Mario Lemieux

After a sabbatical of forty-four months, Lemieux—father, team owner, and player again at age thirty-five—stepped into the NHL void, reinvigorating a league of faceless players and system-mad teams. On his first night back he needed only thirty-three seconds to set up a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Later that evening he scored and then assisted on a third goal. The 17,148 fans and twenty stunned Maple Leafs (who played more like unindicted coconspirators than opponents) witnessed perfection. Lemieux's nearly twenty-one minute performance was so impeccable, his accomplishment so pure, that it had to be reduced to fit our shrunken frame of reference….

Source: Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated, January 8, 2001.