99: Gretzky: His Game, His Story

I knew almost nothing about Gretzky before reading this book. Sure, I knew what kind of hockey player he was, but not what kind of man. I am a huge hockey fan and I cannot root for players that I cannot respect or admire. So many of them are rude to the media or go out drinking and pull stupid stuff. They don't seem to appreciate that they get paid millions to play a game that they love. Gretzky never did any of that. Sometimes he gets a bad rep just because of how famous he is or how the media sometimes likes to stir up drama. That's what I love about this book. The stories that are told show Gretzky as a great man. It's not just the writers opinion, there are stories and quotes from some of the biggest names in hockey. He had amazing relationships with certain GMs and owners and so many other guys around the league. One of the few people that have a problem with him is Bettman and that means he's doing something right.

Glib, engaging, eloquent portrayal of hockey savant Wayne Gretzky. Provocative insights of Gretzky, accompanied with the evolution of hockey from the 1980s. Loyalty is a reverberating theme, as personally embodied by the author, as well as, Gretzky's friendship with Bruce McNall whom he visited while incarcerated. Brotherly love expressed throughout. Commendable.

I purchased this book, because,like a lot of hockey fans, I am forever hungry to learn more about the Great One. Al Strachan didn't just write a biography like the dozens of other Gretzky biographies out there, he writes with more of an insiders first hand knowledge that he got by befriending Gretzky. I feel Strachan does a better job than most in explaining, what made Gretzky great. What I really like about this book is the insight of what other players and coaches (Lemieux, Hull, Sather etc...) thought of Gretzky and his impact on them and the game. Strachan goes into detail about Gretzky's game, why he chose the sticks he played with, his small shoulder pads, and where he likes his wingers to be when he breaks into the offensive zone, These tidbits are invaluable to hockey enthusiasts like myself.If you can't get enough of Gretzky, read this book!

The book clearly captures the greatness of Wayne Gretzky, not only as a hockey player but also as a person. If you like hockey, reading about its greatest player is a must. The only major downside of the book is that as a long-time New York Rangers Fan it contained almost nothing about his years as a player with my favorite hockey team.

It’s a book. It opens. It closes.It will look great propping up a wobbly table someday. ;-)

It's a great read.I admit that this is far from being a complete biography,it's a book that rather concentrates on key moments in the life and career of WG. Author is evidently a proud Canadian,and he dedicates more time and coverage to Gretzky participation and management Of Team Canada than anything else.Altogether a good read that is helped by the fact that Greetzky is a friend of the author and gave him a lot of interviews and chats over the years.Even though it won't live up to the quality of David Ritz's Marvin Gaye's biography "Divided soul" which I consider an example of how the biography should be written.then again,Strachan never claimed it to be a biography,rather an inside look.Fair play and a good book!

Its a great quick read, and if youre a hockey or gretzky fan, it's more in depth as far as his personality goes. The only bad side I found was that the writing style and language is a little juvenile and young adult for my taste.

Used this for my son's book report. Lots of good lessons from the Great One.

arrived on time and all good

I'm not the worlds biggest hockey fan but wanted to learn more about Gretzky and has legend. This book is informative and entreating from start to finish. You can of course tell it's written by his friend, but to be fair very few people have much negative to say about the man and I wasn't looking for that. I read this in a couple of days and enjoyed it all.

Great book on the great one!

Just what my grandson wanted

As a new hockey fan, trying to learn about the game, this book has been really interesting. I know a lot more than I did previously about a range of topics. However, the author is clearly a huge fan of Gretzky and the book is entirely biased as such. There is so little balanced reporting that it becomes difficult to take any of it seriously.