One of those rare athletes whose skills raise the level of his sport, Mario Lemieux, who twice led the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup, was a courageous and charismatic presence from the moment he skated onto the ice; he deposited his first NHL shot into the net, and never looked back. No defense could stop him, not even Hodgkin's disease. He forechecked just about everything that stood between him and his goals--both on and off the ice. Lemieux retired in 1997, his place in the hockey pantheon assured, and The Final Period, with its dazzling display of text and photographs, is a brilliant tribute to his career.

FROM THE PUBLISHER