NEW YORK -- He played the game with such style and grace, it brought tears to the eyes. When he left hockey, it was Wayne Gretzky who couldn't keep from crying.
"It was a tough game for me today," Gretzky said of his farewell from the game he dominated for two decades. "I wanted it to be a celebration."You know, this is not a passing on," he added, his eyes watery for perhaps the 100th time Sunday. "This is a moving on."
It was a moving scene as the sport's greatest player said goodbye. The NHL also said goodbye to No. 99, which commissioner Gary Bettman announced would never be worn in the league again.
"When a gentlemen told me in 1977 to wear this sweater, I didn't imagine one day nobody else would be allowed to wear it," Gretzky said, referring to Murray (Muzz) MacPherson, his coach with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.
He wore it with as much class as any superstar in any sport. Gretzky was universally acknowledged throughout his 21-year career as the best; never was that respect more apparent than in his final game.
"It's always too soon when you see a great player retire," said Mario Lemieux, the only man ever to perform anywhere near Gretzky's level. "It's going to be very difficult for the National Hockey League to lose the best hockey player that ever played, and he's been such a great ambassador for the game for 20 years."
In front of Lemieux -- who retired for health reasons in 1997 -- Mark Messier, Glen Sather, Paul Coffey and many more former teammates and opponents who revered The Great One, Gretzky set up the New York Rangers' only goal in a 2-1 defeat. The game ended abruptly in overtime when Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr scored, which somehow seemed appropriate.
"Maybe it's only fitting that the best young player in the game scored the winning goal," Gretzky said. "Everyone always talks about passing torches."
When it was over, Gretzky smiled through tears during four final laps of Madison Square Garden. The greatest player ever made it easy for everyone to say goodbye.
He skated slowly enough for plenty of souvenir photos to betaken. Whenever he noticed a youngster's extended hand from the crowd, he touched it. He even played to the fans, donning a blue Yankees hat, then a red Rangers beret.
Then, almost as suddenly as word had come last week that he was retiring, No. 99 was gone.
"I'm devastated I will no longer be a hockey player," Gretzky, his eyes still red, said more than an hour after his final skate. "I will miss every part of the game, because I loved every part of the game.
"But I've made the right decision."
That decision led to a Garden party almost as energized as the night in 1994 when the Rangers broke a 54-year Stanley Cup drought. Gretzky wasn't on hand for that, but Messier -- still the most popular of all Rangers -- was.
He returned Sunday to pay tribute to his buddy.
"His whole career has been handled with complete class and dignity," said Messier, who left the Rangers as a free agent two years ago. "We've established a friendship and a bond that's next to brotherhood and will be there forever."
Just as Gretzky always seemed to be there, at the top of the scoring charts and in the spotlight as the game's unofficial ambassador.
After the game, the player who shattered hockey's most revered records skated one lap around the rink with his teammates in tow, followed by an encore as a lone spotlight caressed him and Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" blared throughout.
Perhaps the most excruciating moment for him came as Gretzky fought the tears, occasionally looking down at the ice, while posing for one last photo with teammates, who all wore No. 99 caps.
"I'm going to miss this game," he said. "It's going to kill me not to play."
During a timeout called by Rangers coach John Muckler with 40.4 seconds to go in the third period, his wife, Janet, started to cry as the fans began a long salute to her husband. Gretzky, 38, acknowledged it with a nod, then a wave, then by raising his stick in the air.
"When John called timeout, it hit me that I was done," he said, his eyes watering once more. "Then is when it hit me that I had only 30 seconds left."
Moments after the timeout, he nearly had a breakaway, but Pittsburgh goalie Tom Barrasso, who had a sensational game, beat Gretzky to the puck.
"Yeah," Gretzky said, this time with a twinkle in his eye. "I thought I might have one there."
The proceedings began with Bettman's announcement, the first of several times Gretzky became teary. It happened again when his father, Walter, was driven to center ice in a new black Mercedes presented to Gretzky as a parting gift.
"I feel so lucky to be able to play in the NHL," said Gretzky, owner of 61 NHL scoring marks. "I've been so fortunate to play with some of the greatest players, against guys I admired so much, like the best player I ever played against, Mario Lemieux ... my teammates and, of course, the best player I ever played with, Mark Messier.
"And it would be nothing without family and the great friendships I have developed over the years."
Gretzky wore a huge grin as friend Bryan Adams sang "O, Canada."
"We're going to miss you, Wayne," Adams ad-libbed late in the song.
The "Star-Spangled Banner," as sung by John Amirante, was altered to include the words "in the land of Wayne Gretzky."
At the first television timeout, Gordie Howe, whose records Gretzky regularly broke, appeared in a video, saluting his prodigy.
Another sports icon, Michael Jordan, appeared in a second-period video, telling Gretzky, "Your golf game is not going to get better, so don't think that will help. Relax and enjoy being a dad."