Wayne Gretzky takes to social media to show support for Ukraine

The NHL has a long history of having both Ukrainian born players and players with Ukrainian heritage make an impact in the game.

Former NHLers Dmitri Khristich, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Alexei Zhitnik are all proud Ukrainians while the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Cale Makar, Kelly Hrudey, Jordin Tootoo, Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower, Mike Bossy, Dave Andreychuk, Tyler Bozak, Johnny Boychuk, Turk Broda, Joffrey Lupul, Alexander Vasilevski, Nolan Patrick, Todd Fedoruk, Johnny Buyck, Jeff Chychrun, Ken Daneyko, Eddie Shack, Eric Nesterenko, Darcy Wakaluk Clint Malarchuk and Colton Parayko all have Ukrainian heritage. That's... that's quite an impressive list of talent.

And the most impressive player on that list, The Great One himself, took to social media yesterday to show his support for Ukraine in their war against Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation. 

"I learned Ukrainian first because my mother didn’t know how to speak English until later when the kids grew up. So Ukraine is the motherland of our family."

- Wayne Gretzky

I guess I always kind of knew that 'Gretzky' was a Ukrainian name, but I guess I never really thought about it much until now. I can't imagine how it must feel to have your motherland bombed and destroyed by a war crazed monger like Putin.