Things Can’t Be Greater for Him

The room in which Wayne Gretzky sleeps has twin beds, with a night table in between. Off the hall is a kitchenette, a cupboard to stash shoes and a cramped washroom that Gretzky must share with three other guys. Wayne will make about $6 million to play hockey this season with the New York Rangers.

Occupying the next bunk is Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings, a star from the NHL’s championship team. Showing a visitor around their digs the other day, Gretzky said, “Hey, this is a lot better than we’d been led to expect. I was prepared for a lot worse.”

At 37, older than most Olympians, richer than most North Americans, more famous than most sportsmen, the Great Gretzky is having a very fine time here, not living the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

“This is what I came for,” he says.

In public, from that very first day at the train station, Gretzky gets mobbed like a rock star, as opposed to a hockey star.

“Gretz is the only one of us they recognize,” Yzerman volunteers, a bit of a fib.

In the athletes’ village, though, this isn’t always the case.

Gretzky noticed that right off. A shy type himself, who often diverts his eyes or looks at the ground, Wayne walks around the compound with his Canadian teammates and can see for himself that shock of recognition. But he observes, “Some people tend to stay away from us, as if they don’t want to talk. Some are shy with us, you can tell.”

Perhaps he is simply the last person any of them expected to see between the laundry and the cafeteria.

Nothing can compare to the wide-eyed faces that were waiting at Nagano Station a few days ago, when Canada’s team arrived from Tokyo on the bullet train. Hundreds began lining up on the platform long before the train reached its destination. Gretzky was engulfed. A crowd bunched like cattle moved toward him, knocking back 200-pound Rod Brind’Amour of the Philadelphia Flyers in the process.

Looking over the mob scene, Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche said, “Is our arrival here really that big?”

The hockey stars weren’t sure what to expect, Gretzky included.

Would they be well known? Or would they not create a ripple? Back home, in the towns where they play, each man on the Canadian team was a semi-celebrity (or more) in his own right. Even the coach, Marc Crawford, had a following in Colorado, from coaching 1995-96’s NHL champions. Over here, if you asked a man on the street to identify Marc Crawford, he might answer, “Wasn’t he the Phantom of the Opera?”

It turned out, the NHL had Nagano agog.

“It’s amazing how many people here collect hockey cards,” said Ray Bourque of the Boston Bruins, the only man older than Gretzky on the squad. “You come here and you wouldn’t think people would know much about the NHL, but they have our cards. They know what’s going on in the league.”

Some even know a hush-hush secret, that the old Great Gretzky ain’t what he used to be. He clearly isn’t the best player on this team. His ice time is diminishing. On a breakaway, a full stride ahead of the defenseman nearest to him, Gretzky got caught from behind by Sweden’s Ulf Samuelsson, hardly the game’s fastest human.

At times when Sweden had a top gun, say, Peter Forsberg or Mats Sundin, on the ice, it would seek a mismatch by sending that man at Gretzky, one on one. How hockey has changed.

Otherwise, for the Canadians and their native legend, everything has been as enjoyable as can be. They have already won two games, with an eagerly anticipated one against the United States coming up next.

Guys try to stir up a grudge match. Gretzky is too smart for that. Of the Americans’ poor start, he says they have “a lot of heart, a lot of talent and this thing is far from over.” Diplomacy is the best policy.

Gretzky gives the Canadians advice.

“Play each game like it’s the Stanley Cup finals,” he tells them.

The team prepared that way, even on the trip over. Contrary to the U.S. players--whose plane had a full-sized bed, an exercise bike, a variety of movies and a marathon card game--the Canadians had a “war room,” held discussions, mapped out power plays. Gretzky says, “We really worked on some of the team aspects of the game. We need to spend time together to be a team.”

In their two-bedroom unit, Gretzky and Yzerman share space with Brind’Amour and goalie Martin Brodeur. They share the Olympic experience as well. Some of the guys, like Rob Zamuner and Keith Primeau, organized a trip to a nearby temple. Sticking together is important to them here.

Gretzky’s wife and father are in a downtown hotel. Walter Gretzky is seven years beyond a near-fatal brain aneurysm. His memory is a total blank over a 20-year span up to being stricken. But the father of Canada’s most accomplished athlete doesn’t need to remember each accomplishment, he says. Getting to see “Wayne representing his country” is what counts.

Besides, something good did come out of this, Walter Gretzky says of his condition. Wayne’s sister, Kim, got married to their father’s therapist.

It is fun for Wayne, having his father here.

Makes him feel like a kid again. He’s even living like one.