Once I'm at the arena with the guys in the dressing room, and in the bus, and on the plane, I'm a player. And I sit in the back with the players and I play cards and try to take their money.

The streak's length was second only to Gretzky's 51-game streak. During the tournament his hip injury required several painkilling injections to keep him on the ice and he only played one more NHL game after the Olympics before being lost for the season.

In 2004 he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Lemieux's impact on the NHL has been significant: Andrew Conte of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review called him the "savior" of the Pittsburgh Penguins and after Lemieux's retirement Wayne Gretzky commented that "You don't replace players like Mario Lemieux [. He ranks second in NHL history with a 0.