Wayne Gretzky gets featured on Sidemen, but British YouTubers were unaware of Canadian hockey legend

By Srihari Anand

Modified Feb 19, 2024 21:44 GMT

Wayne Gretzky is undoubtedly the most famous hockey legend in history. Nicknamed "The Great One," he is the league leader in goals scored, assists and points, even after retiring 24 years ago in 1999.

Sidemen are one of the biggest YouTube groups in the UK. According to their website sidemen.com, the group has 138.7 million subscribers and 37.9 billion views across all Sidemen channels, including each member's individual channels.

A Wayne Gretzky feature on a Sidemen channel is the last thing fans expected to see. But, it happened. On their second channel MoreSidemen, the group uploaded a video on September 15, 2023 titled:

"SIDEMEN WEAKEST LINK: DUMB EDITION."

In the second round, YouTuber Zerkaa was faced with the question:

"Which Canadian hockey player is considered the greatest of all time?"

Much to hockey fans' dismay, his answer to the question, after some contemplation, was "Simon Minter." Which funnily enough is Miniminter's real name.

The group includes Olajide "KSI" Olatunji, Simon "Miniminter" Minter, Joshua "Zerkaa" Bradley, Tobi "TBJZL" Brown, Ethan "Behzinga" Payne, Vikram "Vik" Barn and Harry "W2S" Lewis.

This latest iteration of "Weakest Link" was missing KSI and Behzinga. With Miniminter hosting the show, TBJZL, VikkStar123, Zerkaa and W2S were the contestants.

Sidemen have posted multiple Weakest Link videos in the past, which is their own spin on BBC's "Weakest Link" show. The game includes multiple contestants who take turns answering general knowledge and trivia questions within a time limit. At the end of each round, the players vote one contestant, "The Weakest Link," out of the game.

Wayne Gretzky once attended a Premier League game

During a 2015 visit to Europe, Wayne Gretzky attended a Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal soccer game.

In an interview with NBC Sports, "The Great One" said:

“We enjoy it as a family, and I love watching the World Cup. That is my favorite time to watch soccer.

"This is my first match ever in Europe. I went to one match (in the U.S.) seven or eight years ago, I had to go and see [David] Beckham play. I went to an LA Galaxy game but this is my first game involving Premier League teams. So I’m really excited.”

Gretzky disclosed he started watching soccer in the days of Pele, a Brazilian soccer legend. Gretzky talked about David Beckham's impact in growing soccer in North America stating it soccer became more popular after the former Manchester United legend joined the MLS.

What Gretzky and Beckham have in common is that they both have played in Los Angeles markets for their respective sports. Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings from the Edmonton Oilers in 1988. David Beckham joined MLS team, LA Galaxy in 2007 after his time at Real Madrid.