Okay. I wish Mario Lemieux had come out of retirement in, say, October... Nice fall colours along the way, no sand or salt on the roads, not to mention what seems like five feet of snow turning the entire continent into an extension of Buffalo. December 27th is a lousy time to drive from Toronto to Pennsylvania. Especially this year.

This being said, it was worth every miserable mile, every squirt of windshield wiper fluid on a barely visible road, every shiver from the unexpectedly deep cold: as a Canadian, especially one born in Sudbury, Ontario, I suppose I could say I felt right at home. Ugh. Getting lost in the streets of Pittsburgh was even more fun. I must have gone around the North Side about three times.

Finally, I saw the Mellon Arena. Like a latter-day Mecca, it awaited the fans in its snowy nest in the heart of town. Face-off was scheduled for 7:30 p.m., but at 6:45, the crowd was already surging forward. For the first time in over three years, « Le Magnifique » was skating on NHL ice, returning as the only player-owner in the league.

Beyond the well-known biography and statistics, there's the incredible hype: and it works, since it lured me all the way down here - a six-hour drive. That's without the 45-minute wait at the U.S. border and any rest-stops along the way.

Mario is the Penguin Messiah, charging in at the very moment the official reigning star, Jaromir Jagr, was simply very good instead of brilliant as usual. Number 66 simply uts everyone else to shame. In Pittsburgh, since Mario Lemieux, "very good" isn't good enough. In fact, if Jesus himself came to town to be crucified, the residents here would probably think: "It isn't Mario - he had a moment of weakness and asked God to forget about the whole thing, even if he changed his mind. Mario would never do that." Here is a man who returned to the game only a few hours before his last chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin's disease. He stayed here for his entire career and became an owner rather than let the team leave Pittsburgh. Mario Lemieux is the Penguins. If he didn't exist, it might be safe to say there wouldn't be a hockey team here anymore.

In this game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the home team wanted revenge. They got it: 5-0, and the rest is history... The fans were fierce, booing the Leafs loudly as soon as they hit the ice. They certainly drowned out any of us Toronto ticketholders, of which there were a few: but then, I think we all decided this was okay, because Mario was back, and after all, the Leafs kicked the Pens' behinds 5-1 and 7-4 the two last times the teams met, without number 66.

The minute Lemieux emerged, clapping and cheering erupted everywhere. The home crowd gave him a standing ovation. He skated with astonishing grace, despite the doubt he said he had about the strength in his legs. Nothing showed: he dominated the ice with his presence even before playing, whether or not we could read the legendary number he had on his back. Throughout the game, it felt like being in church: up, down, up, down... people kept standing up to clap and cheer at each try, at each shot... and of course, at each goal. I almost missed the action by not jumping up fast enough, then craning my neck to peer over the heads of the fans in front of me.

The ambiance must have helped. As we all know now, Number 66 collected three points: a goal at 10:33 of the second period and two assists, of which the first was only 33 seconds into the game. Revenge was sweet for the Pens - and taken in style. Jagr scored two goals to go up to 999 career points; and the team's rising star, Alexei Kovalev, scored one more goal of his own; but the night was all about Mario. Still, if one of Lemieux's stated goals was to spark Jagr, it certainly worked: the chemistry between the two stars is unbelievable. They're feeding off each other like fire and gasoline. At this rate, Jagr will clinch the Art Ross again, despite his low point of 17th place earlier in the season. Never mind - Lemieux himself might be a candidate: a Hart Trophy candidate, at least, since he's certainly proving MVP for his impact on morale as much as his performance.

Whatever the sentimental reasons for the return of Mario Lemieux as a player, the event has turned out to be a brilliant marketing move: the game was sold out, with 17 148 people filling the seats. According to Pennsylvania newspapers, scalpers were selling tickets for up to 750 $ U.S. After the first period, I met at least one person who'd paid 200 $ U.S. for hers. Mariomania is everywhere in town: Jerseys and T-shirts are selling like hotcakes. After the game, the bar at the Steelhead Grill was packed and many locals opted to stay the night upstairs at the Marriott, just to beat the traffic home. « Mario is back » is the new Buddhist chant of hockey fans in the area. The Igloo is filling up for the rest of the year, after complaints at the beginning of the season that thousands of tickets were still unsold at the beginning of each game.

On television, the game attracted the most viewers for regular season hockey in the history of the Fox network affiliates. It even beat out Regis Philbin and his show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Hockey Night in Canada has broken its previous records, attracting 1.8 million viewers compared to 1.68 millions per game for the Stanley Cup finals.

The return of Mario Lemieux could inspire a new trend: after ecotourism, hockey tourism... which explains the lack of complaints from teams who still have to face the Penguins and who often have trouble filling out their own arenas. The December 26th game against the Buffalo Sabres, for instance, was also sold out in anticipation of Lemieux's return. Similar results are expected everywhere in the NHL.