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Wayne Gretzky is arguably the greatest hockey player who ever lived (I still say it’s Bobby Orr), but his eating habits would have today’s NHL training staffs shaking their heads.

Gretzky’s main pre-game meal was always the same: a bowl of chicken-noodle soup and a salad, followed by a steak with a potato and corn, which he would eat around 12:30 p.m., following his team’s morning skate. But Gretzky would find himself starving around 5 p.m. and looking for something else to eat before the game. Depending on the city he was in, it could be pizza, a sandwich or his favourite, hotdogs.

Gretzky once joked: “I play best on four hotdogs with mustard and onions. People ask me what’s my secret on the ice? Bad breath.”

The Great One would wash it down with a Diet Coke.

Gretzky has noted there were no power bars or energy drinks when he was young and started his pre-game routine, so he would get a boost from a Diet Coke and a chocolate bar.