[ad_1]
TORONTO – Willie O'Ree just wanted a chance to show what he could do.
The same went for Martin St. Louis and Jayna Hefford.
There was a common theme at the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday – one of opportunity.
"At the age of 14, I played with the National Hockey League," O'Ree said in his speech. "I wanted to be a hockey player.
"All I needed was the opportunity."
The first black player in NHL history and the third to enter the Hall, O'Ree would get lucky when he was called up by the Boston Bruins for a game against the Montreal Canadiens on Jan 18, 1958.
"I did not know I was breaking the color barrier," O'Ree, now 83, continued. "That's how focused I was on making my dream come true."
O'Ree, St. Louis and Hefford were joined by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, all-time goalie wins and shutout leader Martin Brodeur and Soviet-era Russian star Alexander Yakushev as the Hall's clbad of 2018.
St. Louis, Hefford, Brodeur and Yakushev were inducted into the players category, while O'Ree – who suited up for just 45 games in the NHL, but would return to the fold in 1996 as a goodwill ambbadador – and Bettman went in as builders.
Undersized and undrafted, St. Louis rocketed from castoff to Hart Trophy winner and two-time scoring champion once he got his chance with the Tampa Bay Lightning, including a Cup victory in 2003-04.
"St. Louis said from the podium. "Believe in yourself." When it seems like closing doors, looking for a window and finding a way in.
The five-foot-eight winger is one of just six undrafted players to reach 1,000 points and was a member of Canada's men's Olympic team that won gold in 2014.
"The reason that some people do not reach their full potential is that they quit too soon," St. Louis said. "Be a good teammate both on the ice and in life."
And for Hefford, that luck was getting to play in growing up that was supposed to be for the boys.
She won four Olympic gold medals and seven world championships playing for Canada, and is the sixth woman to enter the Hall.
"My story is more than just hockey," Hefford said. "My story is about the power of opportunity.
Hockey has given me so much … I would not be here if I did not have the opportunity to play the game. "
Speaking of opportunity, the NHL gave Bettman more than 25 years ago when the league plucked him from the NBA to serve as its first commissioner.
Since then, the NHL has grown from 24 to 31 teams, with annual revenues ballooning tenfold to around US $ 5 billion.
"Everyone knows that my public appearances get an energetic reaction," Bettman joked during his speech. "I get booed when I present the Stanley Cup, particularly to a road team, but even from the home team, and at the draft.
"Rather, I hope that my induction is a testament to what is clearly a collective contribution."
A three-time Stanley Cup champion and four-time Vezina Trophy winner with the New Jersey Devils, Brodeur won 691 games and had 125 shutouts in his 20 seasons.
"This is a really special day for me," said an emotional Brodeur, the shoe-in of this year's clbad. "I'm honored and humbled."
A two-time Olympic gold medalist for Canada, Brodeur shares or owns 12 NHL records and played more than 70 games in a season 12 times in his career.
"He's having a smile on his face," Teammate and 2013 inductee Scott Niedermayer said Sunday at a Hall of Fame event. "He just embraced the big challenge, he was not overwhelmed."
Yakushev starred for the USSR in the 1972 Summit Series, scoring seven goals to tie Canada's Phil Esposito and Paul Henderson for the lead in the best-on-best showcase. He won Olympic gold in 1972 and 1976 and was elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2003, but never got the opportunity to play in the NHL.
"Mark Messier and I got to spend one of the best lunches ever together with Yakushev," Wayne Gretzky said before the ceremony. "In Edmonton when you made a great play in practice, we would say: 'That was Yakushevian.'
"We were telling him the story and he started crying, he did not believe us."
While the NHL has had incredible growth during Bettman 's time at the helm, it' s also overseen three lockouts, including one that wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.
Olympic participation and how the league has been dealt with in the past.
Like forming NHL Presidents Clarence Campbell and John Ziegler, Bettman was still in the job, but it was inductee said there is no doubt the commissioner belongs in the Hall.
"There's so many things he's doing to help our game," Dave Andreychuk said. "It's deserving honor."
Bettman trumpeted the league's growth in the United States in his speech, but also lamented the labor unrest.
"They were not a first choice, but a last resort," he said. "In retrospect, regrettably, there is no other way to secure stability, the competitiveness and strength of our league enjoys today."
___
Follow @JClipperton_CP on Twitter
[ad_2]
Source link
