Despite missing seven games during the season, Lemieux scored 100 points and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the rookie of the year. Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky occupy all of the top ten places in the NHL records for points and assists in a season. [36] This made the then-retired star the first former NHL player to become majority owner of his former team. He is the only player to score one goal in each of the five possible situations in a single NHL game, a feat he accomplished in 1988. Lemieux cited his Canada Cup experience as the reason for his elevated play later on, stating, "Remember, I was only 21 years old at the time. Lemieux was second to Joe Sakic in team scoring with six points in five games, and led the team to gold by defeating the United States 5–2 in the final game. In his first season as principal owner Pittsburgh went from a loss of $16 million from the previous season into a small profit of $47,000. He claimed he was upset about the contract negotiation, and said that "Pittsburgh doesn't want [him] bad enough. At the start of Lemieux's career, the Penguins were in financial turmoil and there were rumors of relocation. Captaining a juggernaut Canadian squad, Lemieux … During the tournament, his hip injury required several painkilling injections to keep him on the ice, and he only played one more NHL game after the Olympics before being lost for the season. [39], Before the start of the 2001–02 season, Pittsburgh was forced to trade most of their expensive players, so the team plummeted to the bottom of the NHL and missed the playoffs in each of the next four seasons. The youngest of three sons of Jean-Guy and Pierrette Lemieux, he was raised by his stay-at-home mother, and his father, who was a construction worker. That came after he missed two months of the NHL season while undergoing treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma. Canada has competed at every Winter Olympic Games. Lemieux's plan was designed to pay everyone the organization owed. The NHL's Board of Governors approved his application for ownership on September 1, 1999. On December 27, 2000, he returned to the NHL against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He helped the club building and together with teammates he knew in both 1991 and 1992 to win the Stanley Cup . Mario Lemieux 2002 Olympics Team Canada Jersey This Nike Jersey is the same exact style worn by Mario when he captained the 2002 Canadian Team to the Gold Medal in Salt Lake City. On December 23, 2002, the Penguins played the Buffalo Sabres in Pittsburgh and Lemieux, who was aware of the challenge, made good on it when he scored the game-winning goal right off a faceoff during the third period.[41]. The situation became so dire that the Penguins were forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1998. After a cross-ice pass from Lemieux in the neutral zone, Canadian defenceman Chris Pronger carried the puck across the blue line into the American zone, and fired a pass across the zone. Signed Mario Lemieux memorabilia isn't too difficult to find, but it comes with a price. Canada competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Lemieux played for Canada in the 1983 World Junior Championships (bronze medal), 1985 World Championships (silver medal), 1987 Canada Cup (championship), 2002 Winter Olympics (captain, gold medal) and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey (captain, championship). Only player to score 30+ power-play goals in two different seasons. Nicknamed "The Magnificent One", "Le Magnifique" and "Super Mario" after the fictional character of the same name, he is widely acknowledged to have been one of the greatest players of all time. [4] Despite his lengthy absences from the game, his play remained at a high level upon his return to the ice; he won the Hart Trophy and scoring title in 1995–96 after sitting out the entire previous season, and he was a finalist for the Hart Trophy when he made his comeback in 2000. On June 12, 2009, Lemieux won his third Stanley Cup title, this time as an owner as the Penguins won a rematch with the Red Wings in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, in seven games. Despite Lemieux's success, the Penguins finished one point out of the playoffs. Mario Lemieux 1965-Canadian hockey player One of the most admired figures in professional sports, Mario Lemieux has enjoyed a lengthy career filled with dramatic moments. Lemieux's career was plagued by health problems that limited him to 915 of a possible 1,430 regular season games between the opening of the 1984–85 campaign and the final game of 2005–2006. [9] In 2017, he was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players". Lemieux proved that his scoring touch had not disappeared by scoring a goal and three points, including an assist 33 seconds into the first shift of his return. The team had declared bankruptcy after the 1974–75 season, and by 1983, they were averaging fewer than 7,000 fans per game—less than half of the Civic Arena's capacity. Another reason for optimism was the Penguins winning the lottery for the first draft pick, enabling them to select Sidney Crosby. Re-living Canada's 2002 gold medal win in Salt Lake City. He is the only man to have his name on the Cup both as a player and owner. "[9] Bobby Orr called him "the most talented player I've ever seen." Lemieux had a hockey video game, Mario Lemieux Hockey (1991) for the Sega Genesis, named after him. Before the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, Lemieux announced that he wanted to play for whoever drafted him. 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