The National Hockey League has had its fair share of superstar athletes. Some of the best players to ever lace up their skates for the NHL include Guy LaFleur, Patrick Roy, Wayne Gretzky, Jarimir Jagr, upcoming current star Sidney Crowsby, and of course the one and only Mario Lemieux.
Lemieux is retired from the game now, but he was once the star player for the Pittsburgh Penguins for 17 seasons. Along with Jarimir Jagr, the two players wore the black and yellow skating penguin jerseys and could rarely be beaten. Lemieux was so talented that he once got a bet that he couldn’t score directly in a confrontation from one of the sportscasters before a game. He took that bet and at some point during the second period, Lemieux took a faceoff on the opposing team’s end and scored immediately, barely touching the puck.
Today, Lemieux co-owns the Pittsburgh Penguins and is helping usher in a new generation of superstars. He has paired young Sidney Crosby with rising star Evgeni Malkin and the current incarnation of the team is contending for the Stanley Cup for the second straight year against the Detroit Red Wings.
It’s kind of funny, most NHL players tend to move from team to team, but Lemieux has remained rock solid on the Pittsburgh bench. Even the Great, Wayne Gretzky, played for four or five teams during his career, but Lemieux has chosen to wear just one jersey his entire time as a hockey player. He must love living in Pittsburgh.
However, that shirt has seen many variations. The penguin on Lemieux’s chest has changed and runs the spectrum from cartoonish to symbolic. The color schemes have varied and the stripes have moved up and down the shoulders and at odd angles around the waist and arms. Most of the Pittsburgh jerseys are based on the basic black, white and yellow scheme, but there are a few variations that switch it up entirely and go with a baby blue and white.
Outside of the National Hockey League, Lemieux has donned several other hockey sweaters in his day. He played in the Olympics under the Canadian flag at the 1983 World Junior Championships, again in 1985 for the World Championships, the 1997 Canada Cup, and then the 2002 Winter Olympics, and in 2004 he played in the World Cup. Hockey.
Lemieux is one of the best hockey players of our time. His number (66) goes down in the history books.