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"Who was that tall man you got an autograph from," a mother asked her 14-year~old son. l don't know," the son sheep lshly admitted "It's somebody from the Us. team, I should know hun tt Oh," sand the mother Then Scotty Bowman arrived rad was easily recogmzed, more w than most of the players. The autograph-seekers converged on hun relentlessly "Your'e Scotty Bowman." one teenager gracious iy mformed Scotty, "Yes." he had to admit, Asked another: "Scotty Bow. mano" People started whispering, "There's Scotty Bowman," or “Look. rt's Scotty Bowman." Further down the street another scalper. a bespectacled type, med to sell his tickets. "Anybody need an extra racket?" children wavmg pencils and auto- graph books were jockeying for posmon with adults outside the media entrance to Copp's. Players had started arriving and the autograph-seekers were up to the A week ago last Monday, at a little after 7 pun., I walked into Copp's Coliseum and the place was already buzzing with excite ment. But the excitement had started well before that. What had thrown many of them off was the fact that moat of the players simply walked down the meet and headed for the media entrance. No one has been establishing his superiority more than Wayne Gretzky, In the first four guinea it was Gretzky who was awarded four straight player of the game awards. PAGE A24 . WATERLOO CHRONOCLE. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER ll, 1991 The Canada Cup brings out the best 1n all the players. Recall Wayne Gretzky and Mario Le- mleux 1n the last Cup, It was a srght w behold, Perhaps it's be. cause the players are playing for the nation and the Canada Cup, unhke the NHL regular season. 15 only a handful of games m which they must establish their superi- onty 450 Phillip Street Wat-loo, N2L 5J2 By Dave Menary kae the Olympics, the Canada C up comes once every four years and It generates a good deal of Mme-men: both here and abroad. That excitement was nowhere mm m evuienee than Labour Day Monday m Hanulton. It ls a tournament that brings out the best m the players. In 1976 Bobby Orr played for Cana. da m the Canada Cup. It was to be hls swam song. He played that tournament on one leg and was named tournament MVP; after. wards he played less than a dozen more NHL gages before retmng. We are an all-lines Insurance Brokerage. Before you renew your Gretzky and Go. are gunning for the cup LET OUR EXPERIENCE WORK FOR YOU. HOME . AUTO . BUSINESS Insurance. Call us and compare. un ERV/CE & , S TRICK L ER-SPRUNG wswwcs BROKERS we time 747- 994,7 'iris":' A V/NGS It was one of those rare times when one country had been play- mg agalnst another and there was some sense of nationalistic pnde m the air. Gretzky had shown them who was the best and It was him and his country, At least, that's how 17,000 fans saw 1t that night. More games awaited m the Canada Cup and Gretzky and company would have to do it all over again. always trying to prove who was the best team. There is pressure in trying to do this at any time, but not as much as having to do it on home soil before home fans. Gretzky set up Eric Lindros midway into the first period. What a line he and Lindros and Luc Robataille made. The period hadn't ended before Gretzky had done It again, setting up Steve Larmer Of Canada's six goals. The Great One had been in on four of them. When Brett Hull, last year's leading scorer in the NHL, was about to arrive before the game, a security guard heard on his walk- ie.talkie, “The mam man, Brett Hull, is on his war" If Brett Hull had become more of a main men. more of a fan darling than the Great One, it didn't show on the ice. There was no one on a par with Gretzky this mght. It was cool inside Copp's Coli- seum. Outside, the sun was set- tingutheendofawtirmubour Day. Forty-five minutes before game time the stands started to come alive. The crowd arrived. Some people, young and old, had painted their {was red and white in symbollic maple leaf fashion. There was one player on the ice who stood out all aight and that player was Wayne Gretzky. There was an excitement that could be heard as the crowd roared to life every time he toyched the imek, -- -_ It wasn't, but Wayne Gretzky was there in his Sunday best. So too was Mark Messier. and Brett Hull for the Americans Yzerman was sitting out again and a few days later he was officially cut. Henry was playing though.. Inside the arena someone said he'd heard on CTV that Magnify cent Mario would be joming Team Canada for the game tonight. Mario? Naw. Could it be? Not far off a man asked a youngster: "Are you gonng to the game torught?" "Yes!" came the reply. "Well, you watch closely." said the man, "This game's gomg to go down In history," he asked in a soft-spoken English accent. M13983 M J. Smell"