lemieux

	Mario was born on October 5,1965, in Montreal Canada. Mario grew up in the French part of Canada and grew up speaking French. When Mario was only 16, he joined a hockey club known as Laval, in Quebec. In his first year, he scored 30 goals and 66 assists. Within a year he was a top prospect in the NHL.
	At this time he was already being considered the next Wayne Gretzky. The Pittsburgh Penguins got the first pick in the 1984 draft they wasted no time and chose Mario. Mario's first contract was a 2 year $700,000 contract. His rookie season he scored 43 goals and 57 assists for 100 points and was named the Rookie of the Year.
	In his next season Mario was invited to the All-Star game where he won the MVP. That year he came in second with 141 points second behind the great one. During the off-season Mario signed a new 5 year 2.75 million dollar contract. By the 1987-88 season Mario had passed up the Great one and finished first in scoring with 168 points. That same tear Super Mario won the Hart Trophy, given to that year's MVP. The next season he was once again a All-Star and won the Player's Choice MVP, but the big news was that the Penguins where going to the playoff's.
	Unfortunately, they lost in the second round, but surprised many people by making it that far. In 1990, Mario was rewarded another new contract $10 million over 5 years with a $3 million signing bonus. It wasn't until 1991, however, before the Pittsburgh Penguins won a Stanly Cup against the North Stars. Mario scored 44 points in the playoffs and was named the MVP. In 1993, Mario was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, but still managed to lead the league in scoring. In the seasons to follow, Mario still played amazing.
	After the last game in 1997, Mario announced that he was retiring from the NHL. It wasn't until three years later that Mario announced that he was coming out of his retirement, and proved that he still had it in him scoring 35 goals and 41 assists in his first year back. Mario is still playing today, but with the NHL in a lockout, who knows if Mario will play again. As of now Mario has amazing career numbers with 683 goals and over 1,000 assists.