Super Conductor

By Chris Foster

Dec. 13, 2002 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

SAN JOSE — Santa Claus is coming to town ...

Bruce Springsteen’s voice blared from the dressing room, somewhat prophetic.

A small cache of sports memorabilia, after all, was already signed and sealed, waiting to be collected. If it can be linked to hockey or has his image, Mario Lemieux has most likely signed it.

Lemieux emerged from the dressing room as Springsteen’s voice faded. Dressed in a suit, he was ready for his first-day-in-town ritual.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were on the ice already, going through their morning skate, preparing for Thursday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks. Their player/owner cheerfully braced for another day of the same old, same old.

Each stop on the road includes an informal news conference. The same questions bring the same answers, delivered with an easy manner missing during his younger days.

His presence in town is an event. If the town is in Canada, it’s the main event. He gives the right answers in the morning, then puts on a hockey clinic in the evening.

“I know I don’t have too many years left, so I’m enjoying the game more than I did before, practicing and playing the games, just having fun,” he said. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone. So you have to enjoy while it’s there.”

It has been gone before, yet he keeps recapturing his place. Back surgeries, Hodgkin’s disease, self-imposed retirement, a hip injury, all took him from the game, but he keeps coming back.

His reason is simple: love of the game.

The speculation is a bit more complicated: a new arena for Pittsburgh.

Those reasons mean little to fans, who watch him in awe, or opponents, who seem to have a difficult time keeping an eye on him.

At 37, Lemieux is immersed in another amazing-but-true comeback, this time from hip problems. He leads the NHL with 53 points, having scored at least one point in 12 consecutive games, including two goals in a 5-2 loss to the Sharks.

“I have yet to see a coach or team completely neutralize him,” San Jose Coach Ron Wilson said before Thursday’s game. “If something worked, he wouldn’t have 51 points right now. All you can do is work to minimize the damage.”

The Kings and the Ducks take on damage control this weekend, when Pittsburgh comes to town for two games, Lemieux’s first in Southern California since December of 1996.

“That was a long time ago, wasn’t it?” Lemieux said. “I don’t remember much.”

What’s to remember? A goal and assist against the Kings, two goals and an assist against the Ducks.

Same old, same old.

Lemieux keeps readjusting his place in history, and there are not many places left above him.

The Great One is soaking up the retirement rays down in Arizona. Lemieux has tried that and returned to the freezing comfort of the hockey rink. Wayne Gretzky will take his greatest-ever into immortality. Lemieux, however, might be second to none.

Certainly there is no comparison between the 37-year-old Lemieux and Gretzky at the same age. By then Gretzky was living on legend. Lemieux, now, is a living legend.

Lemieux has 16 goals this season, giving him 670, seventh all-time. His 1,654 points also rank him seventh. Gretzky is tops with 894 goals and 1,963 assists.

“I think nobody is surprised about him anymore,” Penguin Alexei Kovalev said. “Mario has been the best player all his life. It’s not surprising he has shown that again. He’s 37 years old and he has had a lot of injuries. But skill is something you never lose. You might lose speed, physics, but the one thing you never lose is talent.”

The crackdown on obstruction has certainly helped. Lemieux and the NHL’s other free skaters can again build up speed through the neutral zone, descend and attack.

“The game isn’t as tough on older guys as it has been the last few years,” Lemieux said. “Now there is a little bit more flow to the game. There’s more skating, more moving the puck. The give and go is back in the game, which is nice to see, I think you’re going to see a few careers extended a little because of that.”

All the goals and assists and trophies mean little to Lemieux compared to the Penguins as a franchise.

He rescued them from bankruptcy in 1999 by putting together a group of investors and kept the team in Pittsburgh.

“No one could have done this but Mario Lemieux,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the time.

Time for another miracle on ice.

The Penguins’ Mellon Arena is a quaint Igloo-shaped landmark that has been known to leak water onto fans. New stadiums were erupting all over Pittsburgh in recent years. The Steelers and Pirates have them. The Penguins patiently await their turn.

The state has agreed to chip in $90 million, although it still must be approved by the governor. Lemieux has already bought the land. All that is needed is another $53 million, which team officials hope will come from local taxes. That seems far-fetched at the moment.

Lemieux hopes a deal can be made in January or February, but denies that he continues to play to drum up support for an arena.

“The new arena is going to be there whether I play or not,” said Lemieux, who has a three-man committee that handles most of the team’s to day-to-day operations while he plays. “So that’s not an issue.”

Others see it as a big issue. In fact, one hockey official said that Lemieux’s presence on the ice would be the key issue.

Nearly everyone thought the end had finally come last March, when a hip injury ended Lemieux’s season after only 24 games.

His career path is strewn with roadblocks ... all in the rearview mirror.

He sat out 50 games in 1990-91 while recovering from back surgery. He finished tops in playoff scoring with 44 points and won his third scoring title the following season.

He was diagnosed with a form of Hodgkin’s in 1992-93 and sat out a month to undergo radiation treatments. He returned after a month and won the scoring title.

He sat out recovering from more back surgery in 1994-95. He won the scoring title the following season, and again in 1996-97.

Yet, last season, the timing seemed right for him to bow out. He had just won the gold medal playing for Canada in the Olympics. That was the perfect last achievement in a career that includes two Stanley Cups, three Hart Trophies for most valuable player, two Conn Smythe Trophies for the most valuable player in the playoffs and six scoring titles.

“There was no doubt I was coming back this year,” Lemieux said. “I knew what I had last year was unfortunate. I hurt my hip in training camp and never recovered from there. I spent a lot of time this summer working out, making sure that I was ready for this year.”

He was.

“If you have 50 highlight goals, Mario will be there 30 times,” San Jose’s Teemu Selanne said. “My rookie year, when they announced he had Hodgkin’s I remember he was 30 points behind Patrick LaFontaine, Mario said that he was coming back and winning the scoring title. He came and did it. I felt then that this guy was Superman.”

How much longer Lemieux will carry on is to be seen. He has quit before, but couldn’t make it stick.

“My family was a big reason I came back,” Lemieux said. “My son loves to play hockey. I figured it wasn’t too late for me to come and enjoy the game together. I got tired of playing golf and doing the same thing every day.”

Instead, Lemieux chose to do a different same thing every day ... at least when he’s on the road. The interviews and autographs during the day. The goals and assists at night.

Said Lemieux: “I’m going to keep playing as long as I’m healthy and having fun and playing at a high level.”

If that’s the criteria, then Santa Claus could be coming to town for a long, long time.