WAYNE GRETZKY'S RINK AWARENESS

Hockey great, Wayne Gretzky had this to offer on his full rink awareness, "Chalk it up to fear. When you're 170 pound playing with 210 pound guys, you learn to find out where EVERYBODY is on the ice at all times. If not, you'll find yourself forechecked into the mezzanine."

Gretzky also mentions that on the rink he couldn't afford to notice details of his teammates or opponents, but relied primarily on quick sideways glances of the color of their uniforms to keep tabs on the rink action.

Hockey great, Wayne Gretsky had more things to say about his own particular way of seeing when he was on the rink. He prefaced them by pointing out that among all his teammates he always tested out worst in strength, flexibility and, interestingly, peripheral vision.

"It's funny, but when I'm on the ice, I can barely see the goalie. It's an attitude. If you ask a fifty-goal scorer what the goalie looks like, he'll say the goalie's just a blur. But if you ask a five-goal scorer, he'll say the goalie looks like a huge glob of pads. A five-goal scorer can tell you the brand name of the pad of every goalie in the league. I'm seeing the net, he's seeing the pad."

"That's all hockey is: open ice. That's my whole strategy: Find Open Ice. Chicago's coach Mike Keenan said it best: "There's a spot on the ice that's no-man's land, and all the good goal scorers find it." It's a piece of frozen real estate that's just in between the defense and the forward. For a defenseman, it's hell because he doesn't want to commit too far out and leave other people open. And yet, if he leaves you alone, you get a great shot."

"I remember one of the reasons I always had trouble playing the New York Islanders was because they had the same color pants we did. I know where everybody near me is, but I do it by taking quick side glances without pulling my head up. You don't have to see a guy's insignia on his sweater to know what team he's on. You just need a split-second glance."

"But the Islanders' pants were so much like ours I kept getting them confused. My teammate Semenko thought I was kidding when I told him that. "Right," he said. "I suppose we could ask the Islanders to change colors." But it was the truth."