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Facing Wayne Gretzky: Players Recall the Greatest Hockey Player Who Ever Lived
Wayne Gretzky holds the records for the most goals, assists, and points scored in a career, in addition to about 60 other records. These feats, in tandem with his exceptional on-ice performances, earned him the nickname “The Great One” as well as the immediate retirement of his number (99) across the NHL at the end of his playing days. During his 10-year career with the Edmonton Oilers, Gretzky led the team to five Stanley Cup Finals appearances and four wins. After moving on to Los Angeles, he also led the Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals. Gretzky ended his career with the New York Rangers in 1999.
Far from a conventional biography, Facing Wayne Gretzky offers perspectives and testimonials from opponents and teammates alike, including Denis Potvin, Kelly Hrudey, Rob Blake, and many more.
Never has another hockey player achieved what “The Great One” did on the ice, and it is unlikely that one will soon. This book details what it’s like to face the best player who ever skated, illuminating his passing ability, his deceptively effective shot, and his inventiveness both with the puck and without.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.
Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Far from a conventional biography, Facing Wayne Gretzky offers perspectives and testimonials from opponents and teammates alike, including Denis Potvin, Kelly Hrudey, Rob Blake, and many more.
Never has another hockey player achieved what “The Great One” did on the ice, and it is unlikely that one will soon. This book details what it’s like to face the best player who ever skated, illuminating his passing ability, his deceptively effective shot, and his inventiveness both with the puck and without.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.
Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 2, 2015
I used to read countless biographies of star athletes in hopes of glimpsing the inner workings of their genius. I quickly learned, unfortunately, that physical geniuses are almost never good at verbally communicating their gift to others. Instead, they give you very drab accounts of the factual events of their life, all the while demonstrating either an unwillingness or an inability to introspect. The best books seem to always come from the benchwarmers and the role players.
That is why I gave "Facing Wayne Gretzky" a chance--it isn't told from Wayne's perspective, but rather all the lesser talents that surrounded him. They actually have some wonderful insights into his game, and there is a great mix of players/officials who idolize Gretzky and those who can barely conceal their disdain for the man. I was pleasantly surprised how many players were willing to acknowledge the reason Gretzky faded so much during the back half of his career.
My one critique is how repetitive the accounts are during the Edmonton period. They basically all said the same thing: "We all tried to stop Gretzky, but if we did x, he would do y. Gee he was good!"
Anyway, it's definitely worth skimming through for a hockey fan!
That is why I gave "Facing Wayne Gretzky" a chance--it isn't told from Wayne's perspective, but rather all the lesser talents that surrounded him. They actually have some wonderful insights into his game, and there is a great mix of players/officials who idolize Gretzky and those who can barely conceal their disdain for the man. I was pleasantly surprised how many players were willing to acknowledge the reason Gretzky faded so much during the back half of his career.
My one critique is how repetitive the accounts are during the Edmonton period. They basically all said the same thing: "We all tried to stop Gretzky, but if we did x, he would do y. Gee he was good!"
Anyway, it's definitely worth skimming through for a hockey fan!
December 23, 2019
The first twenty or so we’re interesting but as the book went on, there were less and less new observations.
February 22, 2024
Interesting stories about the goat.
March 24, 2015
This was an interesting concept for a book, as instead of the author simply writing about facing Wayne Gretzky through research etc., he simply acted as editor (and I assume interviewer). This book is a collection of recollections from opponents of Wayne Gretzky and the editor simply put their words to paper more or less verbatim.
The book loses a star for me for a few reasons. The first is largely not the editor's fault presumably, but this book is missing a lot of big name players speaking about Wayne Gretzky. Being an avid hockey fan, I had heard of most of them, but there were a few that I had no idea who they were. I think this book would have been a lot more interesting to hear from big name players who played against Gretzky rather than grinders, slugs and mediocre goalies as is the majority of the players used.
The second thing that causes this book to lose a star is the sheer repetitive nature of the stories. Instead of the players telling unique stories about playing against Gretzky, the author seems to have asked the subjects the same set of questions. Thus, the answers are largely repetitive and are hockey strategy answers as opposed to personal stories for the most part. Perhaps I am biased as I am a huge Wayne Gretzky fan and have read practically every book ever written on him and grew up watching him play. Thus, there was nothing new I learned about him or his style of play. Rather, it was the same thing ever said about him.
The third and biggest issue I had with the book was it was not proofread nor fact checked. The author adapts some of the quotes by adding a few words in brackets to the interviewee's words. One such time is a player (Kelly Hrudey I believe), mentions something about Wayne winning the "MVP" (the Hart Trophy) one last time in Los Angeles and the author wrote [1993] when that is not true. That would have been quite an accomplishment for Gretzky had he won the Hart Trophy only playing half a season.
As well there are misspelled names throughout the book. I can understand if you simply transliterating an interview that a person can have a memory fault and the details might be clouded over time. So I don't blame the author for that, however the spelling is definitely something the author can be blamed for. For instance, ensure you spell players' names correctly.
The last issue I had with the book, is it appears that since the author is California based, he has an overabundance of interviews with subjects that were associated with the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks. While this would be fine in a book spanning a players' career that started in the mid-90s and was a long time member of one of the Pacific Division teams, Gretzky predated the Ducks and Sharks. A few players subtly try and knock him down a few pegs because they are bitter rivals of the LA Kings.
I found that the inclusion of Brian Heyward (former Sharks goalie and current Ducks colour man) was a poor choice. As a Kings fan (who stayed with LA after Gretzky left), I can tell you that Heyward hates the Kings. When calling games his homerism is not even attempted to be hidden. You can see the underlying hatred towards the Kings and by proxy Gretzky in his comments.
Craig Conroy was another poor choice. Perhaps I simply found his comments to be an attempt to take the shine off my idol. But he tries to minimize Gretzky's talent by saying he played in a different era where everybody sucked etc. He makes it sound that if Gretzky played today he wouldn't be the best player in the game. I understand that some of it is based on playing against Wayne in the final few seasons of Gretzky's career. Even though Wayne was my childhood idol, I will admit that by the time he was a Ranger he had lost a step. However, some of that was due to age and injury. Had he been 21 when he played with the Rangers Craig Conroy would have a different impression.
Overall, this book is still worth the read. Just keep in mind that some players sound bitter and others simply retell the same analysis. What a reader needs to understand is that the stories told in the book are far diminishing of the talent Gretzky was. If you are reading this book and did not see Gretzky play or only saw the Rangers years, you won't get the true picture of how well he played. However, if you are someone who saw Gretzky in his prime as I did, you will recognize that some of these stories are tales to make the players interviewed feel better about the way they played.
The book loses a star for me for a few reasons. The first is largely not the editor's fault presumably, but this book is missing a lot of big name players speaking about Wayne Gretzky. Being an avid hockey fan, I had heard of most of them, but there were a few that I had no idea who they were. I think this book would have been a lot more interesting to hear from big name players who played against Gretzky rather than grinders, slugs and mediocre goalies as is the majority of the players used.
The second thing that causes this book to lose a star is the sheer repetitive nature of the stories. Instead of the players telling unique stories about playing against Gretzky, the author seems to have asked the subjects the same set of questions. Thus, the answers are largely repetitive and are hockey strategy answers as opposed to personal stories for the most part. Perhaps I am biased as I am a huge Wayne Gretzky fan and have read practically every book ever written on him and grew up watching him play. Thus, there was nothing new I learned about him or his style of play. Rather, it was the same thing ever said about him.
The third and biggest issue I had with the book was it was not proofread nor fact checked. The author adapts some of the quotes by adding a few words in brackets to the interviewee's words. One such time is a player (Kelly Hrudey I believe), mentions something about Wayne winning the "MVP" (the Hart Trophy) one last time in Los Angeles and the author wrote [1993] when that is not true. That would have been quite an accomplishment for Gretzky had he won the Hart Trophy only playing half a season.
As well there are misspelled names throughout the book. I can understand if you simply transliterating an interview that a person can have a memory fault and the details might be clouded over time. So I don't blame the author for that, however the spelling is definitely something the author can be blamed for. For instance, ensure you spell players' names correctly.
The last issue I had with the book, is it appears that since the author is California based, he has an overabundance of interviews with subjects that were associated with the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks. While this would be fine in a book spanning a players' career that started in the mid-90s and was a long time member of one of the Pacific Division teams, Gretzky predated the Ducks and Sharks. A few players subtly try and knock him down a few pegs because they are bitter rivals of the LA Kings.
I found that the inclusion of Brian Heyward (former Sharks goalie and current Ducks colour man) was a poor choice. As a Kings fan (who stayed with LA after Gretzky left), I can tell you that Heyward hates the Kings. When calling games his homerism is not even attempted to be hidden. You can see the underlying hatred towards the Kings and by proxy Gretzky in his comments.
Craig Conroy was another poor choice. Perhaps I simply found his comments to be an attempt to take the shine off my idol. But he tries to minimize Gretzky's talent by saying he played in a different era where everybody sucked etc. He makes it sound that if Gretzky played today he wouldn't be the best player in the game. I understand that some of it is based on playing against Wayne in the final few seasons of Gretzky's career. Even though Wayne was my childhood idol, I will admit that by the time he was a Ranger he had lost a step. However, some of that was due to age and injury. Had he been 21 when he played with the Rangers Craig Conroy would have a different impression.
Overall, this book is still worth the read. Just keep in mind that some players sound bitter and others simply retell the same analysis. What a reader needs to understand is that the stories told in the book are far diminishing of the talent Gretzky was. If you are reading this book and did not see Gretzky play or only saw the Rangers years, you won't get the true picture of how well he played. However, if you are someone who saw Gretzky in his prime as I did, you will recognize that some of these stories are tales to make the players interviewed feel better about the way they played.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews