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LOL at Gretzky's 71-72 stats

that's just freaking nuts. i play in a pick-up league and average 1.5 goals pg and almost 2.8 points pg. I feel like I rock the other team when I play and control the flow of the game when I'm out there.

Gretz was doing 4.4 goals pg and 6.1 points pg against people older than him and pretty serious about hockey. Not that we didn't already know this, but he was on another planet skill-wise.
 
That I believe was when he was still playing against ones his age back in Brantford. What is often not talked about is that many locals began to really resent Wayne and harass him and his family over those scoring numbers and by the time he was fourteen he was playing for a Junior B team in Toronto partly because of needing to get away from such people.
 
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dr robbie said:
that's just freaking nuts. i play in a pick-up league and average 1.5 goals pg and almost 2.8 points pg. I feel like I rock the other team when I play and control the flow of the game when I'm out there.

Gretz was doing 4.4 goals pg and 6.1 points pg against people older than him and pretty serious about hockey. Not that we didn't already know this, but he was on another planet skill-wise.
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You calculate your ppg in pick up hockey, and you play against people who arent half as good at you?

I think I've played against you--you're "that guy"
 
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The Panther said:
Was that the season when he played defence?
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Not exactly if this quote is a good indication:

At age 11, Gretzky was running wild in his Pee Wee league in Brantford. Nicknamed for his white gloves and speed, he scored 378 goals ... in one season. In one game, he potted three in 45 seconds. "He would never come off the ice," recalls SI.com's Darren Eliot, who played against Gretzky in the same league. "He moved to defense instead of actually taking a break on the bench."
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http://www.sikids.com/photos/20746/rare-photos-of-wayne-gretzky/3
 
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Hippasus said:
Not exactly if this quote is a good indication:



http://www.sikids.com/photos/20746/rare-photos-of-wayne-gretzky/3
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I think it was the season he played defense. Wayne's dad wanted him to play defense so the other parents wouldn't get mad so Wayne played defense. At that time they were only playing four defensemen total. I think Wayne said that in the first or second game one of the other defensemen broke his leg. So, now there is only three defensemen. Wayne said that the other two defensemen would swap in and out and he would stay on the ice the whole game.
 
cowboy82nd said:
I think it was the season he played defense. Wayne's dad wanted him to play defense so the other parents wouldn't get mad so Wayne played defense.
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Very interesting and of course makes perfect sense. I havent really delved into his youth hockey back in Brantford but sure. 60 minute player and the only place you could do that was on Defence or in goal. Not uncommon for the best player's to be playing Defence on any given team, then eventually converted to forward as the rest of his generation either caught up or he excelled to greater heights playing with older guys.... As for "Hockey Parents", as I guess some of you know having seen it or perhaps even lived it, ya, big problem. The politicking & really just downright selfishness that goes on can be pretty despicable. Demands that "little Bobby" be given 1st line status & PP without really earning it, just outright jealousy in some people who feel a need to denigrate kids who are clearly gifted & sorry, better than your little Bobby or whatever pretty hard to stomach at times. Youve gotta feel for a lot of the amateur Coaches & Managers who have to deal with all of that nonsense, let alone the gifted player & his parents. A lot of them just quit at 13-16. Not worth the grief. Personal happiness a lot more important than money. Eventual payoffs. Sad really as dreams do indeed die hard.
 
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:amazed: He was 11... doing that against players 16+... that's incomprehensible. I can't even imaging watching this tiny little kid doing that against boys who are starting to become giants.
 
dr robbie said:
that's just freaking nuts. i play in a pick-up league and average 1.5 goals pg and almost 2.8 points pg. I feel like I rock the other team when I play and control the flow of the game when I'm out there.

Gretz was doing 4.4 goals pg and 6.1 points pg against people older than him and pretty serious about hockey. Not that we didn't already know this, but he was on another planet skill-wise.
Click to expand...

stu the grim reaper said:
You calculate your ppg in pick up hockey, and you play against people who arent half as good at you?

I think I've played against you--you're "that guy"
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Analyzer said:
He probably has cards of himself with the stats on the back, too.
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McGuillicuddy said:
Indeed. And "that guy" gets lumber when he comes near my crease.
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Well to be fair guys, all pick up leagues keep stats at this point and they're typically updated by midnight the night you play, so it's not like he's sitting there with a notepad on the bench tracking his stats.

I was going to say though, unless he's playing at the highest level available to him, yes, he's "that guy". I've played with that guy, and I've played against that guy. They ruin the league. If you're that good, move up to the next level. I don't care what level all your friends are at. It's an excuse anyway. You just want to be a star instead of playing with your peers so you stay down in a lower level to play with your friends. *

*90% of the time, anyway. I'm generalizing here.
 
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ICM1970 said:
That I believe was when he was still playing against ones his age back in Brantford. What is often not talked about is that many locals began to really resent Wayne and harass him and his family over those scoring numbers and by the time he was fourteen he was playing for a Junior B team in Toronto partly because of needing to get away from such people.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he talked about it in his autobiography. At first, his father didn't want him moving to the city. He didn't tell anyone at his new school he played hockey. A classmate went to one of his games, then in school asked if that was him. Gretzky begged the kid not to tell anyone or make a fuss about it.

As far as Brantford, parents would take out stopwatches and time his shifts. The worst I read was in a lacrosse game. He was in the Championship. Best of 3, he was about 12. In game 1 he scored 2 goals and had 7 assists, set the same kid up 5 times for goals. He skipped a baseball game for game 2. He scored 6 goals. Parent of the kid he set up 5 times came to him after and said he should have gone to play baseball that day.
 
irunthepeg said:
:amazed: He was 11... doing that against players 16+... that's incomprehensible. I can't even imaging watching this tiny little kid doing that against boys who are starting to become giants.
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No, he was not. He started at 6, playing against older kids. However, stayed at the same level until he was the right age to move up. By the time he was 10, he was playing with other 10 year olds.
 
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patnyrnyg said:
No, he was not. He started at 6, playing against older kids. However, stayed at the same level until he was the right age to move up. By the time he was 10, he was playing with other 10 year olds.
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That's right. And in the season he was 6 he had one goal the whole year. 4 years later, 378. Wow.

I also remember reading that this is something that prompted Gretzky to learn to pass the puck more since parents were getting mad that he was scoring so much. I mean honestly parents, cry me a river.
 
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Big Phil said:
That's right. And in the season he was 6 he had one goal the whole year. 4 years later, 378. Wow.

I also remember reading that this is something that prompted Gretzky to learn to pass the puck more since parents were getting mad that he was scoring so much. I mean honestly parents, cry me a river.
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I mean he did have 139 assists in 85 games, but obviously that does pale in comparison to the goal totals. Although at that level I'm sure it's harder to get your teammates to score off your passes than it is to score yourself when you are that much better. The fact that Gretzky beat that number of assists in the NHL (163 in 80 games) against the best in the world kind of shows that.
 
ICM1970 said:
What is often not talked about is that many locals began to really resent Wayne and harass him and his family over those scoring numbers and by the time he was fourteen he was playing for a Junior B team in Toronto partly because of needing to get away from such people.
Click to expand...

In fairness to those locals, the same "that guy" principle that people are talking about above, also applies in youth hockey. It's easy to imagine going to a game of 11-year-olds and being annoyed by the kid on the other team who skates all 60 minutes, completely controls the game, and has a line of 5-2-7 on a normal day.

Were players of that age allowed to bodycheck back then? I know it's changed quite a bit over the years. Perhaps part of the picture here is that they didn't want to move a pre-pubescent child to a level with full checking by adolescents.
 
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tarheelhockey said:
Were players of that age allowed to bodycheck back then? I know it's changed quite a bit over the years. Perhaps part of the picture here is that they didn't want to move a pre-pubescent child to a level with full checking by adolescents.
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Depends on the league/where it is. My dad is close to Gretz's age but wasn't allowed to hit in his league (North York/Toronto, Canada) until he was 8 or 9 but had relatives in smaller towns like Brantford that were allowed to hit at a young age.
 
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