Mario Lemieux

Mario Lemieux was born on October 5 1964 in Ville Emarde, Quebec. He played in the NHL for the Pittsburgh Penguins for 17 seasons (1984-2006) Although Mario Lemieux had a bad back and overcame cancer, he is regarded as one of the best players in the NHL ever. Some of his nicknames were “La Magnifique”, “Super Mario” and “The Next One”. Wayne Gretzky was the only player to reach 200 points in a single NHL season. Mario Lemieux came the closest anyone has ever come with 199 points. In that season Lemieux had 114 assists and scored a record 50 goals in 50 games. In this season Lemieux only played 59 games because of his back injuries.

In the 92-93 season, Lemieux was on track to beat two of Gretzky’s records, scoring over 215 points and 92 goals in one season. He was unfortunately diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in January and was forced to undergo daily radiation treatments. On the day of his final treatment he flew to Philadelphia to play the Flyers and he even scored a goal that game. In the 96-97 season Lemieux thought that he was going to retire. After that season, he was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was the 9th player ever to not have to wait the mandatory 3 year waiting time before being inducted.

Through the 1990s, the Penguins organization was not doing a good job managing the team. They were signing big name players that demand huge salaries. This put the team into bankruptcy. Lemieux saved the team by buying it himself in 1999. By august of 2005 the team had officially paid off all of its debts and now in 2006, Mario has put the team up for sale. On top of all of the other accomplishments of his career, Mario was team captain of the 2002 Mens Olympic Team and led them to gold for the first time in 50 years.

Mario is my hero because he accomplished everything any hockey player could ever want to. He was arguably the most talented hockey player to ever play in the NHL. He could have tied or beaten all of Gretzky’s records if he did not have injures that kept him from playing. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he was obviously not playing but on the day of his final treatments, he flew down to play for his team and even scored. Mario, in my opinion was the most dedicated hockey player ever in he NHL. He even saved his team from being lost because of bankruptcy. He was the only NHL player to actually save a hockey team from disappearing. He has inspired me to play like him and to be as dedicated as he was. He has changed the way that I play hockey and the way that I look at the game.