He says the hard parts are ahead, as if he didn’t have a bunch behind him. For now, Mario Lemieux’s problems are behind, so far away that he stands alone as the NHL’s individual scoring leader and has only playing hockey to worry about.
After missing a season and a half, the Pittsburgh captain’s back with the Penguins and teammates Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis, the second- and third- leading scorers. Mario’s superb play has fans wondering if he can beat the record 2.77 points per game Wayne Gretzky averaged in ’84. As of last week, Mario was hovering around the 2.50 mark.
“I’m still behind him, huh? No, I’m going to miss games down the stretch,” Mario says; he will still need some time off to rest. “Teams play better defense down the stretch. It’s much harder to score three or four points a game.”
Maybe harder for other guys; Mario is master of the impossible. He led the Penguins to Stanley Cup victories in ’91 and ’92 and won four scoring titles and two MVPs in only six seasons, ’87-’88 through ’92-’93, despite missing 118 games with crippling back injuries.
In January 1993, his career looked like it was over when Mario was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes that help the body fight infection. Radiation treatments caused weight loss and fatigue and forced Mario out of hockey.
“It’s nerve-wracking to find spots on your body and go through what I did. It’s pretty scary.” He told the Sporting News: “Some days I couldn’t work up energy to go to the grocery store.”
Inside, Mario never gave up. “I think it was wanting to be the best in the world. I wanted to come back … to where I was. That’s why I play: to be one of the best in the world.”
Once his treatments ended he felt better. Last off-season, he worked out with a personal trainer to get in shape and also overcome chronic back problems.
He came back this season in the best shape of his life. “I feel good. I have a few years to go before I’m cured, but I had a checkup a few weeks ago and everything looks good.”
So good that the main thing on his mind now is hockey.
“I still feel I can get much better than I’m playing now,” he says.
That may be hard to believe, but with Mario Lemieux you come to expect the impossible.
