The final curtain never seemed to be drawn for super Mario

Remember when... Mario Lemieux was certain he had played his final game.

Mario Lemieux acknowledges the crowd during a ceremony retiring his squad number.

Mario Lemieux was certain he had played his final game. On the night of Nov 17 1997 he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. He had convinced himself that his magnificent ice reign had come to an end, his body depleted and mind exhausted after 12 gruelling National Hockey League seasons and a lifetime in the ice hockey limelight. A laundry list of injuries, multiple back surgeries, a battle with Hodgkin's disease, plus a growing frustration with the hook-and-hold direction of the NHL - and the belief he "achieved all the goals I wanted" - led Lemieux to retire at age 32.

Or so he thought. "This is it for me," said the Pittsburgh Penguins captain, after piling up 613 goals and 1,494 points in 745 NHL games. "This is the final page." It was not. "I will not play in the Olympics," said the man voted the NHL's most valuable player on three occasions, and topped the scoring charts six times. "I'm retired and I'm going to stay retired." Wrong again. "Maybe if I get bored of golf in a couple of years," said the superstar centre who won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992, "then maybe I'll get into something else."

Yes, maybe you will. Lemieux, born in Montreal on Oct 5 1965, was a brilliant and unprecedented hockey talent - perhaps the most individually skilled player to ever lace up skates. And his utter domination was on full display for his first dozen-year pro career. Takenfirst overall by Pittsburgh in 1984 entry draft, Lemieux scored in his first NHL game - on the first shot of his first shift. At the end of that season, he had 100 points and the Calder Trophy as the league's best rookie. It would be the first of many NHL awards for the 193cm, 104kg centre who stickhandled and deked around opponents like he was a shifty 175cm.

Despite his jaw-dropping ability, the NHL and its fans were somewhat slow to embrace Lemieux. He was naturally shy, which sometimes came across negatively in the media, and faced the pressure of having to "save" a floundering Penguins franchise as a French-speaking 18-year-old (in English-speaking Pittsburgh). Plus, he had an early tendency to skip out on international events, a trait that didn't endear him to Canadians. All that changed in the summer of 1987 when Lemieux teamed up with Wayne Gretzky and led Canada past the Soviet Union in the thrilling finale of the six-nation Canada Cup.

Canada won the best-of-three tournament final two games to one, with all three contests decided by a 6-5 score. The countries split the first two games - both went into overtime - before Lemieux took a pass from Gretzky and scored the series winner with 86 seconds remaining in the deciding game. Lemieux scored 11 times in nine games and finished second in points to Gretzky (21-19) in the event; more importantly, he finally appeared comfortable with his stardom and his legend was truly launched.

For the next decade, Lemieux ran roughshod over the NHL; the high point was an 85-goal, 199-point season in 1988-89 (only Gretzky ever surpassed 200 points in a season). In 23 play-off games en route to Pittsburgh's first Stanley Cup in 1991, Lemieux scored 16 goals and 44 points (only Gretzky's 47 points in 1985 ranks ahead). He was held back only by injury; unfortunately, it was his propensity for getting hurt that ultimately played a big part in Lemieux's retirement.

After three years of playing golf and raising four young children - and becoming an owner of the Penguins in 1999 - Lemieux decided life was simpler on the ice . He returned to the NHL as a "player/owner" midway through the 2000-01 season. True to the mo bment, he earned an assist 33 seconds into his first game back, and had a goal and three points that night. He racked up 35 goals and 76 points in 43 games that season, a remarkable feat for a 35-year-old with a lot of rust on his blades.

Lemieux played parts of the next four seasons, but the old injury troubles came back, and he never appeared in the play-offs again. He finished his NHL career with 690 goals and 1,723 points in 915 games, and countless awards. And, Lemieux did give the hockey world one more memory in his post-millennial hockey sequel - a gold medal, as captain of Team Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

In the final against the United States, Lemieux's innate creativity was displayed when he faked a shot while letting the puck slide between his legs to Paul Kariya, who buried a slapshot. Undoubtedly, it was the most picturesque goal of the Olympics, but one couldn't help but wonder whether a younger, healthier - better - Lemieux would have taken the shot, and buried the puck himself. A little over six years after his surprising return to the NHL, Lemieux retired again, midway through the 2005-06 campaign.

"All I can say to the young players is enjoy every moment of it," said an emotional Lemieux at the time. - Sam McCaig