Mario Lemieux Essay, Research Paper

Mario Lemieux

Born: 1965

Mario Lemieux was born on October 5, 1965 in Montreal, Quebec. He had two brothers, Alain and Richard. They both also had talent in hockey, so when he was four years old, his parents sent him to the local hockey rink to learn how to skate. He was put under the watchful eye of Fernand Fichaud , Mr. Fichaud had seen his brothers play and knew that the Lemuieux possessed extraordinary talent in hockey. He taught Mario how to grip the stick properly and how to skate well. Mr. Fichaud saw the talent in Mario immediately and recommended to his parents, Pierrette and Jean-Guy that he was more talented than his brothers and that he was a “Natural.” Mario too noticed that Fernand and his parents were paying extra attention to him. When he grew up, he was always the star of the team he played on, no player on any Quebec team was ever any match for him. Already, everyone was saying he was going to make the NHL and compared him to a small boy who lived in Brampton, Wayne Gretzkey. His parents would support him at any game and soon, no one was surprised to see him as the MVP at a tournament. Soon he was on a junior team called the Laval Voisins in the QMJHL(Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) He had scored a 133 goals and 149 assists for a whopping total of 282 points in 70 games!!! That was almost two goals a game.

Mario Lemieux is one of the most amazing players the game has ever had. He had an amazing goal-per-game average of .823, that’s higher than Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe!! He had over 600 goals, led the NHL in scoring for six seasons, was the second-fastest player to reach one-thousand points, has won two Stanley Cups, was the only player ever to score thirty power- play goals in two seasons. He has also won the Lester B. Pearson trophy five times, won the Art- Ross trophy six times, has won the Conn-Smythe trophy two times and has also won the hart trophy as the league’s most valuable player. On one occasion, he brought home three of those trophies on the same day!

Mario Lemieux has contributed a great amount to change the face of Canadian hockey players along with Wayne Gretzkey. He has helped this sport grow in Canada as well as in U.S. cities like Pittsburgh. Canadians are a lot of times, under the shadow of American athletes but with the help of athletes like Mario and Wayne, we have come out of that shadow.