Gretzky heads Down Under to promote the game
Having played an influential role in popularizing hockey across America’s southwest, Wayne Gretzky is turning his attention to a new frontier.
The Great One’s heading Down Under.
“You know what, I’ve said it a thousand times in my lifetime that everything I have in my life is because of hockey,” Gretzky said. “And quite honestly, I never thought I’d ever one day be saying I’d be going to Australia, let alone go to Australia for a hockey event. You know, I’m so lucky.”
The 55-year-old Gretzky has signed on to take part in the Wayne Gretzky Ice Hockey Classic, which involves a series of five exhibition games that began on the weekend featuring current and recently retired NHL players and minor leaguers.
Gretzky, who is attending the U.S. Open to watch his daughter’s fiance, Dustin Johnson, compete this weekend, is heading down early next week and will suit up for a 4-on-4 game to be played in Sydney on June 25.
The objective is to increase hockey’s profile in Australia and raise money for STOPCONCUSSIONS Foundation and Brain Injury Australia.
Gretzky is no stranger to being a hockey ambassador after helping the NHL make inroads in California, when he played in Los Angeles, and then in Arizona, when he co-owned and coached the Coyotes.
Australia, however, is essentially uncharted territory, even though it’s been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1938.
Ice Hockey Australia lists only 4,200 registrants out of a population of about 28 million, according to the IIHF. Gretzky is undeterred. “Listen, in 1988, we had only 6,000 people show up at an L.A. Kings game. It takes time,” he said, recalling his first season with the Kings.
“The weather’s a hindrance, there’s no question it’s very hot down there,” Gretzky said. “But once kids do participate in the game of hockey, they love it. So that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to raise awareness more than anything.”
It helps that the series will feature some colourful characters.
They include John Scott, the journeyman enforcer who became an overnight sensation for defying the NHL and electing to compete in the 2016 NHL all-star game, in which he was selected as the MVP.
The U.S. team is coached by Dave Hanson, who became famous for his role as one of the Hanson Brothers in the 1977 movie Slap Shot, starring Paul Newman.