Hockey Hall Makes Call

It's a very special feeling when you get that call. Being informed that you've been inducted into the Hall of Fame has extra weight and meaning. What it tells people is that your are a cut above the rest. You are being held to a higher standard then other athletes. Since the first class was inducted in 1945, there have been at least four players that get that magical call that all athletes wait for when their playing career ends. This year, there are four NHL players, one international player and a couple of builders that will take their place among the elite in the game.

Former NHL forwards Teemu Selanne, Dave Andreychuk, Mark Recchi and Paul Kariya are going into the players category. Joining them in the players category is Danielle Goyette, a retired Canadian women's ice hockey player. Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and college hockey coach Clare Drake. Jacobs and Drake each was elected as a builder.

A pair of Ducks, and for the longest time the faces of the franchise, are going into the Hall together. Kariya and Selanne played together with the Ducks from 1996-2001 and with the Avlanche in 2003-04. PauL Kariya really got the franchise on the map out in Anaheim. He now sits 5th on the Ducks all time scoring list with 669 points, he's 3rd in goals with 300 and 3rd in assists with 369. He was captain of the Ducks from 1996-97 through 2002-03 and helped them advance to the 2003 Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the New Jersey Devils in seven games. He also helped Canada win the gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Kariya was a three-time member of the NHL First All-Star Team who finished his NHL career as a point-per-game player with 989 (402 goals, 587 assists) in 989 games with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues. Kariya was known for his skilled and entertaining style of play. An offensive player, he was a fast skater with strong puck-handling and passing abilities.

The other guy most people think about when it comes to the Ducks is the Finnish Flash, Teemu Selanne, who just so happens to hold almost every record the Ducks franchise has. He leads them in games played (966), goals (457), assists (531) and points (988). All of this came after a blazing start to his NHL career, which came after his first four years in the league in Winnipeg. Selanne, who set an NHL rookie record with 76 goals for the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93. He broke the previous record of 53 set by Hall of Famer Mike Bossy in 1977-78, and his 132 points also are a record for an NHL rookie. Neither record has been approached. By the time all was said and done, Selanne had played for the Jets, Ducks, Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks. By the time all was said and done, Selanne had scored 684 goals and 1,457 points 1,451 games. Most people will always associate him with great skating speed, which is how he earned the nickname the Finnish Flash. He is the highest scoring Finnish player in the history of the league.

Then you have Dave Andreychuk, who until this year was the only player to score 600 or more goals in the NHL and not get elected into the Hall of Fame. A solid goal scorer in his own right, Anderychuk scored at least twenty goals in every season he played except for two years in New Jersey in his final year in Tampa Bay post lockout. His best season offensively was in 1993–94 when, with Toronto, he posted 53 goals and 99 points. Anderychuk specialized on the powerplay, always parking himself right in front of the opposing netminder and making it hard for him to see shots. And its kind of hard to move somebody who stands 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, there was no way you were getting him out of the crease, as was evident by the 274 goals he scored on the man advantage, the most in league history. He may not been as smooth as the two guys listed above, but he still had the talent and grit never the less to be able to score over 600 goals in his career.

Much in the mold of Dave Anderychuk, there was Mark Recchi, who was a battering ram on skates. He played 22 years in the league, scoring 577 goals, 956 assists and 1,533 points in 1,652 games played. All this while playing for seven different teams He won five cups, three as a player and two more as a Development Coach with the Penguins the last two seasons The point totals for Recchi's career are good for 12th all time, the only guy ahead of him on that list who isn't in the Hall of Fame is Jaromir Jagr, and there's no doubt in anybody's mind he's going in when he decidees to hang his skates up. Recchi is one of only eleven players to win the Stanley Cup with three different teams and the 8th player to win a Stanley Cup in 3 different decades (1991, 2006, 2011). During the early part of his career with the Penguins and Flyers, Recchi was lighting up the score sheet with regularity, but as his career went on, he dipped to middle of the pack range, but it was still pretty productive never the less.

Danielle Goyette has had a big impact on the Women's game on an international level. Goyette played her first world championship for Canada in 1992 at age 26 and her final one in 2007 at 41. Over that time, Goyette saw women's hockey grow, and she was a big reason why with how she helped inspire a generation of young girls to play. During her distinguished career, Goyette managed to pick up three medals on the international stage, gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and 2006 Turin Olympics, and silver at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. To go along with that, she snagged seven golds and one silver playing for Canada at the IIHF World Women's Championship.

Longtime Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs also gets the call that he will be going into the hall in the builders category.  Jacobs has owned the Bruins since 1975, and during the time of his ownership, the Bruins have been a consistent presence in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. From 1967-68 through 1995-96, Boston made the playoffs 29 straight seasons from 1967-68 to 1995-96, with Jacobs serving as the owner for 21 of those seasons. In his 41 seasons of ownership, the Bruins have made the playoffs 34 times, including the Stanley Cup win in 2011. Oh there has been more success then just the 2011 Cup, which is the cherry on top of the Sundae for Jacobs. Boston has won four conference titles, 15 division championships and the Presidents' Trophy twice during his tenure.

Rounding out this group is a person responsible for a lot of the coaches in the game today. Clare Drake is considered by many to be the father of modern hockey coaching. In fact, Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz, Dallas Stars coach Ken Hitchcock and Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock are among those who consider Drake a mentor and a huge influence on their own coaching style. Drake was coach of the University of Alberta Golden Bears for 28 years before leaving the school in 1989, winning six University Cup championships and, perhaps more importantly, influencing hockey coaches around the world with his innovative tactics and teaching techniques. He also coached the Edmonton Oilers during the 1975-76 World Hockey Association season and was a Winnipeg Jets assistant in 1989-90. What made Clare Drake Drake is widely credited with changing how a coach looks at the game through a more analytical approach, and he imparted that wisdom to his colleagues by running coaching clinics at the regional national and international levels throughout his career.

So there you have it, the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2017!