8. Same Young Protagonist With Untapped Potential
In hockey, our Luke Skywalker is named Wayne Gretzky. He was a quiet, likable kid who had a bigger purpose in life. At an early age he was identified as having unlimited potential on the ice and he went on to enter professional hockey in the late 70's with the Rebel World Hockey League (WHL) before he finished high school. He had a destiny to fulfill; to destroy the way the
game of hockey was perceived; much like how Star Wars had to destroy the concept of space-themed
science fiction movies of the day. Like the original Star Wars, the NHL was an already troubled universe that was controlled by evil overlords that were crushing any attempts at rebellion. The NHL Empire created a league that feasted on blood, sweat and the occasional attempted murder. Physical assaults were as much a part of the game as were more physical assaults. Whole hosts of angry men managed to avoid jail time by simply learning how to skate and
swing their sticks at somebody's head. During this time it created the ethos that is hockey's legend; a sport where
only the tough and criminally insane could play. Where else in any sport outside a boxing ring could you throw punches at a guy and then only given a 5 minute time-out from playing? To paraphrase an English author 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times'. So in this universe hockey's Luke Skywalker entered to join the rebellion that was the WHL. A 17 year old Wayne Gretzky was proving tougher and quicker than he appeared to be; just another skinny kid who happened to display unusual talents with a hockey stick (like a light saber but less glow-y). Little did anyone know he would eventually become the world's most famous hockey player, practically destroying every record known to hockey historians. To this day he still holds 61 records, many considered unbreakable. Imagine a football player that scores more than once EVERY game. Gretzky did that one year, scoring 92 goals in 80 games.