Mario Lemieux

Mario Lemieux, OC, CQ is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played parts ofseasons with the National Hockey Leagues Pittsburgh Penguins between 1984 and 2006. Dubbed The Magnificent One or Le Magnifique , he is widely acknowledged to be one of the best players of all time. A gifted playmaker and fast skater despite his large size, Lemieux often beat defencemen with fakes and dekes.

Lemieux was born in Montreal, to Pierrette, a stayathome mom, and JeanGuy Lemieux, an engineer. He and his older brothers Alain and Richard grew up in a working class family in the Villemard district. Mario began practicing hockey at age three in his basement before using real equipment, he and his brothers used wooden kitchen spoons as hockey sticks and bottle caps as pucks. His father created a rink on the front lawn so that the boys could practice as much as possible, and according to family legend, the family sometimes packed snow onto the living room carpet so the brothers could practice indoors when it was dark.

Source: Wikipedia