Mario

The future of the Pittsburgh Penguins was forever changed on a cold, dreary night in Montreal in March of 1984. As Pens general manager Eddie Johnston looked on, a big kid wearing No. 66 dominated the opposing team like an on-ice version of Gulliver toying with the Lilliputians.

"Oh my god," Johnston muttered in astonishment.

Penguins owner Edward DeBartolo Sr. had a similar reaction after watching Mario Lemieux play. When the team's top selection in the 1984 Entry Draft put on a show during his first practice session, DeBartolo turned to Johnston and said, "Thank god you didn't trade that pick."

Perhaps no player in the history of the sport displayed more promise — or carried a heavier burden — than Lemieux. When he joined the Penguins as a fresh-faced 19-year-old rookie, he was expected to be a savior for a moribund franchise that barely had a pulse.

"Without Lemieux, they pack up the team and move to another city," said Rangers GM Glen Sather.

Standing 6'4" and weighing 210 pounds, Mario initially drew comparisons to a legendary center of similar dimensions and pedigree — Montreal's stately Jean Beliveau. Both were of French Canadian descent and each skated with a regal bearing. However, the player he was most often compared to was Edmonton's superb scoring ace Wayne Gretzky.

"I tried to gauge my career against his," Lemieux said. "It helped me to elevate my game to a level he'd reached. It was great for both of us."

Mario would soon share the same rarified air as his rival. After showing steady improvement over his first three seasons, Lemieux exploded for 70 goals and 168 points in 1987–88 to emerge as hockey's most dominant player.

The following season Super Mario truly came of age. He enjoyed a magnificent season, racking up 85 goals, 114 assists, and 199 points. Opponents and teammates alike were awed by his brilliance.

"I grew up watching Bobby Orr," Pens winger Kevin Stevens said. "And Wayne Gretzky was phenomenal. But Mario is on another level."

"He just holds the puck out there on his forehand and dares to you to commit yourself," said Boston's All-Star defenseman Ray Bourque. "If you do, he slips it past you, and if you don't, he controls the blue line and has time to make the play."

With no legal means to defend against Lemieux's extraordinary talents, opponents took to fouling him and the old-guard NHL referees allowed it. The abuse he absorbed soon took its toll. On February 14, 1990, searing back pain forced Mario to remove himself from a game against the Rangers. Examinations revealed a herniated disc, an injury that would haunt him for the rest of his career.

"I saw him score in 46 straight games," marveled announcer Mike Lange. "I saw him get on the plane and he couldn't even sit down. He couldn't put his own things in the bins above the seats. But he kept at it and kept the scoring streak alive."

Displaying enormous resilience and character, Mario overcame his back problems to lead the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. Yet it was the adversity he would face the following season that elevated him to the status of a champion for the ages.

In 1992–93 Lemieux bolted from the starting gate like a thoroughbred racehorse. Piling up 101 points in his first 38 games, the big center was on pace to threaten Gretzky's single-season record of 215 points.

Once again, Mario had reached the very pinnacle of his sport. But once more, fate stepped in to deliver a crushing blow. On January 13, 1993, Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease.

Following surgery to remove an infected lymph node, the Penguins' captain underwent a series of radiation treatments. Displaying recuperative powers bordering on the superhuman, he returned to the lineup on March 2 and promptly went on a tear. Mario tallied 51 points over a 16-game stretch to lock up his fourth Art Ross Trophy, which is awarded each year to the league's leading point scorer, and his second Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.

"If he would have been healthy, he would have broken a lot of records," teammate Jaromir Jagr said. "Maybe not all of them, but I'm pretty sure a lot of them. He was the best player I've ever seen. He was the most gifted at everything — size, strength, skill, how smart he was. There is no other player like him."

Mario would make two more dramatic comebacks and win two more scoring titles before hanging up his skates for good in 2006. On April 2, 2008, he was chosen as the "Best Athlete in Pittsburgh Sports History" at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Dapper Dan awards banquet over luminaries such as Roberto Clemente and Honus...