Gretzky and his buddies, with bundles of Stanley Cup rings between them, lost in overtime to Finnish league team Ilves 4-3 Sunday.
The last Stanley Cup-winning captain, Mark Messier, fended off suggestions that the star-studded group is giving only light-skating exhibitions.
The New York Rangers star said. "Every time we put on a uniform we want to win. We're disappointed that we lost."
The sellout crowd of 8,044 acknowledged three superb goals -- one scored by Gretzky himself, the other two by Tony Granato and Yzerman. But Ilves came back every time to tie.
The setback was Gretzky's second in Tampere, the hot-bed of Finnish hockey. The earlier dated back to 1982 -- the only time Gretzky played in western Europe before his current six-game tour of Finland, Sweden and Norway. He participated in the World Championships, when Canada settled for a bronze medal behind the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.
With players like Messier, Marty McSorley, Rich Tocchet, Steve Yzerman, Paul Coffey, Sergei Fedorov and Brett Hull, this year's Gretzky touring team, the Ninety-Nine All-Stars, should be competitive, too. But they still lost for the second time in three games.
The Ninetynine team -- named after Gretzky's jersey number -- lost itsfirst game 4-3 Thursday to the Detroit Vipers of the Int*ernational Hockey League at Auburn Hills, Michigan, when they missed several key players.
On Saturday, it defeated Finland's Jokerit team, 7-1.
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