Gretzky's Tears: Hockey, America, and the Day Everything Changed

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Brunt follows the gifted Gretzky from his youth, where he honed his skills on a backyard rink, to his unlikely jump to the pros at the age of 17 via the World Hockey Association. Gretzky entered the NHL with the ex-WHA Edmonton Oilers and proceeded to win the league’s most valuable player award eight years running. Then, in 1998, after leading the Oilers to four Stanley Cup titles, Gretzky was inexplicably traded to Bruce McNeil’s L.A. Kings, an event that rocked hockey fans across North America. Brunt reveals for the first time the true story behind the deal as well as Gretzky’s important role in making it happen. At the press conference announcing the trade, Gretzky cried. Brunt—comparing the event to Bobby’s Orr’s tears at the end of his injury-shortened career—noted that “The Great One” instead shed tears of joy: he realized that his life was about to get a whole lot better, playing for more money in a California city that would be a perfect home for him and his glamorous new actress-wife.

excerpt: GRETZKY'S TEARS by Stephen Brunt
Before Wayne Gretzky went on to become "The Great One" and solidify his place in hockey history, he was a small, slightly built kid doing amazing things on the "dad-made" ice rink that would turn back into the family's side yard only after the thawing out in the warm-weather months. Eventually, though, the young Gretzky was going to amaze all who saw him play, and his skills changed the game of hockey in the United States. Read more about Stephen Brunt's detailed and enthralling biography of Gretzky in this free exclusive online excerpt from GRETZKY'S TEARS.