{"id":179403,"date":"2025-08-27T09:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T09:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/179403\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T09:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T09:49:10","slug":"he-kept-hitting-wayne-gretzky-admits-his-last-nhl-game-was-awful-as-his-dad-kept-pushing-him-to-play-one-more-year-nhl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/179403\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe kept hitting\u201d: Wayne Gretzky admits his last NHL game was \u201cawful\u201d as his dad kept pushing him to play one more year | NHL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u201cHeWayne Gretzky (Getty Images) Wayne Gretzky\u2019s last NHL<\/a> appearance on April 18, 1999, at Madison Square Garden is remembered as a celebration of the \u201cGreat One\u2019s\u201d extraordinary career. Yet, for Gretzky, the moment wasn\u2019t only about the sold-out crowd, the ovations, or the history\u2014it was about a quiet car ride with his father, Walter Gretzky.<\/p>\n

The final drive with Walter Gretzky that meant more than the farewell ovation<\/p>\n

On the 25th anniversary of his retirement, Wayne Gretzky reflected on why he asked Walter to drive him to Madison Square Garden that night. \u201cFor my final game, I decided that since my dad drove me to the first game I ever went to, it would be great to drive my dad to my last game,\u201d he told NHL.com.That ride, however, was far from ordinary. Gretzky admitted, \u201cThe ride was good, but it was kind of awful in the same sense because every three minutes, he kept hitting my leg and telling me that I could play one more year. I said, \u2018No, dad, I\u2019m done.\u2019\u201dWhile the NHL and fans worldwide treated the day as a fitting farewell to the greatest player in hockey history, Gretzky cherished that personal moment most. To him, it was the perfect full-circle memory, blending his first steps in hockey with the end of his iconic journey.<\/p>\n

Lessons from Walter Gretzky that shaped a hockey icon<\/p>\n

Wayne Gretzky’s father, Walter Gretzky was more than just a supportive parent\u2014he was the guiding force behind Wayne\u2019s rise. When officials tried to block young Wayne from moving to Toronto in 1974, Walter stood firm, saying, \u201cNo, they can’t tell me where to send my own boy\u2026 If he will be happy elsewhere, we decide between the family.\u201dAlso Read: What is the Wayne Gretzky Rule and how it changed the modern NHL forever<\/a>Walter\u2019s philosophy of family first left a lifelong mark on Wayne, who carried those values into his career and personal life. Though Walter passed away in 2021, his wisdom continues to influence Gretzky, reminding fans that behind the hockey legend was always a devoted son.After his retirement in 1999, Wayne Gretzky was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, making him the most recent player to have the waiting period waived. The NHL retired his jersey number 99 league-wide. Gretzky was one of six players voted to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team.Gretzky’s career achievements include a record nine Hart Trophies as the most valuable player in the NHL. Between 1981 and 1994, he won the Art Ross Trophy, presented to the NHL’s season points leader, 10 times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wayne Gretzky (Getty Images) Wayne Gretzky\u2019s last NHL appearance on April 18, 1999, at Madison Square Garden is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":179404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[101446,101443,101444,293,101442,101445,62,67,132,68,101448,101441,101447,101440],"class_list":{"0":"post-179403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-gretzky-family-legacy","9":"tag-hockey-legend-farewell","10":"tag-madison-square-garden-gretzky","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-nhl-career-highlights","13":"tag-nhl-history-gretzky","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-walter-gretzky","19":"tag-walter-gretzky-influence","20":"tag-wayne-gretzky","21":"tag-wayne-gretzky-last-game"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115100107781470602","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}