From sneaking beer over to Soviet players during an international tournament to passing on becoming a part-owner of the Vancouver Canucks in 1988, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky shared plenty of interesting anecdotes as a recent guest on the Spittin Chiclets podcast.
Among them was a story regarding the peculiar pre-game meal Gretzky consumed throughout his two-decade NHL career.
According to the Great One, his eating habits were challenged during the 1987 Canada Cup when Canadian head coach Mike Keenan tried to change the menu.
“At that time it was switching over to pasta and chicken… So I walked into the first pre-game meal and I said to the gal, ‘Where’s the baked potato and steak?'” Gretzky explained, revealing that Keenan had removed the items.
“I said, ‘I don’t play without baked potato and steak,'” Gretzky added. “I’ve done this my whole life. My dad taught me this when I was seven.”
Realizing they might be without their best player, the Team Canada staff quickly complied with Gretzky’s request.
But there was more to the ritual than they thought.
“We need vanilla ice cream for when I’m done,” he added.
As for the entirety of Gretzky’s meal, let’s just say it would be considered heavy by today’s athletic standards.
“My whole career, I had baked potato, steak, corn, chicken noodle soup, salad, and vanilla ice cream,” the 62-year-old said. “I ate it every day at 12:30.”
Amazingly, playing on a full stomach didn’t seem to affect the NHL’s all-time points leader, who was known to dabble in hot dogs between periods. His choices even rubbed off on his teammates at that tournament.
And it seemed to work in their favour.
Team Canada won gold that year, while Gretzky, a member of the Edmonton Oilers at the time, led the tournament in scoring with 21 points in just nine games.
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