BRODEUR, BETTMAN, AND O’REE, HEADLINE HALL CLASS OF ’18
Be it size, colour, gender or nationality, the theme for four members of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s 2018 class was breaking the ice.
In going for the maximum pick-six in Tuesday’s vote, the selection committee had a shooin with goalie Martin Brodeur, a deserving but oddly-timed hall pass for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and rewarded four people who had a harder road to the Yonge Street temple.
Willie O’Ree, the first black player in NHL history, joined Bettman in the builder’s wing, while the undersized, undrafted Martin St. Louis was a first-ballot entry, joined by Canadian Olympic star Jayna Hefford and Russian legend Alexander Yakushev, once vilified — later cheered — in Canada for his role with the Soviets in the ’72 series.
Among those shut out Tuesday were Daniel Alfredsson, the former Ottawa Senators captain, denied the needed 75 per cent vote of 17 hall members in his second year of eligibility and now among a group of veterans on the waiting list going back decades.
Yet that doesn’t take away from what many saw as overdue recognition for O’Ree, often nicknamed hockey’s Jackie Robinson for breaking the colour barrier in 1958, though it took until the ’70s for real change to occur. Today, the 82-year-old is still active with the league’s diversity program, visiting schools, gymnasiums and even venturing into juvenile delinquent facilities.
Many of the more than 30 black players now in the league, such as P.K. Subban, Joel Ward, Wayne Simmonds and the retired Anson Carter, had been pushing O’Ree’s name for years.
“When I got the initial call, I was laughing and crying and at a loss for words,” O’Ree said. “I’m just so happy I’m alive to be able to share this with not only my family, but a lot of my friends.”
THE BIG NIGHT
O’Ree made history on Jan.
18, 1958, when he was called up by the Boston Bruins to play in Montreal. He’d been in the Quebec senior league for years, but American NHL cities were a different matter as word got out.
“He isn’t black, he’s a Bruin,” the late Boston coach Milt Schmidt would often tell curious fans and media.
But one night, unruly fans came up to the open window of the Bruins room at New York’s Madison Square Garden, uttering racial epithets and threateningly sticking their fingers through the wire screen.
“One of our guys closed the window on their fingers,” Schmidt chortled. “That was the end of that.”
As for making history at the Forum?
“I never realized until I read the paper next day,” O’Ree said.
LITTLE BIG MAN
St. Louis has been alternately listed between 5-6 and 5-9 through his career, but his stature was an impediment to getting a break, right back to his minor hockey days and certainly in the NCAA as his Vermont teammates began talking about their NHL chances.
“If there are exceptions, why can’t I be one?” St. Louis wondered. “I knew it was possible. People tried to discourage me; that’s just life. I used that as motivation. I wasn’t thinking hall of fame then, I just wanted a regular spot.”
Calgary gave him a chance, but then- GM Craig Button released him before St. Louis took off with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Button was guesting on the
TSN hall of fame show and both men have said the slight is long forgotten.
“Based on what he knew, it was a smart decision,” St. Louis said. “He didn’t have an investment in me. It helped my career, business is business, I went my way, he went his.”
MARTY PARTIES AT LAST
Brodeur found the last few minutes of his three-year wait to be the hardest as he wandered the St. Louis Blues development camp Tuesday.
“I couldn’t walk two feet and people are asking me, ‘Did you get the call yet?’ The 416 number (showed) and I kind of stepped away a little bit, taking it all in.”
Of course, he’ll be going in the hall as a New Jersey Devil.
HUNTING YAK
Hall chairman Lanny McDonald and selection committee head John Davidson had the darndest time getting through to Yakushev in Russia, only to find out the 71-year-old legend was playing in an old-timer’s night game. Thankfully, someone who spoke English over there picked up his phone and got Yakushev to call back.
“When we finally talked to him and explained,” McDonald said with a laugh, “he was not only thrilled ( but) when I asked if he won the game he said, ‘Yes, we won! I’m still playing and this is the best day ever.’ ”
JAYNA GRATEFUL
Hefford has three young children and thankfully her hall call came when the house was empty and she could take a moment to “reflect” on her career and family support, which included outscoring all the boys in the local Kingston minor hockey association.
“Growing up, there was a big contingent of NHL players in Kingston,” the much decorated Olympian said of her influences. “Kirk Muller was playing for
New Jersey at the time, Doug Gilmour, and obviously Wayne Gretzky was someone I followed through the 1980s.”
HALL OF FAME COMMISH
Bettman, a man usually two steps ahead of breaking hockey news, said he was totally caught off guard while at a retirement party for a colleague. But he said the growth of the game, despite some crippling and bitter lockouts he influenced in the interim and the current concussion debate, is his proudest achievement.
“To see this game, which is so special — the people, the camaraderie, the teamwork, the values that we believe the game instils — makes a difference in peoples’ lives. To see that impact grow — geographically and in sheer numbers — has been very rewarding for everyone.”