Buddies over Broadway

Sporting News, The, Oct 14, 1996 by Larry Wigge

The elevator leading from the press box at Montreal's Molson Centre to the locker-room level after the final game of the World Cup was so crowded you could hardly breathe. In fact, I nearly choked at some of the commentary from the back of the elevator. Team USA general manager Lou Lamoriello, assistant G.M. Jack Ferreira and several reserve players were enjoying their 5-2 victory over a star-studded-but aging--Canadian team.

I couldn't tell who was speaking. But the essence of the conversation from the seventh floor to the the first included this:

"You know the best part? Gretzky missing that open net," one voice says of a late opportunity that the game's greatest player had as time ticked down.

"Yeah, I could have done that," says another.

Laughter follows.

I try to look back to see who's making these comments, but I can't move.

"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy," says a third voice.

"Must have been bad ice (that) caused it," says another in mock humor as the elevator hits the bottom floor.

Obviously. some people in the NHL would like nothing better than to see Wayne Gretzky flop, particularly now that his reunion with Mark Messier on the Rangers ranks as the No. 1 story in a new season. They helped lead the Oilers to four Stanley Cup championships in five seasons before Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles in August 1988. Messier captured one more title in Edmonton and another in New York, but Gretzky has not come close again.

Without doubt, the overriding question as the 1996-97 season gets under way is whether the dynamic duo of Messier and Gretzky can regain he magic in Gotham City.

On the ice at the Rye Playland practice rink just one week before the team opened the season, the Rangers are loose and joking around between whistles from coach Colin Campbell. Clearly Gretzky and Messier are enjoying the camaraderie the most.

When Gretzky lets defenseman Doug Lidster get past him in a one-on-one drill, Messier is the first to let him have it. "Angle him, Wayne," Messier shouts. "Did you forget everything Glen Sather taught us in Edmonton?"

It has been eight long years for Gretzky since he left his best friend Messier behind in Edmonton. He has had personal success but the team success that drove the two players with the Oilers was not there in stops in Los Angeles and St. Louis.

At 35, Gretzky would give anything to be able to play 35-40 minutes a game at top speed; he would give anything if he could turn back the clock to the summers and winters of his youth, when nature and its gifts stood as his friend, not his enemy.

But time never backtracks. The past couple of seasons, Gretzky looked weary and unhappy. That's what comes from being in a losing environment. Some say Gretzky is selfish, that he forced the trade to St. Louis late last season and orchestrated the quick withdrawal from the Blues to ride the backdraft of Messier's still-strong legs.

At practice, Messier never lets up. No one beats him on that one-on-one drill. Though Messier also is 35, Gretzky labors at some of the same drills. Messier thrives on competition, whether it's on the ice, in the weight room, or just beating Gretzky to push the button on the elevator of one of their Manhattan apartments. But Messier doesn't look at the arrival of Gretzky as some sort of charity case. In fact, he was the one who convinced Rangers management to spend $4 million to sign Gretzky as a free agent in July.

"Wayne Gretzky isn't like a racehorse you put out to stud, not when he still has a lot to give this game," says Messier, his eyes burning a hole in my chest for broaching such a subject. "He scored 102 points last season. How many guys in the NHL did that?

"Wayne is an icon, yes, but he's also a great hockey player. It's no secret we lost in the playoffs because we didn't get any production from our second line. What would be better than to have the game's greatest player on your team, given an opportunity to be on a team that has a chance to win a Stanley Cup? No one wants to win another Cup more than Wayne and me."

Gretzky looks beyond the questions of selfishness and jealousy. His eyes almost bulge out of their sockets at the thought. Sure, Gretzky chose New York because he knew Messier could push him to a level of play no one else can. But that doesn't mean Gretzky and Messier can't be 1 and 1-A.

"I don't care if I'm 1, 1-A or 3-D," Gretzky says. "I plan on playing hard every night and helping Mark. When I go to the rink now, I know the pressure's not all on my shoulders. This is a team game, there's no place for petty jealousies. Mark and I have always pushed one another. It doesn't matter to us whether he gets a hat trick or I do as long as the team wins."

The two are driving one another in the weight room after practice when this question comes up: Who is the best leader? Mess looks at Gretz. They both laugh at the thought that there is competition between them for that, too.

This is clearly Messier's team, and Gretzky has no problem with that, though some might think otherwise.