When the Class of 2024 goes into the Hockey Hall of Fame this fall, there will be a little bit of Canadian content.

Of the seven names announced Tuesday, two have a distinct Canadian connection – Shea Weber will be enshrined in the player category, while Colin Campbell will go in as a builder.

A closer look at the inductees…

Shea Weber is one of the most decorated defencemen in Team Canada history, winning a pair of Olympic gold medals, gold at the IIHF World Championship and gold at the IIHF World Junior Championship, along with a World Cup of Hockey title.

The Sicamous, B.C., product wore the Maple Leaf on six occasions, and only once – at the 2009 IIHF World Championship, when Canada finished with silver – did he not leave with the top prize.

Despite the silver medal, that 2009 Men’s Worlds was arguably his best international performance – he led all blue-liners in scoring with 12 points (4-8—12) in seven games, was named Best Defenceman and earned a place on the Media All-Star Team.

Weber was part of the ‘Dream Team’ at the 2005 World Juniors, winning gold, and followed that up with gold at the 2007 IIHF World Championship at the conclusion of his second NHL season. Three years later, he contributed six points (2-4—6) in seven games to help Canada to a home-ice Olympic gold in Vancouver, and added six more (3-3—6) in six games in 2014 for another Olympic gold.

The tournament in Sochi included Weber’s biggest Team Canada contribution; the game-winning goal in the third period of a 2-1 quarterfinal win over Latvia.

Outside of the international accomplishments, Weber was a three-time finalist for the Norris Trophy (2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14), a Mark Messier Leadership Award recipient (2015-16) and a six-time NHL All-Star who captained the Nashville Predators (2010-16) and Montreal Canadiens (2018-22).

Colin Campbell, who has served as senior executive vice-president of hockey operations with the National Hockey League since 1998, has spent five decades involved in the NHL as a player, coach and executive.

A veteran of 636 games as a player with Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Edmonton and Detroit, the Tillsonburg, Ontario, native also spent 12 seasons as a coach with the Red Wings and New York Rangers, helping the Rangers end a 54-year Stanley Cup drought as associate coach in 1994 before serving as head coach for the following three seasons.

For the last 26 years, Campbell has left his mark on hockey operations, officiating and central scouting with the NHL, helping shape the way the game is played today,

Weber and Campbell will officially be inducted on Nov. 11 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, joined by fellow inductees Natalie Darwitz, Pavel Datsyuk, David Poile, Jeremy Roenick and Krissy Wendell-Pohl.

COVID-19 changed my life … in the best way possible. Strange, I know.

I was out to my family and close friends for a couple of years before the pandemic hit. But I lived in this world where I was running around, pushing deep thoughts to the back of my mind, saying, “I’ll deal with that later.” It was a fear of combining my personal life and my professional life.

But when COVID hit, I got to go home to Victoria. The world stopped, and so did my life as I knew it. The phone wasn’t ringing and the emails weren’t coming. The things that kept me occupied. It gave me the chance to sit down and have honest conversations.

I remember talking to Tyson Barrie, who was a client of mine and a good friend going back to our days growing up on Vancouver Island, and saying, “Hey, you know what? I think I’m going to come out.”

I thought maybe I’d just do an Instagram post, something simple. But Tyson and some other important people in my life thought I could really do something impactful, that I could be a face for the queer community in the game, because it was something hockey desperately needed.

So that started my journey. I began coming out to others, to big names in the game who I had crossed paths with through the years. When I told Connor McDavid, his response was simply, “Okay, that doesn’t matter.” I got a text from Sidney Crosby, who congratulated me and let me know he was there if I ever needed anything.

On Nov. 5, 2020, with the help of an article in The Athletic by Pierre Lebrun, I came out publicly.

Without discrediting how important my coming out was for my mental health, nobody really cared. It didn’t change how the hockey community saw me. Instead, it was … “Hey, you’re Bayne. You don’t judge us on who we date or who we’re attracted to. So why would we judge you?”

I got my foot in the door with Hockey Canada as an intern in the finance department in 2009 (I’m not much of a numbers guy, but it was the only position available at the time). From there I joined the hockey operations department in 2011, and my first assignment was the 2012 World Juniors in Alberta. I was travelling the world with Team Canada, riding these highs of winning gold at the Olympics, the IIHF World Championship and the World Juniors. And I was hanging around with a who’s-who of hockey, whether it’s Doug Armstrong, Jon Cooper, McDavid or Crosby. I left Hockey Canada in 2019 to become a certified NHLPA agent with CAA (Creative Artist Agency) and relocated to Toronto, finding my niche in the game and my personal happiness.

But there was always this fear that I couldn’t live my true life – to be accepted as a gay man – and also be a successful young executive in the game. It was a conundrum that kept me in the closet for a long time.

And it was that fear I needed to break down. It’s human nature – you always think the craziest things are going to happen, right? You’re going to tell someone and they’re going to not be your friend anymore. You get these thoughts in your head that you won’t be accepted or pushed out of hockey for some reason.

But that’s not what happened.

When I look back, I wonder why I was so anxious. And that’s what I try to preach to people who have reached out that are still in the closet thinking they won’t be accepted. The amount of outreach I had from people around the world, in the hockey world specifically, saying, “Hey, great for you. That’s awesome. You’re going to do great things,” was amazing. Just the overall support from friends, family, and even strangers was surreal to say the least.

And by no means did I ever think I’d become a face of being a queer man in hockey. But once I crossed that threshold and people reached out, I’m happy to speak on it. I think it’s important because you have to be out there and not everyone has the voice or platform to speak up.

That’s one of the reasons I helped launch the Alphabet Sports Collective (ASC) in March. We are a queer-led, not-for-profit that is empowering queer youth. Working with my co-chair, Brock McGillis, and ambassadors like Gord Miller, Jon Cooper, Morgan Rielly, Tessa Bonhomme – the support has been absolutely amazing.

We want to get our community to feel good about themselves. So if they want to work at Hockey Canada, or they want to be a sports agent, or they want to play in the NHL, now they have those faces, those supporters. Because I’m a strong believer that if you’ve never seen something done in front of you, you can’t tie to that and see yourself in those positions.

I’ve kind of come full circle now and I’m working with Hockey Canada as part of their ED&I (equity, diversity and inclusion) Task Team. I’ve really enjoyed it. I think it’s important to have representation from all walks of hockey.

For me, the key is showing vulnerability. Hockey Canada needs to get out there and listen to the issues and not think it has all the answers. We can write all the policies we want, run all the seminars we want. But we have to get to the grassroots of it. We need to hear the voices of the community, and there are groups out there that have done the work and understand the issues at hand. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel – we need to listen and learn.

I’m really proud Hockey Canada has this new group and it is listening and taking notes and not just rushing out a statement. Anyone can put out a statement. Let’s actually learn and implement new procedures and training so we’re not just spinning the wheel and checking the box. That’s the goal.

So now for the million-dollar question – where do we go from here?

I think it’s representation. To get the queer community empowered and feeling good about themselves, and then get a member of the community on the Hockey Canada board, get members of the queer community on NHL boards, get them on minor hockey boards, get them coaching, get them as trainers. To get that representation at the governance level, to have that voice and have that perspective, that’s the ultimate goal. Every community needs to be represented. People of colour, people of different religious backgrounds, people of the queer community. Because that’s what makes up Canada. So, if we’re really going to have a board that represents our country, then we need to have a queer seat there.

I want to get it out there and have open conversations and try and educate and humanize, but we’re not going to change everyone’s minds, and that’s not what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to say that the rights that you have, the equality, the celebrations, we want that for queer people.

I think sports are behind the rest of society. If I worked at a bank, I wouldn’t even really have to come out. It’s a big deal in hockey because there has never been anyone that’s done it, and it’s a hypermasculine sport, and we don’t talk about our feelings. We just play hockey and it’s the crest on the front, not the name on the back. Don’t bring your personal problems here – that’s how I was raised in the world of team sports.

But I think with some of the things we’ve seen in the news recently surrounding Pride nights, we’ve actually broken that down a bit and had honest conversations and opened people’s eyes that this is still an issue, that there are still some bigoted views and that it’s not a safe place for everyone yet.

The latest from last week, that NHL teams will no longer wear pregame jerseys for any causes, is disappointing to say the least. Nobody seems to want to focus on the 700+ players who supported our cause and wore Pride jerseys last season, it’s all about the miniscule group that refused. Pride nights (not to mention Hockey Fights Cancer, military appreciation and Indigenous celebrations) were successes across the league, and it’s sad to see the decision that was made.

With all that said, I truly think change is coming, and it starts with our youth.

I coach a U14 minor hockey team in Toronto. When I came out to them, their response was, “Whatever.” It didn’t change anything with them. When I came out to some of my young clients, it was, “It makes you happy and we’re happy for you.”

They’re understanding, they’re compassionate and they really don’t care, but in a good way. A lot of people seem to have a poor opinion of millennials – that they play too many video games and they’re lazy and the old “back in my day, I didn’t do that” mantra. But we’re at a point where the next generation is so eyes-wide-open and accepting that I find the future really promising, and I really think we’re in good hands on diversity and inclusion with our youth coming up.

To finish, I want those that are struggling to know that they’re not alone. There are resources, and there are people to talk to to help you feel accepted. It’s human nature to focus on the negatives, but there are a lot of us trying to break down barriers so queer people feel comfortable working or playing sports and living as their authentic self.

I would never want to be pushed away from the game I love because of sexual orientation. And I thought that was the case for a while, but it’s been the exact opposite.

Who knew? The big, bad hockey world isn’t that big and bad after all.

There will be a distinctly Canadian flavour when the Class of 2023 goes into the Hockey Hall of Fame this fall.

Of the seven names announced Wednesday, five have a Canadian connection – Caroline Ouellette, Pierre Turgeon and Mike Vernon will be enshrined in the player category, while Ken Hitchcock and Pierre Lacroix will go in as builders.

A closer look at the inductees…

Caroline Ouellette is one of the most decorated players in international women’s hockey history, winning four Olympic gold medals and six golds at the IIHF Women’s World Championship during a 20-year career with Canada’s National Women’s Team.

The Montreal native recorded 242 points (87-155—242) in 220 games, ranking third in all-time Team Canada scoring. She finished her Olympic career in style, wearing the ‘C’ as Canada topped the podium at Sochi 2014. Ouellette was at her best on the game’s biggest stage, finishing with 26 points (9-17—26) in 20 Olympic games.

In addition to her Team Canada exploits, Ouellette won four Clarkson Cup championships with the Canadiennes/Stars de Montréal in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL), claiming CWHL MVP honours in 2008-09 and 2010-11.

Pierre Turgeon made just a single appearance for Team Canada, scoring three goals in six games at the 1987 IIHF World Junior Championship.

He recorded 1,327 points (515-812—1,327) during a 19-year NHL career with six teams – Buffalo, the New York Islanders, Montreal, St. Louis, Dallas and Colorado – winning the Lady Byng Trophy in 1992-93.

Mike Vernon had a pair of experiences in the Maple Leaf, backstopping Canada’s National Junior Team to bronze at the 1983 IIHF World Junior Championship before winning silver with Canada’s National Men’s Team at the 1991 IIHF World Championship.

The Calgary product appeared in six games across his two appearances, posting a 2-2 record with a 3.78 goals-against average.

During a 19-year NHL career spent with Calgary, Detroit, San Jose and Florida, Vernon fashioned a 2.98 GAA and .889 save percentage across 782 games, winning Stanley Cups with the Flames (1989) and Red Wings (1997) and earning the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1997.

Ken Hitchcock was a familiar sight behind the Team Canada bench in the 2000s, serving as an assistant coach at four Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014), winning three gold medals. He was Canada’s head coach at the IIHF World Championship in 2008 (silver) and 2011, was an assistant at Worlds in 2002 and helped Canada to a World Cup title in 2004.

He got his first taste of international hockey as an assistant at the 1988 IIHF World Junior Championship, winning gold.

The Edmonton native coached the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup in 1999 and won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year with the St. Louis Blues in 2011-12, highlights of a 23-year head coaching journey that included 849 wins – fourth in NHL history – with five teams (Dallas, Philadelphia, Columbus, St. Louis, Edmonton).

Pierre Lacroix, who passed away in 2020 and will be inducted posthumously, spent 20 seasons with the Colorado Avalanche (including one with the Quebec Nordiques before the franchise relocated to Denver in 1995) as general manager and then president, building a team that won Stanley Cup championships in 1996 and 2001.

The quintet will officially be inducted on Nov. 13 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, joined by fellow inductees Tom Barrasso and Henrik Lundqvist.

Two standout Canadians will be represented when the Class of 2022 goes into the Hockey Hall of Fame this fall.

Of the six names announced Monday, two have connections to Hockey Canada—legendary netminder Roberto Luongo will be enshrined in the player category, while Herb Carnegie will go in as a builder.

A closer look at the inductees…

Few goaltenders can match the international résumé of Roberto Luongo, who played 34 games across 10 events spanning 17 seasons, from the 1998 IIHF World Junior Championship to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

After earning Top Goaltender and Media All-Star Team honours at the 1999 World Juniors in Winnipeg, backstopping Canada to a silver medal, Luongo played in four IIHF World Championships in a five-year span from 2001-05, winning back-to-back gold medals in 2003 and 2004. Overall, only Sean Burke and Cam Ward have spent more time in the Canadian net at worlds than Luongo (856 minutes played).

In addition to his place on Canada’s championship-winning entry at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, the Montreal product was also part of three Canadian contingents at the Olympic Winter Games, most notably at the 2010 Games in Vancouver when he capped his tournament with a 34-save effort in the gold medal game win over the U.S.

Honoured posthumously, Herb Carnegie is revered as one of the best players of his time and a pioneer for Black players in Canada. Carnegie battled racism and discrimination throughout his entire playing career, with many holding the view that he was kept out of the NHL simply because he was Black.

The Toronto-born forward was a standout in the Ontario and Quebec semi-professional leagues, earning three consecutive Quebec Senior Hockey League MVP awards from 1947-49. He joined the Quebec Aces in 1949-50 where he mentored another Canadian legend, Jean Béliveau—together winning the league championship in 1953. After retirement in 1954, he became a successful investor and founded one of Canada’s first hockey schools, the Future Aces, in 1955.

Carnegie’s family and friends had rallied together to get him into the Hockey Hall of Fame. They worked with the Hockey Diversity Alliance and created a petition to get him inducted in the Builder category to recognize his historic career that influenced generations of Black hockey players. Carnegie was also inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

The duo will officially be inducted on Nov. 14 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, joined by fellow inductees Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Daniel Alfredsson and Riikka Sallinen.

It is with a heavy heart that Hockey Canada acknowledges the passing of Guy Lafleur.

One of the greatest French-Canadian stars in the history of the game, Lafleur, 70, was announced as a 2022 Distinguished Honouree of the Order ofHockey in Canada in January.

He will be posthumously invested into the Order during the Hockey Canada Foundation Gala in Niagara Falls, Ont., on June 23, alongside Lanny McDonald and Kim St-Pierre.

“Hockey Canada is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of hockey icon and 2022 Distinguished Honouree of the Order of Hockey in Canada, Guy Lafleur,” said Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney, and president and COO Scott Smith. “On behalf of our entire organization, our deepest sympathies are with his wife Lise, his children Mark and Martin, his entire family, friends and all those who knew Guy and were privileged to play the game both alongside him and against him.

“Guy not only impacted the game, but changed how it was played. He was a hero to all those in Quebec, across the country and around the world. He was a true ambassador for the sport.”

The native of Thurso, Que., represented his country on three occasions – at the 1976 and 1981 Canada Cups, and at the 1981 IIHF World Championship. He recorded four goals and 14 assists in 21 Team Canada games, helping Canada to the 1976 Canada Cup title.

Lafleur is a Montreal Canadiens icon, spending 14 seasons in the bleu, blanc et rouge from 1971 to 1985, leading the Habs to five Stanley Cup championships (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979) and finishing his career as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 1,246 points (518-728—1,246) in 961 games. His No. 10 was retired by the Canadiens in 1985.

Honoured as one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players, he was a two-time Hart Trophy recipient as NHL MVP (1976-77, 1977-78), a three-time Art Ross Trophy winner (1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78) and a six-time First Team All-Star (1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1979-80), among countless other awards.

Lafleur’s impact transcended hockey; he earned the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete in 1977, the year he set a career high with 136 points before adding another 26 in the playoffs, taking home his only Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

His offensive exploits in junior hockey were even more outrageous than his NHL accomplishments; in his final two QMJHL seasons with the Quebec Remparts, Lafleur posted a remarkable 233 goals and 379 points, including a 130-goal season in 1970-71, when he captained the Remparts to the Memorial Cup title.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, the same year he ended his three-year retirement and returned to the NHL with the New York Rangers. He spent one season on Broadway and two more with the Quebec Nordiques before calling it a career for the final time in 1991.

Lafleur was a 1996 inductee into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and a 1993 inductee into the Pantheon des sports du Québec, was invested as an Officer of the Order of 1980 and was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2005.

Kingston, Ont., is known for producing some incredible hockey talents, including one of the best to ever lace up her skates with Canada’s National Women’s Team—Jayna Hefford.

Four Olympic gold medals (five medals in all). Seven gold medals at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. The second-most goals, third-most assists and second-most points in Team Canada history. And a 2018 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

On Sunday night in her hometown comes another honour. In recognition of all she’s done and continues to do for the game, Hefford’s Greater Kingston Girls Hockey Association (GKGHA) jersey will be raised to the rafters of the Leon’s Centre prior to the Rivalry Series game between Canada and the United States.

Hefford started her hockey career at six years old before making the move to the women’s game at 10 and playing with the Kingston Kodiaks (now the Greater Kingston Ice Wolves) through to her university career with the University of Toronto.

“I always felt like it was a really supportive community,” says Hefford, who was also a 2019 Distinguished Honouree of the Order of Hockey in Canada. “And thankfully I grew up in a family that encouraged me to follow my dreams. They could tell how much I loved the game.”

Now—having cemented her place in Canadian hockey history—Hefford has turned her attention to the growth of the game for the next generation.

Along with her hockey school in Kingston and the skill camps she runs in communities across Canada, Hefford is the operations consultant for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), helping the organization work towards its goal to provide a viable professional hockey league for women.

“She's always giving back to the community by coming back,” says Jonathan Walker, president of the GKGHA. “She's hosted hockey camps through the summer and those things are loved by our members and they're heavily attended.

“Having someone like that, that can come back, [bringing] national team players with her and just the sheer visibility of women who have excelled in the sport and giving back to our young athletes has always been a great benefit to us.”

The Ice Wolves have seen registration growth in recent years, increasing their membership from 695 in the 2019-20 season to 755 in 2021-22 with the return to hockey.

Kingston will welcome the best of the women’s game once again on Sunday night, playing host to the first Canadian stop of the Rivalry Series.

“Hosting [games like this] in our community is a real honour,” Walker says. “For us to get exposure and to be able to see these high-level athletes is really exceptional for our community and for our girls to witness.”

An eager Kingston hockey community jumped at the opportunity to watch Canada’s National Women’s Team compete live, with the game selling out in just a matter of days.

“[That] made me really proud to see that,” Hefford says. “Kingston's a big hockey community, but the way they're supporting the women's game is really, really incredible. I'm so excited for the players to be able to play in a place like this.”

Hefford will be the first women’s hockey player to have her jersey honoured in Kingston, joining eight men who played for the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League – Chris Clifford, Keli Corpse, David Ling, Ken Linseman, Tony McKegney, Mike O’Connell, Brad Rhiness and Mike Zigomanis.

“I hope it's a signal to every young girl and boy in that community that if you're passionate about something and you work hard for it anything's possible,” Hefford says of the honour.

“When [I was] growing up, you never would have seen a female hockey player celebrated like this in the community. It just wasn't something that girls did. Now I think it'll be a powerful thing for young girls to see.”

Watch the Jayna Hefford ceremony and the Rivalry Series game on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT on TSN.

There aren’t many people in the game of hockey who have seen, experienced, and accomplished more than Dave King.

For 45 years, starting with his first coaching job with the University of Saskatchewan in 1972 and concluding with being assistant bench boss for Canada’s men’s team at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, King coached and taught the sport at various levels, from the aforementioned university level to the professional ranks, including the National Hockey League and pro leagues in Germany, Russia and Sweden.

Along the way, the North Battleford, Saskatchewan-born King kept copious notes of what he witnessed, taught and learned to one day put it all together and release a book. Earlier this year, that day came as King released Loose Pucks and Ice Bags: How and Why the Game is Changing.

“Over the years, doing so many coaching clinics and conferences and stuff, a lot of times coaches would come up and ask different questions so I started to realize doing a coaching clinic is good – you get to answer some of the questions. But you can’t remember the whole, complete game,” King says from his winter home in Phoenix. “I’ve always kept pretty meticulous notes on certain aspects of the game and, when you coach as long as I have and in as many different countries as I have, you start to get a big broad picture of why certain countries play the game differently than we do. I have always tried to keep track of my observations of the game knowing that, at some point in time, I was going to do this book when I retired. I tried to collect a lot of good things that I thought were appropriate for coaches, parents and players, put it into a book and try to help people understand the game more and, hopefully, have more fun coaching it and doing it.”

King, a Distinguished Honouree of the Order of Hockey in Canada who coached Canada’s men’s team at three Olympic Games (1984, 1988 and 1992), believes his new book is targeted to three audiences – hockey coaches, players and parents.

Coaches will benefit by King’s experience in his travels all over the world, and what he’s picked up on from the teams he’s coached but also from some other well-known coaches in the game like Herb Brooks and Clare Drake.

Players can read the book and likely find some tactics their own coaches may be trying to teach them. Sometimes, having a second voice, especially one with the experience King has, could help that player better understand a specific tactic or part of the game they are trying to improve upon.

Finally, King says parents will find good use in the book, as they’ll develop a better sense of what their child is going through as they practice and play the great sport of hockey.

“For the parent, it’s important that parents watch their kids play. I think that’s really important,” says King. “But I do believe that, often, parents forget how difficult the game is to play. The game gets faster, the players get bigger and stronger, all those issues. They would understand how challenging it is to be a hockey player. Parents have to be supportive, patient hopefully, and this book might give parents some insight where they become a little more patient with their child and say ‘Hey, it’s hard enough to play. I’m going to be more supportive than I am critical.’”

The title of the book comes from King’s childhood and is a slogan he’s used for many of his teams. King says that, as a kid, he learned from coaches about the importance of getting to the loose pucks on the ice. As he describes it, when you’re in possession of the puck, you’re generally in control of the game. As for ice bags, that’s a reference to the importance of effort.

“You have to make sure you’re always working hard and giving a good effort,” says King. “If you do that, you’re going to be engaged in the game. If you’re engaged in the game, you do get some bumps and bruises so you do need some ice bags after the game.”

Readers will also learn of many of the changes in the game that have taken place to get us to where we are today, including the NHL recognizing the NHL Players’ Association in the late 1960s to the popularity of NHL clubs hiring college coaches in the 1980s to the major rules changes in 1999-2000 when the NHL wanted more offence in the game.

Loose Pucks and Ice Bags: How and Why the Game is Changing is available in bookstores and on Amazon.ca. All proceeds from sales will be donated to Hockey Canada to aid in the development of the next generation of players.

ENDORSEMENTS:

“Kinger is one of the greatest hockey minds of all time. He has coached at every level in numerous countries. His experiences provide him with an unbelievable education that he has shared with coaches and players, to improve the way the game is coached and played.” -- Mike Babcock

“To this day, I have not met a smarter hockey coach or better mentor for coaches worldwide.” -- Dave Tippett

“An insightful look into the game’s evolution from one of hockey’s most progressive minds.” -- Barry Trotz

There will be a distinctly Canadian flavour when the Class of 2020 is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night.

Almost 17 months after they were first announced (the induction ceremony was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic), six legends will take their place among the game’s immortals in downtown Toronto.

Of the sextet who will be honoured, five have connections to Hockey Canada – Ken Holland, Jarome Iginla, Kevin Lowe, Kim St-Pierre and Doug Wilson. (The sixth member of the group is Slovak standout Marian Hossa.)

Before they earn hockey’s highest honour, let’s take a closer look at the five Canadians.

KEN HOLLAND

The lone member of the group not to represent Canada as a player, Holland has been a frequent contributor in the boardroom over the last 15 years.

Best known as a three-time Stanley Cup champion as general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, the Penticton, B.C., native first joined the Team Canada staff as assistant general manager at the 2005 IIHF World Championship, where Canada won silver.

He was general manager at the 2006 worlds and won gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Winter Games, as well as a World Cup of Hockey championship in 2016. He is back again as part of the staff with Canada’s Men’s Olympic Team for the 2022 Games in Beijing.

The Quote: “The thing I learned most from Kenny was about hiring good people. He lets them do the job and I do, too. When you get into these [GM] positions, you think you know it all and can do it all, but if the manager hires good people and lets them do the job, that’s best.” -- Jim Nill (Edmonton Sun)

JAROME IGINLA

Iginla stood atop the podium almost everywhere he went with Team Canada – at the 1994 La Copa Mexico (summer under-18), 1996 IIHF World Junior Championship, 1997 IIHF World Championship, 2002 and 2010 Olympic Winter Games and 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

The St. Albert, Alta., native recorded 44 points in 47 games across seven international appearances, but it is the 44th – his 19th and final assist – that will long have a place in Canadian hockey lore.

The screams of “Iggy! Iggy!” came just seconds before Sidney Crosby took a pass from Iginla and slipped a shot five-hole on U.S. goaltender Ryan Miller, giving Canada a historic home-ice Olympic gold in Vancouver and adding the final piece to an impressive international trophy case.

He always seemed to be at his best on the game’s biggest stage; in addition to his helper on the Golden Goal in 2010, Iginla recorded two goals and an assist in the 2002 Olympic gold medal game, helping Canada end a 50-year drought.

The Quote: “It’s a stacked Canadian team [in Salt Lake City] and you’re on it, and a key player on that team. And then you’re out for dinner and four people from Calgary who you don’t know approach you humbly just to say hello really, and for him to find out that they’re down there and they have tickets but they’ve been sleeping in their car and to get up and go get them a hotel room … and pay for it. That’s him in a nutshell. He’s an unbelievably approachable, humble person and he has a heart of gold.” -- Al Coates (Calgary Sun)

TEAM CANADA STATISTICS
1994 La Copa Mexico – 5G 9A 13P (gold medal)
1996 IIHF World Junior Championship – 5G 7A 12P (gold medal)
1997 IIHF World Championship – 2G 3A 5P (gold medal)
2002 Olympic Winter Games – 3G 1A 4P (gold medal)
2004 World Cup of Hockey – 2G 1A 3P (champions)
2006 Olympic Winter Games – 2G 1A 3P (7th place)
2010 Olympic Winter Games – 5G 2A 7P (gold medal)

KEVIN LOWE

Lowe represented his country just twice, both early in a 19-year pro career that included six Stanley Cup championships; the Lachute, Que., product helped Canada to bronze at the 1982 IIHF World Championship, and won a Canada Cup title in 1984.

But his greatest international accomplishments came off the ice. Lowe was part of Canada’s management team at four consecutive Olympic Winter Games, winning gold medals in 2002, 2010 and 2014 as a right-hand man to executive directors Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman.

He served in a similar role when Canada won the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, and built Canada’s entry for the 2012 IIHF World Championship as general manager.

The Quote: “Whatever team he's been a part of, whatever his role whether as a player or in management, Kevin's been a winner. And he's also the guy that brings the team together.” -- Craig Simpson (NHL.com)

TEAM CANADA STATISTICS
1982 IIHF World Championship – 1G 1A 2P (bronze medal)
1984 Canada Cup – 0G 4A 4P (champions)

KIM ST-PIERRE

One of the greatest to ever strap on the pads, St-Pierre is the gold standard by which all other goaltenders are measured in the women’s game.

The first female netminder to earn induction, St-Pierre ranks at or near the top in every major category with Canada’s National Women’s Team – she is first in games played (83), minutes played (4,552), wins (64) and shutouts (29), and sits second in goals-against average (1.17) and save percentage (.939).

The Châteauguay, Que., native backstopped Canada to Olympic gold medals in 2002, 2006 and 2010, and added IIHF World Women’s Championship gold in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2007.

In addition to the team success, St-Pierre earned her share of individual accolades; she was named Top Goaltender and to the all-star team at the 2002 Olympics, was Top Goaltender at the 2001 and 2004 women’s worlds, and had another all-star nod at the 2007 world championship.

The Quote: “One thing that really separated Kim from her competition was her ability to kind of flirt with the line between cockiness and confidence. If you played for her, you felt so confident that she was going to make every save. And if you played against her, she made every save look easy.” -- Caroline Ouellette (NHL.com)

TEAM CANADA STATISTICS
1999 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 2-0 / 0.50 GAA / 1 SO (gold medal)
2000 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 2-0 / 1.20 GAA / 0 SO (gold medal)
2001 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 3-0 / 0.67 GAA / 2 SO (gold medal)
2002 Olympic Winter Games – 4-0 / 1.25 GAA / 2 SO (gold medal)
2004 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 2-1 / 1.00 GAA / 2 SO (gold medal)
2005 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 2-1 / 0.00 GAA / 3 SO (silver medal)
2006 Olympic Winter Games – 2-0 / 0.50 GAA / 1 SO (gold medal)
2007 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 3-0 / 0.33 GAA / 2 SO (gold medal)
2008 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 2-1 / 2.63 GAA / 0 SO (silver medal)
2009 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 2-0 / 0.00 GAA / 2 SO (silver medal)
2010 Olympic Winter Games – 2-0 / 0.00 GAA / 2 SO (gold medal)
2011 IIHF World Women’s Championship – 1-0 / 0.00 GAA / 1 SO (silver medal)

DOUG WILSON

Doug Wilson made just a single appearance in the Maple Leaf during his 16-year playing career, joining Lowe on the blue-line at the 1984 Canada Cup.

The Ottawa product got involved off the ice following his playing days, serving as a consultant with Canada’s National Junior Team during its run of five consecutive gold medals at the IIHF World Junior Championship in the mid-1990s, and in the same role with Canada’s Men’s Olympic Team at the 1998 Games.

The Quote: “He had an outstanding hockey IQ. He saw the game and read the game. If you put him in today's game the way the game is played now, you see the numbers he put up then, he'd put up even bigger numbers now.” -- Darryl Sutter (NHL.com)

TEAM CANADA STATISTICS
1984 Canada Cup – 2G 1A 3P (champions)