Who was your first favourite hockey player?

[Prsut18]

Hasek

 

[C4R105]

Joe Sakic, back when i bought my first hockey card ever, him in Nordiques jersey, i think 1999. Weird as i am Czech and NHL at the time was dominated by Hasek and Jagr.

 

[dr robbie]

Mario Lemieux for pretty much my entire life. Then Crosby.

 

[danincanada]

Mario for me. I liked Yzerman as well.

My father cheered the Isles on during their dynasty so I had some Bossy/Trottier/Potvin love as a little kid.

 

[Pens x]

Born and raised in Pittsburgh so my cop out answer is Lemieux. However, I became a bigger Jagr fan in the mid 1990’s. I was very fortunate being able to see both of these great players during my childhood.

 

[rfournier103]

Ray Bourque.

 

[BJNT]

I first got into the sport during the 95-96 season as a 13 turned 14 year old and over the next two seasons these guys became my favorite to watch.

Peter Forsberg
Jerome Iginla
Mike Modano
Paul Kariya

And for some reason. Bryan Berard

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Ron Ellis. Interesting reason why.

okay, I'll bite.... why?

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Early favorites were Guy Lafleur & Borje Salming. By the mid-80s my two favorites were Stan Smyl & Jari Kurri.

 

[TNT87]

Mario Lemieux.

 

[Tarantula]

Rusty Staub!

Seriously it was Orr. I knew his name even before I watched hockey and I started playing and watching at 8 yrs. Probably heard my dad and his friends talking about him not playing in the 72 summit series. Dates me some I guess...

 

[David Bruce Banner]

I was 5 when Vancouver got the Canucks... they were, of course, my favourite team. But being an expansion squad, were generally lacking in talent.

The first player I really noticed was Bobby Schmautz. He was kind of ‘70’s Brad Marchand kind of guy... super pest, but he could score.

And since this was the ‘70’s, you had to fight if you were a pest, he did that too. Seemed to do pretty well, at least that’s what it sounded like when Tom Larscheid and Jim Robson were talking about him on the transistor radio under my pillow when I was supposed to be sleeping.

 

[Pominville Knows]

Since my favourite team became the Penguins in 1994 it was Lemieux. But then i just after that started playing street inline hockey and i just felt more like Ron Francis so it kinda became him instead, but only becouse i could not live up to Mario's goal scoring.

 

[Chili]

Jean Béliveau, like Guy Lafleur used to say, you could try to play like him, didn`t work, he was that good.

2nd was John Ferguson. Fergy had a great wrist shot which I tried to work towards (ha ha). He kept the other teams honest.

 

[JianYang]

Roy, richer, russ courtnall, Mario.

I don't remember who came first but it's probably between richer and courtnall.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Frank Mahovlich.

 

[Admiral Awesome]

Sakic, because he was a god in 95-96.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

View attachment 136139
Ken Dryden

Dryden was my first favourite player. I was a big Habs fan as a young child in the late '70s. I think Lemaire was my 2nd favourite, but nobody was close to Dryden.

I've always loved Russian players too. Probably Mikhailov was the first who really caught my eye.

I loved reading "The Game." Dryden did an excellent job using words and metaphors and just spoke so "eloquently." It made sense for me to learn he was going to law school too lol!

 

[Staniowski]

I loved reading "The Game." Dryden did an excellent job using words and metaphors and just spoke so "eloquently." It made sense for me to learn he was going to law school too lol!

Yeah, Jim, it's a great book. Dryden's a pretty good writer. Really fascinating to get an inside look at that great team. The dressing room antics (especially from the team clowns, Lapointe and Shutt) are interesting....

 

[PhysicX]

But on a more serious note, Patrick Roy.

 

[NyQuil]

1. Wayne Gretzky.
2. Ray Bourque.
3. Brian Leetch.
4. Daniel Alfredsson.
5. Erik Karlsson.

My older brother was a big Gretzky fan so I didn't really have a choice.

When Gretzky was traded, he switched to the Flames in anger, and I took a little while to settle on my next favourite team, the Rangers. For some reason, I liked Kisio, Greschner and a young Brian Leetch. It was sort of the hinterland of fandom in Ottawa at the time until Messier was traded there.

In the interim, I had always liked Ray Bourque.

My Rangers fandom persisted well into adulthood, until I started buying tickets and seeing the Senators on my own (~early 2000s) at which point the hometown team won me over.

If I had to choose one, it would be Daniel Alfredsson, with Brian Leetch a close second.

 

[The Macho King]

Mario. I bandwagoned the Pens in 91 and 92 because no one else was really into hockey and I saw a few games on TV. When I started following hockey in earnest it was later in the 90s, and I liked Hasek (although I wasn't a Sabres fan) and bought into the Vinny hype pretty big.

 

[Torspo21]

Pekka Marjamäki. Tappara Tampere & Finland.

 

[Nordiques88]

Pelle Lindbergh / Ron Hextall
Mario Lemieux
Joe Sakic

 

[Jim MacDonald]

Yeah, Jim, it's a great book. Dryden's a pretty good writer. Really fascinating to get an inside look at that great team. The dressing room antics (especially from the team clowns, Lapointe and Shutt) are interesting....

Especially for me to learn about Scotty Bowman...to learn he had his quirks/madness well before he came to Detroit and was doing similar things in Detroit he did in Montreal!