PRESS COVERAGE: MARIO LEMIEUX

by E. Spencer Kyte, Bugs and Cranks

After a one week hiatus that followed taking a gimme following the Super Bowl, Press Coverage is back in full force looking at a man who has made ridiculous contributions on the ice and equally important contributions off the ice.

Mario Lemieux ranks seventh on the NHL's All-Time Point list, amassing 1723 points in only 915 games. His 1.88 PPG number ranks as the best career mark in the history of the game and when you do a little math, the potential numbers are staggering.

"Super Mario" played only 915 regular season games of a possible 1458 games and still put up remarkable numbers. Factor in the 543 games he missed due to various and sundry injuries and ailments over his career, Lemieux would have amassed another 1020 points in those 543 games. That would have brought his career totals to 2743, which would have left him in second place behind the man he is forever linked with, "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky.

While Gretzky has the records, Lemieux is often the one spoken of as having the highest level of skill. There is no denying Gretzky's talents, but watching Lemieux on the ice, the argument could be made that a 100% healthy Mario, surrounded by the types of skilled players Gretzky had by his side in Edmonton to begin his career and at the various stops along the way, could have put up equal if not better numbers than "The Great One". Unfortunately, a healthy Mario was a hard thing to come by.

For a good chunk of his career, Mario Lemieux didn't tie his own skates. That is how much pain he was in. His chronically ailing back, which was operated on in 1990 to repair a herniated disc, prevented him from even bending over to lace'em up each night.

On January 12, 1993, Mario Lemieux shocked the hockey world announcing that he suffered from Hodgkin's Lymphoma and would have to missed a stretch of games while undergoing radiation treatment to fight the cancer. When he stepped off the ice, Lemieux had a realistic chance at challenging each of Wayne Gretzky's single season points records.

A second back surgery took place in 1993 and following the 1996-97 season, Mario Lemieux retired from the game of hockey and was immediately enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Though he made a triumphant return to the ice during the 2000-01 season and continued to play at his elite level, injuries and age limited the number of games "Super Mario" played. While he still managed 22 points in 26 during the 2005-2006 season, once again Mario Lemieux retired from the game of hockey. At least, on the ice.

The other side of "Super Mario" is off the ice. While he was an unquestioned savior to the Pittsburgh Penguins on the ice, leading them to Back-to-Back Stanley Cups during the mid-90's, Lemieux also quite literally saved the Penguins off the ice.

During those on-ice glory years, Penguins ownership horribly mismanaged the team off the ice, leading to file bankruptcy in 1998. It was widely expected that the team would be sold and moved from Pittsburgh throughout the '98-'99 season, until Mario Lemieux saved the Penguins once again.

Over his career, Lemieux differed a great deal of his salary to allow the Penguins to bring in other talent to play along side of him. As such, when the team filed bankruptcy, one of it's largest creditors was in fact Mario Lemieux. "Super Mario" turned the money he was owed into equity and bought the team, promising to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh. The man who was in charge on the ice for so many years was now the Owner, President and CEO of the Penguins off the ice as well.

In March 2007, Lemieux was instrumental in negotiating and signing a deal for a new downtown arena, to be built across the street from the Penguins current home "The Igloo" which will keep the team in Pittsburgh for the next 30 years.

"Super Mario" also has been known to open his home to young Penguin players, including Marc-Andre Fleury and Sidney Crosby when they first entered the league, allowing them to focus on the game and get acclimated before forging out on their own.

I'd tell you about the charitable side of Mario Lemieux, but I think you already get the picture.

This is what we need to report on. These are the stories that need to be told and the lives that need to be looked at. Mario Lemieux is more than worthy of Press Coverage...