NHL: 8 Reasons Hockey Is Perfect For Star Wars Geeks

2. Both Luke and Wayne Shared A Somewhat Anti-Climatic Ending

Gretzky 4 Like Luke re-destroying another Death Star that wasn't as rewarding as the first, Gretzky never truly achieved the greatness that he had during his years in Edmonton. True there was a chronic back injury that kept him out of his team's line up for months and there was a small matter of the Los Angeles Kings owner going to jail. Gretzky spent another decade in hockey, finishing out his days in New York, the city where all big stars go to fade away. He fittingly retired in 1999, and much like Lucas has kept involved in the game in his later years to dwindling accomplishments. His greatest achievement post-retirement was organizing a new group of young Jedis to take on the hockey world, cultivating in Canada's first Olympic gold medal in over 50 years by beating the hated Americans in 2004. Despite this post-hockey achievement, Wayne has had to take a back seat to the hockey universe as forces beyond his control have changed the game to a near-unimaginable form of play since his glory days, much like the original Star Wars trilogy. The proliferation of franchises has created a sort of dearth of actual highly skilled players. Those that do emerge out of now formulaic hockey systems are from predominantly upper-middle class families who go to special hockey schools year round, much like a Jedi Academy. Hockey has become a full-time year-round job for many kids and it takes a lot of parental monetary investment for a child to even get noticed by the new overlords, who have turned out to be no better than the old overlords, including some still the same.
Contributor
Contributor

Been there, done that but not too well. Continually financially restrained. Now (and still) lives in Western Canada and talks some hockey and parenting on ogieoglethorpe.blogspot.ca and watching trailers on 2minutemovies.blogspot.ca.