He Saw Greatness Early

Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg remembers meeting Wayne Gretzky for the first time in 1977. Hartsburg was 18 and Gretzky 16. They were playing for a junior team in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada.

“That was a pretty tough league and he was this scrawny little guy,” Hartsburg said of Gretzky, who announced his retirement Friday.

Seventy goals and 112 assists later, Hartsburg and the rest of the hockey world had a different perception of Gretzky.

“I don’t think anybody doubted him after that,” Hartsburg said. “There was no question he was going to become a great player. At the end of the year, we all knew he was going to be something special.”

Hartsburg recalled interest growing in his team simply because of Gretzky’s scoring.

“Every place we went after the halfway point in the season, the rink was full,” he said.

Hartsburg laughed when asked if he recognized himself in any of the many highlights shown of Gretzky during his farewell news conference.

“Yeah, that was me in a couple of them,” said Hartsburg, a former Minnesota North Star defenseman.

Hartsburg later became Gretzky’s teammate with Team Canada in the 1987 Canada Cup. “That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in hockey, that ’87 Canada Cup,” Hartsburg said.

TONIGHT at San Jose, 7:30 Channel 9

* Site--San Jose Arena.

* Radio--XTRA (690).

* Records--Ducks 35-34-12, Sharks 31-33-17.

* Record vs. Sharks--3-1-1.

* Update--Defensemen Jason Marshall and Pavel Trnka and winger Marty McInnis won’t play tonight. Marshall and Trnka are recovering from blows to their heads. McInnis suffered a cut on his chin late in the first period of the Ducks’ 4-3 overtime loss Thursday to the Kings. The Ducks recalled left wing Mike Leclerc from Cincinnati of the American Hockey League.