sixth post

• In their second tournament game, Brantford beat beaconsfield, Que., 9-1. Wayne had a touch of flu, but, except for 2 minutes in the penalty box, he played the entire third period until he took himself off in the final seconds. He finished with 2 goals and 3 assists.
• Now Brantford was in the quarter-finals against Verdun Maple Leafs, a team that included a young man named Denis Savard, who now stars with the Chigaco Black Hawks. For Wayne it was getting a bit scary. So many people stopped him on game night, he was afraid he couldn't get to the dressing room in time. Finally he stopped a policeman, asked for help, and wes escorted the rest of the way. Brantford won 7-3 with Wayne scoring 3 goals, 2 of them unassisted.
• All through minor hockey, Oshawa was Brantford's stumbling block. And the tournament semi-final was Brantford vs Oshawa. It was the same story. Oshawa won again. Wayne was playing defence as usual, but with the score tied at 4-4. Coach Ron St. Amand moved him to forward. It was a gamble, a calculated risk. Wayne finished with a goal and 3 assists and Brantford lost, 9-4.
• There are times, you know, when parents are a lot smaller than their kids. I don't know why it has to be that way. Jealousy, maybe, or frustration.
• As i mentioned earlier, Wayne was a heck of a lacrosse player until the other sports got in the way and he had to drop the game. He had a great touch with the stick. He could shoot, he could pass, he could roll off a check- a skill learned in lacrosse that he took with him into hockey. One day when he was 10, he had a gmae in which he scored 2 goals and assisted on the other 9, including 7 by 1 boy.
• Some people come knocking at the door asking for a autographed pictures like nothing happened or they will drop off books that have bee written about Wayne gretzky and say "Will you get Wayne to sgn thses and mail them to this address?". The neighbourhood kids make up for a lot of it. They find out when Wayne's home, and the come knocking at the door for autographs. Sometimes when Wayne's in for a fast hello between games and he'll be dead tired, and the temptation is to tell them he's sleeping.