NEWEST HALL OF FAMERS APPRECIATE GAME’S CHANGES
Class of 2017 members made their mark on hockey during a different era
Dave Andreychuk recalls when his Buffalo Sabres were on the man advantage and it meant vast expanses of ice to use, a home where Buffalo could roam, if you will.
Not so today, as the NHL’s power-play king — one of seven new Hockey Hall of Fame inductees — watches penalty killers operate like Navy Seals to neutralize the extra man.
“Back in the day, everyone just sat in a (four-man) box,” Andreychuk said Friday at the ring ceremony preceding Monday’s official induction. “Now there’s a lot of pressure. That’s because power plays are a big part of winning and losing in today’s (frequent one-goal) games.”
Teams dedicate hours of video dissecting opposition power plays and draft or sign players specific to that job.
Andreychuk, who retired after 21 seasons and a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, was not very scientific in his role. He stuck his 6-foot-4, 220-pound body in front, needing to get just a bit of the puck with his long reach and soft hands. He had 274 regular-season power-play goals, sometimes getting mauled in the process by vengeful defencemen and goalies.
“Lots of Montreal-Buffalo battles with Chris Chelios,” Andreychuk said with a laugh. “I think his stick was in the back of my neck a lot. Great battles with great players. Not the easiest job, but it was the only way it was going to happen for me. A lot of good players got me pucks in front of the net.”
KARIYA’S NEW LIFE
When concussions ended Paul Kariya’s career he “still had a lot of gas left in my tank.”
So the ensuing six years have been spent in a series of new athletic pursuits, such as surfing and cross-country skiing. At 42, he looks in great shape.
“Take away my concussions and I felt unbelievable,” Kariya said about the moment he stepped away from hockey. “I had my legs, my jump and pop. The surfing has been talked about a lot (he was on his board when the hall call came in June). I do a lot of cross-country with the Niedermayer brothers, split boarding in B.C., which is mountain climbing and coming down on your own power. I love being an athlete.”
He said those pastimes he enjoys would conflict with entering hockey management, as some suggest he do.
“If there was a big swell coming in and I were a GM, I’d have to do the work. I’m not worried about that now.”
CAN I PLAY?
As a rookie in Winnipeg in 1992-93, Teemu Selanne wasn’t content scoring a record 76 goals. At home, on the street he lived on, he often spotted a street hockey game in progress.
“A lot of times coming from practice, I would see the kids playing,” Selanne said.
“I had no kids, so I took my stick out. For about 10 seconds they would look at each other and say, ‘Oh my God.’ Then we’d play. Sometimes I’d have an afternoon game with my jacket and tie on and I’d play in my nice clothes.”
JACOBS IN SPOTLIGHT
There is no way Jeremy Jacobs could stay in the background this weekend. The rarely quoted owner of the Boston Bruins since 1975 and chairman of the league’s board of governors almost a decade, held a stick and flipped a souvenir puck with it as part of Friday’s ceremony, also doing some media scrums.
“An Original Six team is special,” the 78-year-old Buffalo native said. “My greatest contribution is 43 years of showing stability to that (Boston) franchise and keeping it as formidable as it is, following the parameters we live in. You want to leave the world a little bit better than when we found it and I think we’re moving in that direction. In the era we’re in, I think we’ve moved the game.”
HALL MONITORING
Kariya remains adamant that “targeted head shots have no place in the game,” but won’t be using this weekend to amplify his feelings. “Of course harsher penalties (should be called), but from when I retired, the game’s in a much better place,” he said. “The awareness factor, having separate doctors from team doctors being aware of concussions. Is it perfect? No. But it’s going in the right direction.” ... Selanne and Kariya were an hour late for Friday’s ceremony. Their flight on the private plane of Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli was delayed because a Selanne family member had a Canadian visa issue ... Danielle Goyette, the fourth female to enter the hall, was asked which rising Canadian player could be the country’s next big international tournament star. “Marie-Philip Poulin,” Goyette said, naming the 26-year-old Quebecois forward. “She’s good on the ice, but the work she puts in off the ice is what amazes me. She can play a two-way game, power play, PK. She won’t sacrifice offence for defence and she plays well under pressure. Even in the men’s game, there are players who are great in the season and can’t perform in playoffs.”
I would see the kids playing (street hockey). I had no kids, so I took my stick out. For about 10 seconds they would look at each other and say, ‘Oh my God.’