Patrick Brown hopes an assist from the Great One will help him score his goal of the Progressive Conservative leadership.

Wayne Gretzky will officially endorse the Barrie MP on Monday.

In a statement to the Star on Sunday, the National Hockey League’s all-time scoring leader praised Brown as “hard-working and dedicated.”

“I have known Patrick Brown for a number of years now. Patrick is a strong Conservative. He has the passion and vision to lead Ontario,” said Gretzky, also a supporter of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Brown, whose annual “Hockey Night in Barrie” fundraisers each summer have raised more than $1 million for the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, came to know the Brantford-born superstar through their charity work.

“I am honoured to have support from Wayne Gretzky, a Canadian icon and one of the greatest athletes of our time,” the Tory MP said, adding Gretzky’s endorsement is proof he has the appeal to expand the provincial Conservative party’s appeal.

“I am rebuilding the PC Party by reaching out to people outside our traditional voting base. I am connecting with people who share a vision of a better Ontario, but who haven’t felt at home with our party,” said Brown.

“Ontario is tired of the same-old-same-old and wants change,” he said.

The deadline to buy a $10 PC Party membership — in order to be eligible to cast a ballot in the one-member-one-vote election in May — is Saturday.

Brown, who has three MPPs on his team, is in a tight race with front-runner Christine Elliott, the Whitby-Oshawa MPP who enjoys the support of 18 of the 28-member PC caucus.

MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex), whose best-known backer is Toronto Councillor Rob Ford, a controversial former mayor, is also in the running.

The winning candidate will succeed former leader Tim Hudak as full-time chief and will be announced at the PC convention in Toronto on May 9.

Although Gretzky is a Conservative, he has family ties to the provincial New Democrats.

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His cousin Tyler’s wife, Lisa Gretzky, is the NDP MPP for Windsor West.

While the Tories governed Ontario for 50 of the past 75 years, the party has lost four elections in a row to the Liberals, most recently to Premier Kathleen Wynne last June.

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