UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (01/21/96)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Great expectations

If you make it, he will come. So, Brian Turner did just that. The president of Priority Records had a sweater made with "99" stitched on the back.

Not long afterwards, Wayne Gretzky materialized. There were no cornfields surrounding the Iceoplex in North Hills, Calif. - more like palm trees - but, you get the picture.

The greatest scorer in National Hockey League history had joined another league for the past summer, showing up for the summer's Thursday night games.

Gretzky told Turner, a friend and the driving force behind America's No. 1 independent record label, that he would play if a sweater were made for him. Turner was skeptical.

"At the beginning of the summer," Gretzky recalled in a pre-season interview with The Hockey News, "I said, 'Make me a sweater and I'll play.' I don't think they believed me, and all of a sudden I started showing up.

"Basically, I played defense and just tried to make sure I got a good skate in and passed the puck to the other guys. I did accidentally shoot it off a guy's skate and it went in the net and I didn't feel too good about scoring a goal."

Gretzky's team in the Continental Senior Hockey League, the Stars, actually lost a game with him in the line-up the night pal Sergei Fedorov (he's Russian) joined in. But, No. 99 said there were extenuating circumstances.

"The only game we lost was a game that Sergei and I played together," Gretzky said, before adding the kicker, "but (former pro goalie and close friend) Eddie Mio was our goalie. Our goalie was sick, and Eddie went in net."

That Gretzky and Fedorov lost a game is surprising; that Gretzky played at all is shocking. The Los Angeles Kings' Ukrainian megastar center seldom skates during the off-season, seeing it as time for renewal of mind, body and soul away from a game he has dominated like no athlete ever has a professional sport.

But, the summer of 1995 was different. It followed the most frustrating season of his career, a year in which Gretzky fell to earth after nearly two decades of orbiting the rest of the hockey world.

The Great One averaged just one point per game (11 goals and 48 points in 48 games), the lowest mark by almost half a point per game of his illustrious 16-year career, and the Los Angeles Kings missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Gretzky responded by working himself into excellent shape in anticipation of a better season ahead.

"I did more cardio (vascular) training than ever before," Gretzky said. "Mainly because I didn't get in a full year last year. It was cut short. I just felt that we had too much time in the off-season and because I didn't play that much last season."

Gretzky played an average of 87 NHL regular-season and playoff games over the first 15 years of his career. Last year he played just 48. Plus, of course, his games in the Continental League, which, by the way, drew full houses to the Iceoplex once word spread Gretzky was playing for the Stars.

"I did skate a lot more than I normally do and again for basically the same reason," Gretzky said. "I didn't get enough hockey in compared to what I normally get in. It's the first time I've really skated in the off-season."

Gretzky viewed 1995-1996 as a pivotal season.

"I'm pretty honest about it," Gretzky said. "The last thing I want to do is embarrass myself. This is a big year for me. I'm not going to lie about it. I said to my wife, 'I'm going to give 100 percent effort to be ready for the season, and I'm going to play at 100 percent fitness, and I'm going to give it my best effort.'

"And I think I'm going to have a big year. I think our team is going to be much stronger this year and we're going to probably play a little bit more of a defensive system than we've played in the past, but that's okay. Whatever we have to do to win, that's what it's all about."

A big season for Gretzky means a return to elite scoring status and team success for the Kings, who have played like paupers since reaching the Stanley Cup finals in 1993.

Gretzky finished 21st over all in scoring last season (the Kings were 20th in over all points) and goals didn't come easily; he went through nine- and 10-game stretches during which he scored no goals and finished with one goal in his last 13 games.

But that was then and this is now, and Gretzky didn't rule out a spirited bid for an 11th Art Ross Trophy - although, at age 34, he is almost a decade older than all the serious competition. Eric Lindros is 22, Jaromir Jagr, 23, and Fedorov, 25.

To say nothing of Mario Lemieux, who ended Gretzky's unprecedented streak of seven scoring championships in 1988. Lemieux, 30, has returned after taking a year off to recuperate from chronic back injuries. He's expected to play close to a full season.

Gretzky is acutely aware of what it takes to win a scoring title - he has prevailed with as many as 215 points and as few as 130 - and figures this season's winner will be closer to 100 than 200.

"When you have people like Fedorov and Lindros," Gretzky said, "obviously those guys are going to be very difficult, but I'm not sure that anyone has proven they can score 160-170 points. I think the reality is 135-145 points will win the scoring (title), unless Mario stays healthy and plays 80 games. And if he stays healthy and plays 80 games, he's gonna score 160 points and probably walk away from everybody.

"But Lindros and Fedorov will be very difficult for me to compete with, except if I can play at the level I'm capable of I can achieve 140-145 points. And if I do that, and they beat that, then all the more power to them."

Gretzky, the most statistically dominant athlete ever, has one more notable personal objective: to complete a remarkable quadruple leap into NHL history. Gretzky has already passed Gordie Howe in all-time goals (814), assists (1,692) and points (2,506) with a triple jump into the record book. One mark remains - to earn as many assists as anyone else has points. Howe retired with 1,850 NHL points; Gretzky needs 159 assists to pass Mr. Hockey.

That serves as motivation for Gretzky.

"I thought about it the other day," Gretzky said with a laugh. "Yeah, l think about it. It's something I'd love to do. It's something that not a lot of people have followed and really know about. Yeah, it would be something that I would really like to do.

"I'm not overly concerned about that right now. If our team gets off to the start that it can get off to and we do what we can do as an organization, then that's going to fall into place. If we go out and compete at the level we did last year, then obviously it's going to be a very difficult time for me."

The Kings are a curious team. They surrendered more goals than they scored each of the last four seasons (including 1992-1993, when they lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the final), but won more games than they lost in those years. Only the semi-expansion San Jose Sharks allowed more goals over that time. Those two teams haven't represented the California blueline so much as the California fault line. Last season, the Kings improved their goals-against-average and shots again marginally from 1993-1994, but still finished fourth worst in GAA (3.57) and dead last in shots against (an average of 36 per game).

"It's way too many shots and a lot of those shots are quality shots," said right winger Jari Kurri. "It's not like they've been shooting from the redline or blueline."

Gretzky had a team-worst minus-20 and Kurri was a minus-17. Longtime linemates Kurri and Gretzky hadn't been teamed together during the pre-season, and they could be apart for the regular season.

New head coach Larry Robinson wouldn't commit to line combinations it was thought Gretzky would be teamed with new left winger and fellow Ukrainian Dimitri Khristich - but did say the Kings would be committed to better defensive play.

"I want us to get into a good defensive position and once we get possession of the puck, then go (with it)," Robinson said. "I don't really see Wayne's game being affected at all, as far as offense is concerned, and it should help him offensively because everybody is going to be in better position for him to get the puck to them."

While Gretzky has called this a "make-or-break year," it is apparent he has no desire to retire after this season. Gretzky is excited about the possibility of playing for Canada in a proposed Canada/ World Cup '96 and hasn't shut the door on playing through 1997- 1998 when NHL players will participate in the Olympics.

"I'll tell you exactly what I told Bob Goodenow," the Great One said of a conversation with the NHL Players' Association executive director. "I don't know what's going to happen to Wayne Gretzky in 1998. If I'm fortunate enough to be around and I deserve to be invited to play on the Olympic team, then, my gosh, I'd be the first guy to consent to go and I think it would be a privilege."

Gretzky's contract runs out this season and he'll be eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer. That status intrigues him.

"I would like to stay and finish my career in L.A., but I'm pretty honest about that, too," Gretzky said. "I'm gonna go into this year like I play every year, like I'm playing for my life and I'm going to play the best I can. I've asked Mike (Barnett, his agent) to sit down with the new owners, but believe me, if I start playing well and I have a good year, I'm going to look at all my possibilities."

In the past, Gretzky has been driven by a desire to prove detractors wrong. Is he similarly driven this year?

"I think, for some reason, l might be touch past that, except for one thing,' Gretzky said. "I'd like to show myself that I can still be competitive. As you say, there's always a change in the guard... but you know what, I'll play an I'll play the best I can, and this is the year that I want to show people that I can still play one more year after this. It will be an interesting year for Wayne Gretzky. Believe me."

| Home Page |