By Veronica An
Wayne Gretzky, nicknamed The Great One, scored his first goal against the Vancouver Canucks in 1979. Of the 1,487 games he played, Gretzky scored 894 goals and won 2,875 points. He scored 50 goals in just 39 games during the 1981-82 season when he played for the Edmonton Oilers, breaking the 1945 record set by Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice “”Rocket”” Richard. He also holds 61 National Hockey League (NHL) records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records. Gretzky joined the Los Angeles Kings in 1988 and led them to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals. In addition to his time in the NHL, Gretzky also played in the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the World Cup of Hockey in 1996, four Canada Cup tournaments and both the IIHF World Junior and World championships. After his retirement in 1999, the NHL retired his jersey #99 and inducted him into the Hockey Hall of Fame without the traditional waiting period. Almost ten years later, he became the managing partner for the Phoenix Coyotes and was honored as the torchbearer in the opening ceremony at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.