It wasn't supposed to end this way. The hero wasn't supposed to be in front of a microphone wearing a business suit and holding back the tears. He was supposed to be on the ice in a Penguins sweater and holding up the Stanley Cup.

This was supposed to be a season to celebrate, not one to mourn. This was supposed to be yet another rebirth of the franchise, not another backward step.

The Penguins' nightmare season took another dark turn yesterday when Mario Lemieux, arguably the greatest athlete ever to represent this city, announced his retirement. While not unexpected, the decision still was stunning in its finality.

Lemieux, a French Canadian who became a Pittsburgher, is walking away from the game he dominated for several reasons, not the least of which is he can no longer dominate.

Immaculately attired, as always, in a dark, three-button, pinstriped suit, white shirt and burgundy tie, Lemieux, 40, strode to the microphone at 1:59 p.m. in the Igloo Club at Mellon Arena as his beautiful wife and four children watched from the side.

He spoke solemnly but easily when he said: "I have two main reasons for retiring here today. The first one is I can no longer play at the level that I was accustomed to in the past, and that has been very, very frustrating to me throughout the past year. The second one is realizing that my health, along with my family, is the most important thing in the world."

Later, when he spoke to his now-former teammates, who were in attendance, and reminded them to enjoy every day in the NHL, Lemieux's voice cracked and he paused momentarily to regain his composure.

It's hard to imagine this giant of a man -- in so many ways -- was a shy teenager when he arrived in Pittsburgh as the heralded savior of a downtrodden franchise after being the No. 1 pick in the 1984 draft. He barely spoke the language, but, boy, could he play the game.

He turned out to be one of those rare athletes who lived up to the hype. He was the savior and led the Penguins first to respectability and then to two Stanley Cup championships.

Over the years he grew in so many ways. He conquered the language, and he won the hearts of a city. He retired after the 1997 season, when he won his sixth scoring title, but came back in December 2000 to lead the Penguins to the conference final of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

That was a last hurrah for the Penguins and, in retrospect, Lemieux. The team has not made the playoffs since. Lemieux played only 24 games in 2001-02 and only 10 in '03-04.

The labor strife that closed down the '04-05 season probably robbed him of one final good season. He had slowed perceptively. He was still a good player but nothing approaching a great one.

He had seven goals and 15 assists in 26 games, a more than respectable figure. But his plus/minus was a minus 16, which, according to NHL.com, ranked him 793rd out of 805 skaters in the NHL. It says a lot about the season the Penguins are having that five of his teammates are ranked lower.

You'd have to go back almost 100 years to the Pirates' Honus Wagner to find an athlete who accomplished as much or who dominated his sport for so long while wearing a Pittsburgh uniform.

His legend only increased when he put together a group that bought the team out of bankruptcy court in 1999 and saved it for a second time.

Lemieux retires as eighth all time in goals in the NHL, 10th in assists and seventh in points. But don't let those numbers fool you. They don't begin to tell the story of his excellence. If he had played every game this season and next, he'd still wouldn't be close to the top 100 in games played. Only Wayne Gretzky averaged more points per game.

It can only be left to conjecture -- and Lemieux admitted he wondered about it himself -- what he might have done if it weren't for injury, illness and his premature retirement.

What is known is that he ranks among the very best in NHL history, in an exclusive club that includes Bobby Orr and Gretzky.

Lemieux was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, in early December and played in only one game since then. Sad to say, because the Penguins are so deeply mired in last place, that his absence will mean little to the fortunes of this team. Not even Lemieux in his prime could salvage this season.

Remember him for his greatness on the ice, for his class off of it. Remember him as Pittsburgh's best -- ever.