Aug. 29: Lemieux announces he'll sit out 1994-95 season

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: Aug. 29
1994:
Mario Lemieux
of the Pittsburgh Penguins announces that he will sit out the 1994-95 NHL season because of back problems and fatigue, aftereffects from his radiation treatment for cancer.

However, doctors tell him he has no recurrence of the Hodgkin lymphoma he was diagnosed with in 1993 or the anemia he developed during the 1993-94 season.
Lemieux says he will return only if he can "play like Mario Lemieux can play." The season off apparently helps him do just that; he returns during the 1995-96 season and leads the NHL in scoring, winning the
Art Ross Trophy
with 161 points (69 goals, 92 assists) and the Hart Trophy as the League's most valuable player. Lemieux doesn't retire for good until Jan. 24, 2006.

MORE MOMENTS
1901:
Aurel Joliat
, one of the first NHL stars, is born in Ottawa. Joliat joins the Montreal Canadiens from Saskatoon of the WCHL in September 1922; one season later he teams with
Howie Morenz
to form one of the most potent scoring duos during the early years of the NHL. The 5-foot-6, 136-pound left wing plays on three Stanley Cup-winning teams with Montreal and finishes his career in 1938 with 270 goals, then the most by any player in Canadiens history. He is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947.
1964:The Hall of Fame inducts its newest class, which includes
Doug Bentley
,
Bill Durnan
,
Babe Siebert
and
"Black Jack" Stewart
. Also inducted is
Bill Chadwick
, who becomes the first United States-born official to earn induction after working more than 900 regular-season games and a then-record 42 games in the Stanley Cup Final during his 16 seasons as an NHL referee.