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Mario Lemieux vs. Wayne Gretzky
Why Mario is the Greatest Hockey Player Ever
Mario Lemieux's rise to greatness began in 1983-84, his last year of major junior hockey. He set a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League record with 282 points while playing 70 games. In mid 1984, the Pittsburgh Penguins drafted him with the first pick of that year's NHL draft. Mario bursted on to the scene with 43 goals and 57 assists for a total of 100 points in 73 games to lead all rookies. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year in '85. The next season, 1985-86, "Super" Mario scored 141 points in 79 games with 48 goals and 93 assists.
As the NHL continued to become a defensive league more and more, Lemieux's stats, unlike those of Wayne Gretzky, never hit a snag. Lemieux played in just 63 games in 1986-87 and scored 107 points, including a career high 54 goals. He then proceded to win his first scoring title and his first Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP. That year, he set career highs in goals, assists, and points by netting 70 and assisting on 98 for a total of 168 points. Mario repeated as league MVP and scoring champion in 1988-89 by again setting career highs in goals with 85, assists with 114, and points with 199. On December 31, 1988, Lemieux put on the greatest performance by one man in a single game in the history of the NHL. That night against New Jersey, he scored a goal at even strength, on the power-play, shorthanded, on a penalty shot, and into an empty net for a total of five goals, five different ways. Mario also saw his first glimpse of the playoffs that year. The Pens swept the New York Rangers in the first round before losing in seven games to Philadelphia in the second.
He had entered his prime, and this was
when the tragedy of his story begins. In 1989-90, Lemieux played in just
59 games, missing 31. However, he still finished second in the league in
scoring and his 123 points were just 19 less than Wayne Gretzky. In 1990-91,
he suffered from a herniated disk in his back and played in just 26 games
scoring 45 points. However, the Penguins won the Patrick Division and Lemieux
was back in time for the playoffs. It was then that he proved his true greatness.
The Penguins defeated the Devils in seven games, the Capitals in five, and
the Bruins in six and were headed to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first
time. They would meet the Minnesota North Stars. Lemieux scored 5 goals and
7 assists for 12 points, despite missing one game due to his suffering back.
The Penguins defeated Minnesota 8-0 in game six to win the series 4-2 and
their first ever Stanley Cup Championship. In 1991-92, Mario missed another
16 games, yet still scored 131 points to lead the NHL. The Penguins finished
third in the Northeast, but made an improbable run in the playoffs, capping
off another Stanley Cup Championship with a four game sweep of the Chicago
Blackhawks in the finals.
The 1992-93 season was the Penguins' best regular season in their history and featured Mario's greatest achievement as a player. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer, and missed 20 games. Through all of the radiation treatment and suffering, he always knew he wanted to return, and he did so on March 2 in Philadelphia. He incredibly led the league in scoring with 160 points in 60 games as the Penguins had the best record in hockey at 56-21-7.
In 1993-94, Mario played just 22 games and scored just 37 points. Talk of his retirement began at the end of that season and they escalated when he announced he would sit out the strike-shortened 1995 season. Without him in 1995, the Penguins made it to the second round of the playoffs before losing in five games to the New Jersey Devils. However, fifth year right wing Jaromir Jagr emerged as a superstar. Jagr led the NHL in scoring for the first time in 1995 with 70 points. He became the first player other than Mario or Gretzky to lead the league in scoring since Marcel Dionne in 1979-80.
On June 20, 1995, Mario announced he would return for the 1995-96 season. That year, Mario took over the NHL once again. In 70 games, he scored 161 points, winning the scoring title by 12 points over teammate Jaromir Jagr. He also won his third MVP award. The Penguins lost in a tough seven game series in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Florida Panthers. Mario would be back again in 1996-97, leadeing the league in scoring with 122 points in 76 games. After losing to Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs, Mario retired.
Although his playing career was over, Mario returned to the Penguins' picture
in 1998. After filing for bankruptcy, the Penguins appeared to be on there
way to moving out of the Steel City. Mario, a resident of Pittsburgh, would
not let that happen. After about 11 months of work and negotiations, Mario
officialy became the majority owner of the Penguins, saving their entire
existence.
