When I broke into professional hockey at 17 I was told that I was too small and too slow and I wouldn’t make the NHL. Now it’s kind of flip-flopped and the sense is I can’t be a good coach because I was a great athlete.
WAYNE GRETZKYIf I had to pick three players to start a franchise, I’d choose Hasek, Peter Forsberg and Eric Lindros.
More Wayne Gretzky Quotes
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The game is played out of instinct, but everyone on the ice has habits – good and bad. So the key to the game is to exploit the bad habits of your opponent.
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I wasn’t naturally gifted in terms of size and speed; everything I did in hockey I worked for, and that’s the way I’ll be as a coach.
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I love everything about hockey.
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When you’re playing an exhibition, you’re kind of letting everyone get an opportunity.
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I have absolutely no complaints about my life. But people think I got handed everything, all this kind of fell in my lap, that I was just God-gifted with all this talent. I wanted people to realize it’s a lot tougher than just waking up one day and you’re in the NHL.
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My best friend had a hockey scholarship at Ohio State, so I would get a couple of pairs at the beginning of the season and send them down to him. They practised two hours a day. He’d skate in them for three weeks then ship them back.
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A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.
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I heard people say, ‘Why would he want to do this?’ My answer is ‘Why not?’ It is what I love. It’s what I know.
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One of the key qualities that you need to be a great hockey player is fantastic anticipation and feel for the game – if you know where the puck is going before it is hit, that is half the battle.
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You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
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Kids don’t fight in minor hockey anymore. There’s very few fights in junior and college hockey. So growing up, all these guys are not fighting.
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Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.
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I love everything about hockey.
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As a player, you have one responsibility, to focus yourself and be ready for the game. As a coach, your responsibility is to get 20 guys ready and have them all on the same page. If you can’t get every guy ready every night, you’re going to struggle.
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I couldn’t beat people with my strength; I don’t have a hard shot; I’m not the quickest skater in the league. My eyes and my mind have to do most of the work.
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That’s the hardest part of this whole process. The best part is picking the players and the worst part is telling basically five players they are not going to play tonight.
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I can’t remember the last time I went to a game and there was a fight. I think they fight more in baseball now than they do in hockey.
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Everything I did in hockey, I worked for.
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I think the Americans are ready to play, they want to beat us. I think that players like Chris Chelios and his leadership over there goes a long way.
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The only way a kid is going to practice is if it’s total fun for him and it was for me.
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I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don’t think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete.
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I don’t think any one person will ever be bigger than the game.
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Skating alone is an art. Doing it on a substance? I don’t know. That’s got to be tough.
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The Power of WHO provides great lessons about how to succeed in business and in life. If you surround yourself with quality people and great friends, the sky’s the limit.
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Lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time. There’s nothing like it. It’s the greatest story. In my era, they used to say you couldn’t be a superstar without winning one. I remember thinking when I lifted it: “Now they can’t say that about me.”
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No matter who you are, we’re creatures of habit. The better your habits are, the better they will be in pressure situations.
WAYNE GRETZKY