Wayne Gretzky recalls almost breaking his stick over teammate's head

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Axel Williams
August 25, 2024 (4:26 PM)

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Wayne Gretzky is the greatest player in the history of the National Hockey League, and he has plenty of amazing stories from his time in the game.

Recently, he shared one of those stories with the Missin Curfew podcast, hosted by Shane O'Brien and Scottie Upshall. In the clip below, Gretzky claims that he was so mad at Kenny Linseman during a playoff game, that he threatened to break his stick over Linseman's head. However, these words were so strong that inspired Linseman to have one of the best playoff performances of his entire life.

"I remember we were playing Calgary and we were winning 2-1, 30-8 were the shots for us. Kenny (Linseman) took two silly penalties in the second period. I looked up and the shots were 30-10 and we're losing 3-2. He sat on the bench and the only time I think in my career that I yelled at a player. Kenny If you take another penalty I'm going to break my stick over your head!

Sure enough, he scored two goals and an assist and we won 7-4 in the third. I apologized to him after the game, I am really sorry about what I said. Kenny replied that he needed it."

Luckily, for Linseman and the Oilers, they were able to win a Stanley Cup together in 1984. However, Linseman would get traded to the Boston Bruins as the Oilers went on to win four more Cups during the next decade. Either way, it was a fun run and we're sure Linseman has some great stories of playing with the Great one.

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