A Great time

COEUR d'ALENE - As Wayne Gretzky, considered the greatest hockey player of all time, walked down the stairwell of the Frontier Ice Arena before a charity hockey game Friday night, fans cheered mightily.

Several of them broke out their cell phones, tablets and cameras to take pictures of "The Great One," who enjoyed a 21-year playing career from 1978-1999 with the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers.

A sold-out crowd of more than 600 at the Hockey Fest exhibition game was thrilled before, during and after the 6-5 victory by the Gozzer NHL Legends that Gretzky and several others played on, over the Coeur d'Alene Lakers, which featured local players.

For the past six years, the 53-year-old Hall of Fame center has lived in a vacation home in Gozzer Ranch Golf and Lake Club, a private area located in Harrison. He and wife Janet Jones will celebrate their 26th anniversary on Wednesday.

On Friday, she and the couple's youngest daughter, Emma, 11, watched Wayne and their 23-year-old son, Ty, play.

Gretzky and Jones live in Malibu, Calif., near Los Angeles.

"We actually have a lot of friends who live up here," Jones said. "John Elway was the original guy that told us about Coeur d'Alene. He's been a longtime friend of Wayne's. He's always been saying how beautiful it is up here. We love it up here. The people are great, there's a great group of people at Gozzer Ranch."

Proceeds from the game benefited local youth hockey and the nonprofit ice arena.

Brett Hull, Hockey Hall of Famer, coached the NHL Legends.

Adam Deadmarsh, a Coeur d'Alene resident who played nine seasons in the NHL, coached the Lakers.

The fans watched Gretzky finish with two assists in the game that had two 25-minute halves with a running clock. With 14 seconds in the first half, Gretzky shuffled a quick pass to his son, Ty, who scored directly in front of the net to cut Coeur d'Alene'slead to 4-1.

Tyler Johnson, a center who played last year as a rookie for the Tampa Bay Lightning, highlighted the Coeur d'Alene Lakers, a team made up of current and former Spokane Chiefs, as well as other teams around the area. Johnson, a former Spokane Chief and Coeur d'Alene Laker who was born in Spokane, won the opening faceoff against Gretzky.

Johnson assisted on the game's first score, by Derek Ryan. He also scored in the first half, to make it a 3-0 Lakers lead. Johnson tacked on two more assists later in the game.

"To see all those legends out there, playing against them ... I grew up watching them play on center ice," Johnson said. "It was a dream come true, something that you never really think is possible. Everything worked out for this event. It was a great turnout."

Johnson talked about giving back to the community.

"This is my home, this is my community," Johnson said. "So for us to be able to put on an event like and raise as much money as we have, giving back to them. I've been there before, I was in their shoes (as a younger player). It's an expensive sport to play hockey, but for events like this, maybe we can give back a little bit of an opportunity to play. That's our goal and at the same time it's awesome to see these ex-NHL players playing with us thanks to Gozzer and everyone for putting this on. I know the guys on our team had a blast."

Tyler Mort of Post Falls, a former college hockey player and older brother of Tanner Mort, had an assist on the game's second goal, scored by Tyler Alos. Tyler said his brother and he played on the same team for the first time since they were 15.

"It didn't seem real," Tyler said of playing against Gretzky. "It almost seemed like a dream. I shook his hand after the game. He just said 'Good game', said he had fun.That was pretty unbelievable. When we were warming up and we saw him coming down the steps, I know I caught myself standing there watching. It was pretty surreal and it's neat that they took time out of their busy schedules to come."

With 1:04 left in the game, the NHL Legends got a game-winning goal, scored on the power play by Justin Courtnall, who was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 2007 NHL Draft and played for seven seasons in the minor leagues.

With eight seconds left in the game, Ryan appeared to have scored what would have been a game-tying goal for the Lakers, but the referees waved it off after a video replay.

Another member of the NHL Legends, Greg Adams, who scored 355 career goals over 18 seasons and played in the 1994 Stanley Cup for the Vancouver Canucks, said he enjoyed the area after arriving from his home in Phoenix.

"It's fun for us to get together as a group of guys, some of who you haven't seen in a while," Adams, 50, said. "To come out here and do something where you're supporting a good cause makes it that much better."

Among the fans was 17-year-old Alex Carrier, a defenseman from Montreal who has worked out with Johnson this summer. Carrier will be eligible for the NHL Draft next season and is considered by some online mock drafts to be picked somewhere in the third round.

"This was the first time I saw Wayne Gretzky play," Carrier said. "It's pretty cool. It was pretty impressive, it was a good game."