Gretzky’s Magic Does the Trick . . . Boy Howe : Hockey: Everybody plays with the same puck, skates in the same rinks and plays under the same rules, but the Great One somehow gets different results.

We marvel at the magician who pulls a rabbit out of his hat or makes someone disappear. That same kind of illusion is what has allowed Wayne Gretzky to keep hockey fans on the edge of their seats for 15-plus professional seasons.

Gretzky doesn’t have Mario Lemieux’s tremendous size or reach. He doesn’t have Bobby Hull’s powerful slapshot or Rocket Richard’s dazzling speed. He doesn’t have Phil Esposito’s presence in front of the net or Jean Beliveau’s elegance. He doesn’t have Gordie Howe’s bruising elbows or Bobby Clarke’s scalpel-like stickwork.

But just put a hockey stick in Gretzky’s hands and it becomes a magic wand. Everybody plays with the same puck, skates in the same rinks and plays under the same rules, but Gretzky somehow gets different results. Pure magic.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kirk McLean had promised not to let Gretzky out of his sight in the historic March 23 game at Inglewood, Calif., but quicker than you could say “abracadabra,” Gretzky flicked a wrist shot into the net from the edge of the left faceoff circle at 14:47 of the second period to give him 802 career goals--one more than Gordie Howe’s National Hockey League career record.

Consider this: To score 800 goals, a player would have to average 40 goals for 20 seasons, or 20 goals for 40 seasons. Gretzky, whose record-setter was his 37th goal of the season, has averaged 55 over 15 seasons. It took him 1,117 games, 650 fewer than it took Howe.

Gretzky’s feat would be comparable to Hank Aaron reaching Babe Ruth’s record of 714 career home runs in 1,582 games--1,383 games earlier than he did.

Mind-boggling.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t lose sight of Wayne, but it was like he was in one spot one second and somewhere else a second or two later,” McLean says. “Wayne doesn’t shoot as much as he used to, but his shot is still as accurate as any in the game.”

And despite Gretzky’s talk about retirement after playing in the Stanley Cup finals last spring, he will not be disappearing from the Kings’ lineup anytime soon.

“I see 900 goals,” he says. “I see 1,000. I don’t know if I’ll get there, but I’ll give it an effort.”

Gretzky is about 10 pounds heavier than in 1979, when he entered the NHL as a player for the Edmonton Oilers. That’s the result of an offseason weight training program he says he needs at age 33 to survive in his world of crosschecks, bodychecks and hipchecks. But he’s still a whisp at 6 feet, 170 pounds.

“At times I’ve said I wish I was the size of Mark Messier or had the strength of Gordie Howe,” Gretzky says. “But size has never bothered me. I’ve always played within myself and I’ve done OK.”

OK indeed.

Gretzky learned to skate on the frozen Nith River, near Brantford, Ontario. He remembers scoring his first goal against his grandmother Mary, who was seated in a reclining chair in the Gretzky home. Many goalies have been tested since--from an upright position. Vancouver’s Glen Hanlon, for one, surrendered Gretzky’s first NHL goal October 14, 1979. Hanlon, who allowed 12 of Gretzky’s goals before retiring, now is a Canucks goaltending consultant who watched as McLean, his pupil, was victimized by No. 99 for the record-setter.

Gretzky was 2 years old in 1963 when Howe surpassed Richard’s record of 544 goals. That Howe’s name stood atop the NHL goal-scoring charts for more than 30 years makes Gretzky’s accomplishment even more amazing.

“He scored 85 more points one year than the next guy,” Howe says. “I scored 85 one year and set a record.”

No one other than Gretzky has scored 200 points in a season--and he has done it four times. No one else has scored more than 90 goals in a season--he scored 92 in 1981-82.

Beating his boyhood hero was nice, but Gretzky still wonders how he ever got himself into position to challenge anybody’s goal-scoring record.

“Ask me to name hockey’s great goal-scorers and I’ll name Gordie Howe, Phil Esposito and Rocket Richard,” Gretzky says. “That’s what makes this so unique to me because nobody, especially me, dreamed I’d be this close to breaking Gordie’s record.

“My forte is playmaking. When people talk about me, they say, ‘Watch how he passes,’ or ‘Watch how he sees the entire ice.’ ”

No athlete in any team sport approaches Gretzky’s level of dominance. If Gretzky goes on to win the league scoring title this season, it would mark the 11th time he has accomplished the feat. Still, Gretzky’s greatest asset is his ability to make his teammates better than they should be.

“Putting up numbers like he has for 15 years, it’s amazing, especially when you consider he’s still only 33,” Bruins defenseman Ray Bourque says. “He has been unbelievable for the league, on and off ice. The guy has been a phenomenal ambassador for the game at a time when we needed a hero the most.”

In discussions about the athlete of the decade for the 1980s, many talk about Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. But none of those basketball stars approached Gretzky’s success: seven scoring titles, four world championships and nine Most Valuable Player awards.

Gretzky’s accomplishments are even more amazing when you consider that hockey stars average between 25 and 30 minutes of a 60-minute game, compared with 35 to 40 minutes per 48-minute game for basketball stars. To be such a force in a team sport while playing only half the game underscores Gretzky’s greatness.

“What separates him from everyone else is the way he’s able to come out and play his best, night after night, for all these years,” says Jari Kurri, Gretzky’s longtime linemate in Edmonton and Los Angeles. “Wayne is proud of the fact he has never missed the playoffs. He wants his competitiveness to be contagious.”

Gretzky’s greatest achievement is not noted in a record book. His biggest contribution goes beyond goals and assists, beyond bringing a Stanley Cup to Los Angeles, which he says is his final challenge.

Gretzky’s trade from Edmonton to Los Angeles on August 9, 1988, shocked the hockey world, shaking the very roots of the game in Canada. But in retrospect, Gretzky’s move to the United States has been a blessing for the sport, widening the game’s fan base beyond boundaries anyone thought possible.

The Kings, who sold fewer than 5,000 season tickets in 1987 and averaged about 10,000 fans per game, have averaged crowds of 15,619 in a 16,005-seat building over five seasons since Gretzky’s arrival.

More important, the success of the Kings has spawned new interest in the Sun Belt areas, with teams succeeding in Anaheim, Dallas, Miami, San Jose and Tampa Bay.

“Gretzky’s contribution to hockey transcends his performance on the ice,” Mighty Ducks General Manager Jack Ferreira says.

“Gretzky revitalized hockey in Los Angeles, and he is responsible for the success all of the Sun Belt teams have enjoyed.”

Goal No. 802 was just a short pause in Gretzky’s great film.

“A lot of things went through my mind--my dad’s illness, the four Stanley Cups in Edmonton and much, much more,” Gretzky says. “But I have to admit, I’ve never had a greater feeling than when that puck went into the net.”

Commissioner Gary Bettman often says the NHL has to show the world that the things Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and the other league stars do on the ice is as great as what Michael Jordan used to do in the air.

On this night, Bettman said, “You’ve always been the Great One, but tonight you became the Greatest.”