TORONTO -- Wayne Gretzky paid tribute to his late father Walter on Saturday in a heartfelt eulogy during the Gretzky patriarch’s funeral in Brantford, Ont. Below is a complete transcript of the eulogy, as transcribed by CTVNews.ca, edited for length and clarity.

Wayne Gretzky: Obviously, with the pandemic that we've had, it's been horrible for everyone throughout the world, Canada, North America. I really want to tell everyone that my dad and my sister and our family were so conscious of it and that COVID had nothing to do with the passing of my father. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, he sustained a bad hip injury and, as I said earlier, we thought weeks ago that the end was here. He has a tremendous amount of faith. Faith like I've never seen, but he had a love for life and he didn't want to leave. And we were 21 days sitting with him, and just enjoying life and we got a chance, an opportunity to tell stories.

Our grandchildren have... seen my dad after his brain aneurysm, and we were telling them all you're thankful that you didn't know him before his brain aneurysm because he was a lot tougher. So it's been a tough time. I want to thank everyone in the community who dropped off food, who dropped off sandwiches, they knew we were all there for 21 days. My sister was a champ, she was beside him, each and every minute of the day. The grandkids were wonderful. My dad and mom, I know are so proud. So I thought I would tell a couple stories.

I spent the last four nights talking with my wife Janet, thinking what I was going to say and, like I usually do, I try to just kind of wing it and speak from my heart. So years ago, as everyone knows, my dad was such a huge sports fan and hockey guy, and we were playing in a hockey tournament outside of Toronto, and my dad was so proud of the fact we're going to play against better teams than little towns in this area. On a Friday night, we were going to the tournament and my mom said, 'No. Walter, we're going to have this baby this weekend.' And he said, 'That's OK, you can wait till we get back.'

So, Brent was born on the Saturday. We went to this tournament in Whitby, Ontario. We played against good teams like Burlington, Oshawa, Hamilton, Toronto Marlies, Nationals. We won the tournament, we got in the car and we weren't sure if the car to get us back from Oshawa to Brantford. So we finally got back, and the next day, mom came home with Brent, people were coming by -- families, friends, sisters -- congratulations on the baby, and every single person would say to my dad, 'Walter, I can't believe you missed the birth of your son.' So our next door neighbour Mary Rosetto came over and she was the last person to come over. She said, 'Walter, I can't believe you missed the birth of Brent,' and when she walked out the door he was so mad, he stood up and grabbed the trophy and he goes, 'Yes, but we got the trophy.'

So, as time goes on, he was so nice to all the grandchildren. Every grandchild loved him, close to each and every one of them. They understood how important he was not only to our family but to the culture of Canada. He came here, his family as an immigrant. They came here because he wanted a better life. I don't think I've ever met a prouder Canadian than my dad. And all my five children are American, born in United States, and I always tell them you should be as proud of the United States as your grandfather is of Canada, because that's how much he loves the country.

I always tell my kids there's nothing better in life than family. My dad would come every year to our summer house. My sons Ty, Trevor, Tristan they had a hockey school and dad would come out, he'd go to the rink, sign autographs like he always does. We were playing golf one day, and he's picking up golf balls. And I'm like, 'We have all these golf balls, what are these golf balls for?'

And finally the next day, Ty, Trevor, and Tristan, my friend Mike and Tom, they're in the fairway, they're in the rough, they're grabbing all these balls. And I finally grab them, I said, 'You guys got to stop grabbing golf balls.' And they're like, 'What do you mean? Your dad wants them for the kids.' I said, I know he wants them for the kids, but I got to sign them for the kids.' So I take my dad to the airport at 5 a.m., sure enough we get to the airport and there's two big bags, and my brother Glen he runs out of the car, he's going to get a cup of coffee, and my dad goes, 'You'll sign these for the kids, right?' I'm like, 'Oh my god.' So there I was signing for hours, but that's how he was.

He was a remarkable man who loved life, love family. We'd be a way better world if there was so many more people like my dad. Very special. We're all hurting, this is a tough time. I'm so proud of the fact that so many people have reached out and given him such great tributes because he deserves it. He has a heart of gold and just wonderful. Thank you.