Great One’s Great Moment Saves the Day

It was one of his last shifts in a game most players didn’t care enough about to break a sweat, but Wayne Gretzky refused to waste those precious seconds. Time has become, if not his enemy, a shadow that sometimes obscures his brilliance. The clouds parted for him in Sunday’s NHL All-Star Game, and once again, he turned an apparently meaningless moment into a momentous occasion.

He swooped. He swirled. He took a blistering shot that World All-Star goalie Nikolai Khabibulin stopped with a frantic fling of his glove. He had already recorded a goal and two assists and had clinched most valuable player honors in the North American All-Stars’ 8-6 victory over the World team, so he need not have done anything more than not trip as he left the ice. But why throw away minutes he may never enjoy again?

The 19,758 fans at the Ice Palace knew genius when they saw it and gave him a standing ovation. Players on both sides were tempted to join in.

“Theo [Fleury] and I wanted him to win the MVP. We were going to try and do anything we could to give him the puck and get him one last goal,” said Mark Recchi, who skated on Gretzky’s left, opposite Fleury. “Fortunately, he won it. This is definitely not his last All-Star Game. At least I hope it’s not. I can’t see anybody really taking his spot.”

Two days from his 38th birthday, Gretzky reclaimed the exuberance and form of his youth. He never lost his passion. He may have misplaced it in the rush of years and moves from the Kings to a disappointing stint in St. Louis to a stay with the New York Rangers that has left him short of the Stanley Cup triumph he still craves.

Relieved, for a day, of having to carry a franchise--or a couple of checkers on his back--Gretzky was the star of stars and turned a game that had been fearfully flat into a night to remember.

He had said he anticipated this being his last All-Star Game because he’s not sure he will merit another selection, but no one is ready to let him go.

“I had a great time just watching him,” North American center Jeremy Roenick said. “That pass he made to Recchi [to finish a two-on-one for a 4-1 lead], I couldn’t believe it. When he got back to the bench I looked at him and tried to say something and I couldn’t say a word. He started laughing.”

Throughout a career filled with major triumphs, Gretzky has kept few of the gifts flung at him. The car he won for this third All-Star MVP award Sunday--his 16th or 17th car, he couldn’t remember--will be the first he keeps, to remind him of a few significant hours in a usually insignificant game.

“Everything I’ve ever won I’ve put in my dad’s basement or my restaurant in Toronto,” he said. “I’ve never kept any of the cars. I want to keep this to be a reminder of the game and the wonderful weekend in the city of Tampa Bay. I don’t want to forget it.”

Besides scoring a goal in the second period, he set up former King teammate Rob Blake for the North Americans’ seventh goal. “No one else could get the MVP than Wayne,” Blake said of their first All-Star reunion since 1994.

And no one else could have taken the ceremonial first faceoff, an honor that was supposed to belong to Eric Lindros but was generously given to Gretzky by Lindros.

Lindros declined to explain his decision, but it was clearly made out of respect.

“He’s reading the plays so well and taking passes and giving passes with great speed. Considering the conditions weren’t great, that’s amazing,” Lindros said. “He’s able to feather those passes like no one else.”

Gretzky’s performance was surpassed only by his off-ice comportment. Before the game, despite relentless demands, he made time to chat with Vladimir Konstantinov, the Detroit defenseman who was grievously injured in a 1997 limousine accident and is undergoing rehabilitation in Florida. He also offered a personal tribute to Maurice Richard, for whom the NHL named its goal-scoring trophy. “I didn’t want to just shake his hand. I told him the NHL was lucky to have him and it will be a great honor for the first player to win that trophy,” Gretzky said. “I said I wished they would have had it 15 years ago. I could have gotten my name on it.”

Michael Jordan’s retirement ended an era in the NBA, but Gretzky’s eventual retirement will rob the NHL of the face it has presented to the world for a generation.

“It’s not just his game,” said North American Coach Ken Hitchcock. “For me, it’s watching the incredible professionalism he exhibits. There were some special [handicapped] people in the dressing room and he made sure every guy was available and pulled guys out of the change room to be sure Konstantinov and other young kids were greeted by everyone.

“He just loves the game. And he loves to talk about it and be around it. People talk about Jordan being sorely missed--when this guy leaves the game, he’s going to leave a big hole. He’s what this game is all about.”

Gretzky isn’t sure how much longer he will play. His contract expires this summer but the Rangers have two one-year options for renewal. But Sunday was a day to enjoy the present, not worry about the future.

“This was something really special,” he said, “being two days from 38 and playing with the great players of today. In 10 years the players are going to be better than they are today. Our game is growing and getting better all the time, so I’m very proud of today.”