PASSOVER EDITION 5785 SECTION A PAGE 2
Sports history is full of legends, and we were privileged to witness a legend in the making when hockey great Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record (894) was overtaken. Alex Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time power play goal scorer made his 895th goal from his sweet spot, left circle on the power play. It couldn’t have been scripted better.
April 6 is a moment that will never be forgotten. I was alive when . . .
Because of its rough nature, hockey players are erroneously presumed to be brutes. I urge anyone who think so to watch Sunday’s ceremony.
Gretzky — and his wife — provided an exemplary lesson in middot, personal behavior. Until very recently, nobody believed Gretzky’s record could be broken. No less than Ovechkin himself said so. I can’t imagine what it’s like to own an unbreakable record for decades and see it threatened. Sour grapes would be understandable.
But Gretzky embraced the opportunity to be a link in the chain, inspired by the man whose record Gretzky overtook — Gordie Howe.
“The Great One,” as Gretzky is known, has been shadowing Ovechkin as the Washington Capitols’ player started closing in. Why? As Gretzky says it, Howe was there when his record was overtaken, and Gretzky would do the same.
He even wore a #9 pin — Howe’s number — at the game where Ovechkin hit 895. From generation to generation. Hockey’s championship trophy was gifted to Canada over 100 years ago by Lord Stanley, and though it has been dinged and repaired, resized and refinished, it is, in essence, still the same cup. Every year, the latest champions’ names are added, but the trophy doesn’t belong to them. They can borrow it for a few months, but it’s a loan. The trophy belongs to hockey. That’s hockey culture.
What could have been purely a (well-deserved) ego moment for Alex Ovechkin was instead a passing of the baton, from Howe to Gretzky to Ovi.
It’s not quite the story of the Exodus, but with the Passover on the horizon, I couldn’t help but see the parallels. L’dor v’Dor. Any story is only as good as the people who, over generations, tell it — and live it.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
© IJN 2025
