Every boy wants to grow up to be just like his hero.

A boy may want to be just like his father, or just like the firefighter he saw save a child from a burning house.

Wayne Gretzky was no exception to that rule of innocence and youth. He wanted to be just like his hero -- Gordie Howe. So, he worked toward the goal.

He practiced. He skated eight hours a day. It was on the frozen water of a backyard rink behind his boyhood home in Brantford, Ontario that he practiced, skating in circles, passing the puck to Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull, who, although invisible to his on-looking father, were in the flesh to him.

At the tender age of 8, his hockey prowess was gaining national attention. He was dominating youth league after youth league.

At age 10, he scored 378 times in Brantford's local atom league -- a record that still stands today and may never be seriously threatened.

Age 14 saw national fame for Gretzky. Participating in the International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament in Quebec, the young centre was constantly hounded by autograph seekers, all of whom sought a souvenir to remember the time they saw the future of hockey play.

He played Tier II junior hockey at 14. He played major junior hockey when he was 15. He dominated both levels.

It was only appropriate that he took the next step -- turning pro.

That was accomplished at age 17 when he signed a deal with Indianapolis of the now-defunct World Hockey Association. Three goals and three assist was all he was able to muster in eight games with the Racers until the financially strapped club was forced to sell the future of the game to the Edmonton Oilers.

The rest is hockey history.

Including the playoffs, he scored 53 goals and helped on 71 others in 85 games with the Oilers in their final season in the World Association.

The next year, the WHA folded and four teams, including Edmonton, merged into the NHL. And thus the assault on some of hockey's most sacred records began.

In the next 15 of 16 complete seasons (those not interrupted by lock-outs), Gretzky scored more than 100 points. Four times his point total topped the 200-plateau. In 20 seasons, he rewrote the NHL record book.

894 National Hockey League goals. 1,963 NHL assists. 2,857 points. 61 NHL records. He has more assists than any other player has points.

"The Great One" is an understatement.

But, as he saw his point total diminishing and felt his back bringing him more and more pain, the boy prodigy decided it was the right time to hang up his skates.

Now, it will be debated forever whether or not he retired too early. Some will say he had another two or three years in him. Some will blame Neil Smith and the Rangers for his leaving the game, since they failed to qualify for the post-season during Gretzky's final two years.

Whatever the argument, when all was said and done, and Jaromir Jagr scored 1:22 into overtime, the greatest career in the history of hockey was just that -- history.

And Wayne Gretzky skated around the ice at Madison Square Gardens for the final time.

He skated with the right side of an NHL sweater tucked in for the last time.

He skated as a professional for the last time.

The boy from Brantford, Ontario who had spent 35 years in hockey had given up the game he loved.

But, for a moment, Gretzky's final moment, hockey was the most important game in the world.

Everybody who cared about sports tuned into CBC or FOX to see his final game. The game whose popularity Gretzky built was suddenly the most popular game anywhere.

The whole world was watching. They watched him pick up an assist on a defenseman's goal in his last game just like in his first game (Kevin Lowe's goal in '79, Brian Leetch's goal in '99).

They applauded his victory lap after the game.

They watched his career end.

After 20 years in the NHL, Gretzky didn't just live up to the career of his boyhood idol, who he followed game in and game out -- he surpassed it. He surpassed a career that many thought was unsurpassable.

But that's Wayne Gretzky. That's the man who was destined for hockey immortality when he was an 8-year-old boy.

That is why he will forever be known simply as "The Great One."

He is now and will forever the idol of many a boy and girl who skates in a local rink or on winter's frozen canals, lake, and rivers.

They will imitate his every move. Imagine themselves racing down the wing with "The Great Gretzky" matching stride for stride, eager for their pass that will win Lord Stanley's Cup.

They will aim for a career as great as number 99's.

But they will not make it.

For nobody who is growing up now, no matter how hard they try, will ever surpass the greatest career of all time.

The career of "The Great One."

Wayne Gretzky.

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