a needle in Marios backto do tests, they discovered that he had a rare infection. If

Scotty Bowman and his impeccable track record were brought to Pittsburgh in the summer of 90.

not treated properly, the infection could spread to the bonesand spine. Mario spent the next three months resting on hisback, unable to do much of anything. He didnt talk toreporters during that time, making his condition a mysteryof sorts. The doctors discovered an infection in my backand treated it some more, Mario told The Sporting Newsduring the following season. It got better, but I knew thenthat this was something that might never go away, never be100 percent again. I learned to trust the doctors and rely onthem. I want to keep playing this game as long as I can playup to the standards Ive set so far. I dont want to be allcrippled when I leave this game.

At the beginning of January 1991, Mario was finallygiven permission to begin skating. His teammates had beenplaying well enough to keep the Penguins in the playoffrace. By the time Mario returned in late January, thePenguins had won 26 of their 50 games. In his first gameback, on January 26 in Quebec, Mario recorded threeassists in a 6-5 win.

Playing up to his usual standards was no problem: notthen, nor at any other point in his career, did Mariosperformance crumble. But from 1991 on, it took extra-special care to get Mario ready for games. Every morning,he would lay on a table and receive a half-hour of backtreatment from the Penguins medical staff. If there wasa game that night, he would get more back treatment inthe afternoon. Tying his skates was a unique challenge:from time to time, the act of bending over to lace theboots would wrench Marios back so badly that hecouldnt play. That problem was easily solved: An equip-ment man laced Marios skates for him. The Penguins alsoconstructed an angled wooden stool that helped Mariotie his own skates when he felt he could. Im sure peopledont realize just what he goes through to go out thereand entertain them night after night, said winger RickTocchet, who didnt join the Penguins until a year afterMario began following this detailed pregame routine.

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Ive seen him grimace when he pulls up his pants andheard him groan when he pulls his jersey over his head.He has a doctor, two trainers and two equipment menhelping put him together, so to speak. Then we see himgo out there and dominate the game the way MichaelJordan dominates basketball. Amazing.

While Mario struggled simply to get dressed, the Penguinsspent February losing enough games to convince Patrick topull the trigger on a six-player trade. He sent John Cullen,Zarley Zalapski, and Jeff Parker to the Hartford Whalersfor Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson, and Grant Jennings.Francis brought some veteran leadership and scoringability; Samuelsson was a tough player who excelled atgetting under the skin of opponents. That addition provedto be a perfect fit for the Penguins, who used a late-seasonsurge to finish first in the Patrick Division.

Pittsburghs first opponent in the playoffs was the NewJersey Devils. The series was close, extending all theway to seven games before the Penguins won it with a 4-0victory in Pittsburgh. Washington was the second-roundopponent; the Penguins beat the Capitals in five games.

To get to the Stanley Cup Finals, Mario and his team-mates had to win one more seriesthis one against theBoston Bruins. The first two games were played in Boston,with the Bruins winning both. But by now, the Penguinswere confident enough not to give up. In fact, KevinStevens even guaranteed that Pittsburgh would come backto win the series. Im saying right now, well beat thisteam, Stevens said. I cant wait to play [game three]Sunday night.

Stevens was right. The Penguins won the next fourgames, and they did it convincingly: Each margin ofvictory was by two goals or more. With their momentum atfull speed, the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to play inthe Stanley Cup Finals. Winning the Stanley Cup,Stevens said, would be the ultimate thrill.

Pittsburghs opponent was the Minnesota North Stars

(the same franchise that is now the Dallas Stars). TheFinals opened in Pittsburgh, with the North Stars winningthe first game and the Penguins taking the second. Theseries then moved to Minnesota for game three. Before thegame, Mario hunched over to tie his skates and experi-enced back spasms. He had to sit out, and the North Starswon game three to take the series lead, 2-1.

Mario returned for game four and the Penguins won thenext two, entering game six in Minnesota with a 3-2advantage. One more win and the Cup would be theirs.One more win and the precise reason Mario had beenbrought to Pittsburgh would be realized.

MARIO LEMIEUX54

Mario finally hoists the StanleyCup on May 25, 1991, afterthe Penguins defeated the Minnesota North Stars in the best-of-seven series, 4-2.

CHAS ING THE CUP 55

Every year, every team shoots for the Stanley Cup. Ithad been 24 years since the Penguins were born into theNational Hockey League, and they had never wonor even seenthe Stanley Cup. Its a tradition that thewinners of the Cup sip champagne from it. After waiting24 long years for a taste, the Penguins were parched. Sowith all their guts, with all their thirst, the PittsburghPenguins burst into game six. Samuelsson scored first,Mario second, and it went from there. By games end,the score was 8-0.

The Stanley Cup belonged to Pittsburgh.Marios back felt fine that night as he hoisted the

Stanley Cup above his head. No strain at all, he said.This is the ultimate dream.

Mario competes against Wayne Gretzky in 1992. Despite a tumultuous beginning,the 199192 season would be another championship year for the Penguins.

57

THE SUMMER OF 1991 should have been a joyous onethe besteverfor the Pittsburgh Penguins. Players who had been with theteam during the lowly days of the 1980s, guys who had felt as thoughthey were stranded and starving on a desert island, had been rescuedand delivered to paradise. No trophy in hockey is more special thanthe Stanley Cup, and now each player for the Penguins was gettinghis name engraved on it permanently. The Pittsburgh Penguins ruledthe world of hockey. After so many years of failure, to be a championfelt great.

Thats why when the team got some bad news in late August, it feltas if a thief had stolen the Cup in the middle of their party. It was newsnobody ever expected to hear and nobody could have possibly imagined.

On August 30, 1991, the Penguins announced that Bob Johnson hadmalignant, or cancerous, tumors growing on his brain. The news leftthe players, who cared for Johnson deeply, searching for words. I sawhim about a week and a half ago, Mario said. He was the same old

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WINNING IT FOR BADGER

Badger everybody knows. Its scary. Really sad.Johnson was too sick to coach and had to undergo

immediate treatment. During the preseason, assistantcoaches Rick Kehoe, Rick Patterson, and Barry Smith ranthe team together. Meanwhile, the thoughts, energy, andprayers of the Penguins were fully with Bob Johnson.What hes done for this city and this hockey club inone year is pretty incredible, Mario said. Nobodythought wed win the Cup, but with Bob Johnson, any-thing was possible.

The last time Johnson saw his team skate was onSeptember 19, when the Penguins played an exhibitiongame in Denver. General manager Craig Patrick, mean-while, was waiting until the last possible moment to namea head coach. When he finally made a decision, it came oneday before the start of the regular season. The pick was anatural one: Scotty Bowman, the most successful coach inhockey history.

Bowmans style was completely the opposite of John-sons, sort of like the difference between playing for a drillsergeant or for your grandfather. Bob cared about you offthe ice as well as on the ice, Mark Recchi said later in theseason. With Scotty, youre lucky to get a hello out ofhim. Still, the players knew that Bowman was a winner.They also knew that the best thing they could do for BobJohnson was to win another Stanley Cup. Anything lesswould be considered failure.

The 199192 season began in decentbut certainly notspectacularform, with the Penguins winning 10, losing8, and tying 2 of the first 20 games. What jolted them wasthe news that came on November 26, the day when thePenguins worst fears were realized. That day, when theplayers came into the locker room after practice, Patricktold them that Johnson had died that morning. Saddenedand shocked, nobody talked. For 15 minutes, the playerssat frozen in place.

The next night, the Penguins had a home game against

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WINNING I T FOR BADGER 59

the New Jersey Devils. To honor Johnson, the team hadhis famous phraseIts a great day for hockeypainted on the ice next to both blue lines. Before theface-off, the players gathered in a circle on the ice whilefans held up electric candles as a singer sang TheLords Prayer.

Badger Bob Johnson is seen here while he was still coaching the Penguins.Though he succumbed to cancer in November 1991,his spirit stayed with the teamthrough the 199192 season.

Inspired, the Penguins went on to beat the Devils, 8-4.From that point onward, the Penguins were especiallydetermined to win a second Stanley Cup. They won 10 oftheir next 14 games, trouncing their opponents in almostevery victory. They beat the Philadelphia Flyers by a scoreof 5-1. They beat San Jose, 8-0, and 12 days later, by a10-2 score. Toronto fell victim, 12-1; Washington fell, 6-2.In the month after Badger died, the Penguins soared likenever before.

But things soon changed. In January and February, thePenguins struggled mightily, losing 14 of their 24 games.Everyone was frustratedBowman because he felt severalplayers werent working hard enough, and the playersbecause they were unhappy with Bowmans tough, oftencold coaching style.

Sensing that some change was needed, Patrick pulledoff a three-way deal with Los Angeles and Philadelphia onFebruary 19. The trade brought in four new players,including forward Rick Tocchet, and injected some badlyneeded life into the Penguins. During the playoff stretch,Pittsburgh won 11 of its 17 games in March and April,finishing the season third in the Patrick Division.

Their first playoff series pitted them against theWashington Capitals. Pittsburgh fell behind three gamesto one, but managed to come back and win the series inseven games.

In the second round, the Penguins faced the New YorkRangers. Pittsburgh won the first game, but disaster struckin game two when Rangers forward Adam Graves slashedMario in the glove while the Penguins were on the powerplay. Mario felt a throbbing pain and had doctors look athis hand. After the examination, they delivered newsnobody wants to hear during the playoffs: Marios handwas broken, and the Penguins would have to play onwithout him.

Though Mario said nothing, in Pittsburgh people reactedangrily to the slash. Suspended for four games, Graves was

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apologetic and insisted he had not meant to hurt Mario.When youre penalty killing, you try to put pressure onthe guys hands to move the puck, for him to give up thepuck so you can shoot it down the ice, explained Graves,who in the years since has become known as one ofhockeys finest gentlemen. It wasnt an intent to hurt him.In no way would I want to hurt him. I tried to hit him in thegloves, where all the padding is.

Mario was expected to be out for about a month, maybemore. But after the Penguins won game five to take a 3-2lead in the series, Jagr told reporters that Mario would beback for the next series. It turned out that he was right: thePenguins won game six to eliminate the Rangers andadvance to the conference finals against Boston. Pittsburghwon the first game against the Bruins, 4-3, in overtime.Mario was able to return for game two on May 19, just 14days after his injury. The Penguins won that game, 5-2,and the next two games by a score of 5-1 in each game,to sweep the series and advance to their second straightStanley Cup Finals.

This was a familiar place for Mario and his teammates,so they knew exactly what they needed to do to win theCup. Not to mention that the Penguins club of 199192was versatile enough to win any type of game. Some hockeygames become high-flying, with the puck zipping allaround the rink and lots of scoring. With sharpshooters likeMario and Jagr, the Penguins could play that type of game.But they were equally adept at the opposite style: whenthe scoring became tight and strong defense was key,Pittsburgh could keep the puck close and under control.

In the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals versus the ChicagoBlackhawks, the Penguins used a little bit of both styles.The series started in Pittsburgh, where two periods intothe first game, Chicago had a 4-1 lead. In the third, thePenguins surged to tie the game at four apiece. Then,with 18 seconds remaining in regulation time, Blackhawksdefenseman Steve Smith was whistled for hooking

Mario. Chicago coach Mike Keenan didnt like the call:he thought Mario had purposely fallen to trick the ref-eree into calling the penalty. Keenan grew even angrierwhen, five seconds into the power play, Mario knocked arebound past Blackhawks goalie Ed Belfour to win thegame for Pittsburgh.

Even though Keenan had been head coach of thechampionship Canada Cup team led by Mario five yearsearlier, he was incensed at the star now. Before game

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Once reluctant to give inter-views, Mario happily talks tothe media after the Penguinssecured their second straightStanley Cup in May 1992.

WINNING I T FOR BADGER 63

two, Keenan blasted Mario with accusations of takingfake dives and stumbles, saying that the star was trying todraw the referee into calling penalties against the Black-hawks. I cant respect Mario for diving, Keenan toldreporters. The best player in the world is embarrassinghimself and embarrassing the game.

Most people thought Keenan was trying to draw atten-tion to Marios stumbles and put pressure on the officialsto call fewer penalties in game two. Whatever the case,Keenans words didnt seem to affect Mario, who scoredthe winning goal in the Penguins 3-1 victory. Whensomeone asked him to respond to Keenans accusationsafter the game, Mario said, No commentfor now.

The question of whether or not Mario was flopping totry to draw penalties continued as the series moved toChicago. We dont mean to cast anything negative towardMario, explained Darryl Sutter, a Blackhawks associatecoach. Were just asking the question: Is there anotherset of rules, unwritten rules, that are there for Mario andMario alone? Based on what weve seen in this series, theanswer is yes.

By the time game three was finished in Chicago, therewouldnt be much of a series left to see. Pittsburgh won thatgame, 1-0, and also took game four in a scoring-fest, 6-5.

With that, the Pittsburgh Penguins were repeatchampions. For the second straight year, Mario and histeammates hoisted the Stanley Cup and circled the ice.When you win once, people wonder, said Kevin Stevens.When you win twice, its no fluke.

As they skated the Cup around Chicago Stadium, thePenguins remembered and honored Badger Bob Johnson.For many, only one thing could have made this momentbetterthe presence of Badger Bob Johnson.

In October 1993, Mario shakes hands with a patient at the Veterans Hospital inPittsburgh. Just 10 months before, Mario had been a patient battling cancer.

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BEFORE MARIO LEMIEUX was a Stanley Cup champion, backwhen he was simply a superstar battling a back problem, he had founda helpful way of looking at things. A two-year-old girl named Ashley,who was the daughter of his teammate Tom Barrasso, was sufferingfrom cancer. At the same time that Mario traveled to Los Angeles in1991 to have doctors treat his back problems, Ashley was at a clinic insouthern California fighting her cancer. Mario always told himselfthings could be worse. His back problems were nothing compared towhat Ashley was facing.

The deadly disease was one Mario was growing to know well. Ashleyfought cancer and beat it. Penguins coach Bob Johnson died from it.Mario knew others who had passed away from the disease: two uncles, acousin, and his agents sister-in-law. But Mario himself had neverexpected to deal with it. Thats why when he noticed a small lump on hisneck in 1991 he didnt pay it much attention. About a year later, however,he noticed that the lump had grown and decided to talk about it with the

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THE BIGGEST BATTLE

Penguins team physician, Dr. Charles Burke. When theplayer and doctor met in December 1992, Dr. Burke wasntoverly alarmed but suggested that Mario have it checked out.So, in early January, Mario had the lump examined by aprivate physician. Doctors removed the lump, which hadformed around a lymph node in his neck. The lump wastested, and the results were shocking. Mario had cancer.

On January 12, 1993, he learned of the diagnosis. Thelump had been analyzed and was found to be malignant.The type of cancer Mario had is called Hodgkins disease,which is named after the English doctor, ThomasHodgkin, who first described it in 1832. Hodgkins diseaseaffects the lymph nodes, which help the body pass fluidsbetween the circulatory system and tissues, and also fightdisease. Hodgkins disease enlarges the lymph nodes,which are clustered around the neck (where the first signsof cancer are usually found), armpits, and groin. Males intheir late teens, twenties, and thirties form the largest groupof people affected by Hodgkins. Mario, at 27 years old,was right in the middle of that age group.

Not all the details were bad. Four levels of Hodgkinsdisease have been identified; Mario had stage one Hodgkins,which is the least severe and has a 95 percent cure rate.Considering that, Marios prognosis was good. Still, he wasterrified. The day he learned of his cancer, he drove homefrom the doctors office dreading the moment when hewould see his soon-to-be-wife, Nathalie. (The two had awedding date set for June.) After they gave me the news,I could hardly drive between the tears and the crying, Marioremembered. That was certainly a tough day in my life. I gothome. Nathalie was there. I was trying to avoid her. Finally,I had to tell her, but it took a long time for me to say the word,like 20 minutes. I was crying like a baby. She was real nervous.Every time I started to tell her, it wouldnt come out.

Over the next three days, Mario talked about the diseasewith his family, doctors, and the Penguins management andplayers. At that point, he was leading the league in scoring

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and was on pace to break Wayne Gretzkys single-seasonpoint record. His hockey season would be put on hold so hecould spend the next four or five weeks undergoing radiationtreatment to kill any remaining cancerous cells in his neck.When he finally commented publicly about his cancer onJanuary 15, Mario described the reaction of his teammates.I walked into the room and everybody was silent, Mariosaid. Thats not like our team. It was tough for everybody.I wasnt sure what to say, and nobody else knew what to say.Ive had the same experience, talking to people with cancerand not knowing what to say except, Good luck.

Mario with his wife, Nathalie,at the 2000 ESPY Awards.After learning that he hadHodgkins, Mario struggled to tell Nathalie.

One thing Marios teammates made clear was that theywere more concerned with Mario as a person than as aplayer. Obviously, it hurt the team to lose its superstar forany amount of time, but the Penguins players were in nohurry to see Mario play. He had led them to two StanleyCups while playing through excruciating, arthritis-likeback problems. They could only imagine the pain and gutssuch leadership demanded, and for that they were grateful.What the Penguins players were extremely eager to seeand hear about was a healthy, cancer-free Mario. I dontknow what more that guy is going to have to go through,said forward Troy Loney. I just feel for him. I couldntcare less when he comes back, just that he gets healthy.

The talk was that Mario might be able to return withinfour to six weeks, after his radiation treatment was con-cluded and most of the side effects had subsided. Somepeople who battle Hodgkins disease actually continueworking while undergoing treatment, but not professionalathletes. Marios excellent physical condition would likelyhelp him to recover quickly, but he would have to wait untilhis treatment was finished to play.

In late January, Mario began his radiation treatments at theMedical Center in Beaver, Pennsylvania. He continued tovisit the clinic throughout February and into early March.During that time, the hospital staff did its best to keepMarios presence a secret. They didnt tell reporters that hewas coming there, and they had Mario wait for treatment ina private room instead of the public waiting room. Mario didtake time, however, to visit the childrens ward, where hesigned autographs and posed for pictures with the kids.

During a four-and-a-half-week period, Mario underwent22 radiation treatments that bombarded the cancerous areawith X-rays and electrons. He lost three or four poundsduring that time, which is not considered a lot for peopleundergoing such treatment. Temporarily, Mario lost hissense of taste. He also had a small bald spot on the back ofhis head, but was able to comb hair from the top of his head

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to cover it. Hes done extremely well, much betterthan I would have forecasted, Dr. James Hughes, directorof radiation oncology at the center, told the Beaver Times.Its probably a function of his age, his physical fitness andhis desire.

Desire burned brighter in Mario than any disease orinjury. When Marios cancer was first announced,reporters started telling the story of Jeff Blatnick. Aworld-class Greco-Roman wrestler, Blatnick had beendiagnosed in 1982 with the same kind of Hodgkins thatlater surfaced in Mario. After being treated with radiation,he began training again. Against the predictions of many

U.S. Olympic wrestler Jeff Blatnick (right) battles SwedensThomas Johansson during the1984 Olympics. In 1982 Blatnickhad received the same diagnosisMario would later face.

experts, Blatnick qualified for the 1984 Olympics and ledthe United States team to a gold medal. He was diagnosedwith cancer a second time in 1985, and almost made theOlympics again in 1988. I dont live with a cloud overmy head, Blatnick told reporters. Mario took the sameattitude. On the same day that he finished radiation treat-mentMarch 2, 1993Mario boarded an afternoonflight to Philadelphia, where the Penguins were playingthe Flyers.

That night, having undergone radiation treatment just12 hours before, Mario played 21 minutes in the game. Hescored a goal and had an assist, and though the Penguinslost, 5-4, nothing could have been more encouraging. Itsunbelievable, Penguins left winger Kevin Stevens said.Its crazy. How can you even imagine what he didtonight? Theres only one person in the world who coulddo it, and its him.

What got Mario through the fear of facing a killerdisease, including more than a month of numbingtreatment, and helped him find the will to play as soonas it was over? The answer, according to the peoplewho knew Mario best, was his own resolve. TomReich, who is Marios longtime agent and personalfriend, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette how Mariosbravery inspired the people around him. You wouldthink some of us who are close to him and who are alot older than him would give him strength during thishour of need and trepidation, Reich said. But thatwas not the case. We gained strength and drew strengthfrom his courage.

Courage is something Mario had displayed all his life.Growing up, he was the youngest of three very competi-tive brothers. As a youth hockey player he was always thebest, which made him a bulls-eye for cheap shots. Hisyoung adulthood began by being drafted as the savior of afranchise in a country whose native language he could noteven speak. A brilliant career had been hindered many

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times by stabbing back pain. All of those things, in theirown way, require courage. To face and beat cancer simplydemanded the strongest, toughest courage Mario couldmuster. But to him it was simply a part of life. If youdont have courage, youre not going to beat it, Mariosaid. Its my nature to fight back.

Mario returned from his battle against cancer with a flourish. The Penguins wenton a 17-game winning streak, and, despite missing 22 games, Mario took theleague scoring title.

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MARIO LEMIEUX MAY be the only professional athlete in history tobeat cancer and win a scoring title in the same season. When he returnedin March 1993, Mario was behind Buffalo Sabres star Pat LaFontaineby 17 points in the scoring race. But for both Mario and the Penguins,the rest of the regular season was spectacular. Mario collected pointsat the pace of a kid collecting toys on a shopping spree in Toys R Us,including a five-goal game against the New York Rangers.

The Penguins, meanwhile, put together a 17-game winning streak atthe end of the season, setting an NHL record. Despite missing 22games, Mario finished the 199293 season with 160 points and thescoring championship. With 56 wins and 119 points, the Penguins hadenjoyed their best season ever and a first-place finish.

So dominating were the Penguins that virtually everyone in hockeyexpected them to win a third straight Stanley Cup. The excitementaround Pittsburgh was electric, spreading everywhere and to everyone.

In the first round, Pittsburgh easily dismissed the New Jersey Devils

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in five games. But in the second round, the New YorkIslanders gave the Penguins an unexpected challenge,forcing the series to a deciding seventh game in Pitts-burgh. As the third period ended, the score was locked at3-3. When the Islanders David Volek scored in overtime,he not only won the series for New York, he also managedto suck the energy right out of Pittsburghs hockeydreams. No Stanley Cup. No three-peat. And as it turnedout, there would be no Mario Lemieux for a while, too.

Over the summer of 1993, Mario had corrective surgeryperformed on his back. Combined with the aftereffects ofradiation and cancer, the surgery drained most of hisstrength. A sense of fatigue caused Mario to miss most ofthe 199394 season. He played just 22 games, and thePenguins were defeated in the first round of the playoffsby Washington.

That summer, after talking to doctors who told him thatthe only way to overcome fatigue was rest, Mario decidedthat he would sit out the 199495 season. Its been verydifficult the last couple of years, he said, but I wanteverybody to know I still love the game of hockey. Its nota hockey issue, its a health issue.

When asked if he would consider coming back for theplayoffs, Mario said no, that this was a season-longdecision. To cope with the loss of Mario, the Penguinsacquired Luc Robataille from the Los Angeles Kings,signed three centers, and locked up Jaromir Jagr with along-term contract. Eddie Johnston, who had taken overfor Scotty Bowman as head coach, still felt good about histeams playoff chances. But owner Howard Baldwin alsoknew that fans would be incredibly disappointed overMarios absence. Reluctantly, he even offered to refundseason ticket money for people who didnt want their seatswith Mario not playing. Theres no question wed all loveit if Mario could play, Baldwin said, and nobody wouldlove it more than Mario.

Mario said he wanted to return in the fall of 1995, but

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there were no guarantees. His return would depend uponhis health. I dont want to come back until I can play theway Mario Lemieux can play, he said. If I feel Im notable to go on the ice and be close to 100 percent, anotherdecision will have to be made.

During the first part of the season that he sat out, Mariofelt awful. The fatigue was still ravaging his body inNovember and December of 1994, and at that point hefelt as if he would never play again. But as the seasonprogressed, the rest started to work. Slowly, Mario beganto feel better physically. Mentally, he was feeling moreand more excited about the prospect of playing hockeyagain, especially after watching the Penguins beat theCapitals in the playoffs. Plus, his wife, Nathalie, wasurging him to continue playing. She didnt want herhusband to retirenot yet.

Over the summer, Mario began training by working hislower body on a stationary bike and, for the first time, lift-ing weights to strengthen his upper body. Feeling stronger,he began seriously training for his comeback. Hearing thatMario Lemieux was working in a weight room during thesummer surprised some people who knew him well. Oneveteran teammate, Ron Francis, told a reporter how Marioused to view off-season training: We were sitting aroundafter the first Cup and sort of rehashing the season andI asked him if he worked out in the summertime. He saidyes. I was actually very surprised and asked, What do youdo? He answered, Well, starting August 1, I dont orderFrench fries with my club sandwich. That was his versionof conditioning.

Now, Marios idea of conditioning was to come back insuperb shape and prove that, at age 30 and with twoserious health problems behind him, he could still playhockey. His first game back happened in Pittsburgh onOctober 7, 1995. The Penguins were playing the TorontoMaple Leafs. That night, after missing hockey for 18months, Mario recorded four assists in an 8-3 win. I was

really nervous for the last couple of days. I didnt knowhow to approach the game, really, Mario said. It wasexciting to get back on the ice and get the ovation again.Ive had a few comebacks here in Pittsburgh, but itsalways special to come back and share that great relation-ship with the fans and players.

Mario planned to play 70 games that season, which isexactly what he did. He scored his 500th NHL goal onOctober 26 against the Islanders in New York. His 161points were enough to win the fifth scoring title of his career,and the Penguins di