Everybody I talked to - from my friends to my family and some of the players - really gave me a lot of support from the start. And that certainly made me feel good about trying to come back and be one of the best again.

The streak's length was second only to Gretzky's 51-game streak. During the tournament his hip injury required several painkilling injections to keep him on the ice and he only played one more NHL game after the Olympics before being lost for the season.

In 2004 he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Lemieux's impact on the NHL has been significant: Andrew Conte of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review called him the "savior" of the Pittsburgh Penguins and after Lemieux's retirement Wayne Gretzky commented that "You don't replace players like Mario Lemieux [. He ranks second in NHL history with a 0.