"The Great One" Had Parents in Hysterics Due To His Domination

Published on January 21st, 2023 4:27 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


In photo: Wayne Gretzky.  The greatest hockey player in history of the game. Before Wayne Gretzky was dominating in the OMJHL, WHA or NHL, he was absolutely crushing it in Atom hockey.

As a youngster, Gretzky grew increasingly dominant as the years went on.

Despite being on the smaller side, Gretzky's talents overwhelmed the opposition, and nowhere was that more apparent than in his 1971-72 campaign with the Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers (Atom hockey).

After putting up 104 and 196 goals in his previous two seasons, Gretzky absolutely lit up his league in 1971-72.

In 1971-72, Wayne Gretzky put up 517 points in 85 games.

That works out to an astonishing 6+ points per game.

Gretzky scored 378 goals that season, which meant that he would scoring an average of 4.44 goals per game.

Gretzky would be known for his passing in the NHL, though he absolutely dominated Atom hockey as a goal-scorer.

In addition to his 378 goals, Gretzky also tacked on an additional 139 assists, to bring his points total for 1971-72 to 517.

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After finishing up with Atom hockey, Gretzky moved on to Peewee, Bantam and Midget, where he put up 105, 192 and 90 goals, respectively.

In fact, Gretzky was so dominant that he would frequently be booed by parents, who were outraged that one player could be so much better than everyone else.

Gretzky wasn't even embraced by the parents of the kids on his own teams, as they weren't happy with Gretzky's level of domination either.

Things got so bad, in fact, that Gretzky had to play in a different city to escape the harsh criticism.

Gretzky wasn't even a cocky player - he was just really, really good, and parents, opponents and even his own teammates couldn't handle it.

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Gretzky would have the last laugh, however, as he would become the greatest player in the history of the game.

Source: Elite Prospects

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