Gretzky's early memories of hockey

Wayne Gretzky is a name that will forever be etched in hockey history. The League is celebrating its centennial season in 2017, and even when the sport is 200 years-old, Gretzky will be remembered.
"The Great One" will serve as the official ambassador for the League's year-long Centennial Celebration, and spoke with the media in Toronto on Tuesday.
Gretzky touched on a number of topics, including his own hockey memories. His earliest, was watching Gordie Howe and the Detroit Red Wings - punctuated by a Christmas gift he still holds dear today.
"Probably 1965," Gretzky said of his earliest hockey memory. "I was probably four-years old. I became a Gordie Howe fan the first time I saw him play on Hockey Night in Canada. That year, to this day, I got the greatest Christmas gift I could ever get and that was a number nine Gordie Howe Detroit Red Wings jersey. I think back at all the years of Christmas time and that's still the most precious gift I ever got. I started watching hockey at a young age, Saturday nights at 8 p.m. If Detroit was playing I got to watch the whole game. If it was anybody else, I had to go to bed after the second period."
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