“Records were meant to be broken.”
We’ve all heard the phrase, but we’ve also seen records that weren’t meant to be broken.
If you know me, you already know what this column is going to be about. Over 31 years ago, Wayne Gretzky finished his NHL career with 894 career goals.
Ever since then, it’s been the record that’s impossible to break.
It was so unreachable that the second-best player in the NHL, Gordie Howe, also known as Mr. Hockey, scored only 801 goals — a full 93 less. That’s like two full seasons of really good goal scoring Gretzky was ahead.
Over the past 31 years, untouchable records across sports have fallen.
LeBron James has become the highest scorer in the NBA. Tom Brady earned his seventh Super Bowl ring — more than any other single player. Emmitt Smith passed Walter Payton with the most rushing yards in an NFL career. Nolan Ryan crushed the strikeout record in the MLB.
Even sports like tennis and golf have seen the height of their sport with guys like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Tiger Woods arguing for the titles for the best players in their sport’s history.
The past 31 years of sports have been incredible, to say the least.
But one record has always remained the same. Gretzky has always been the best hockey player in the world.
And that likely hasn’t changed. Gretzky still holds almost all the offensive records in the NHL — and even some defensive ones. Wayne Gretzky is hockey.
But there’s a new goal scorer in town, and he hails from the unlikeliest of places — the Washington Capitals.
In case you didn’t know, Alexander Ovechkin unbelievably — and in style — broke Gretzky’s goal-scoring record on Sunday against the New York Islanders. Ovechkin scored his 895th career goal in his 1,487th regular-season game. What’s crazier: That’s exactly the number of games Gretzky played in his career as well.
There’s lots of arguments as to why all these unbreakable records have been broken. The most common of which is athletes’ careers are much longer now than they were before. But not Ovechkin. Yes, he will play one more season and add to his goal total — making his own untouchable record along the way — but he achieved Gretzky’s numbers in the same amount of games. It’s a truly amazing feat.
For many years, the Washington Capitals were the laughing stock of the NHL, even during Ovechkin’s career. Whether it was truly bad seasons — the Caps still hold the record for the worst season in the NHL, another unbreakable record most likely — or getting bounced from the playoffs in the first round year after year after year, the Caps were the guys you broke records against. When you were on a long losing streak, you could count on the Caps to give you a win. We had the best player in the NHL for years and years and could never win a Stanley Cup.
Many times, we called it the Arbogast curse. Teams the Arbogasts root for were teams that lost.
But there’s an important lesson sports can teach us all, especially those who feel cursed.
Ovechkin taught us this lesson once again this weekend. No matter what other people think or the obstacles you are up against, nothing is impossible. Records were meant to be broken.
Lizi Arbogast Gwin is the managing editor of Tallapoosa Publishers Inc. She can be reached at 434-962-9420 or via email at lizi.gwin@alexcityoutlook.com.
