B.C.’s Kariya, Recchi in Hall of Fame
INDUCTED: They are among five players honoured for their contributions during storied NHL careers Patrick Johnston
Two B.C. born and bred players are receiving hockey’s highest honour: They’re going to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Paul Kariya, from North Vancouver, and Mark Recchi, from Kamloops, are joined by Teemu Selanne, Dave Andreychuk and Danielle Goyette in this year’s class.
Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and Canadian university coach Clare Drake will be inducted as builders.
Recchi had 577 goals and 956 assists in 1,653 games with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Montreal, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Boston and was a member of three Stanley Cup-winning teams.
“I think I was pretty relentless,” Recchi told Ben Kuzma earlier this year when he was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame. “I had a work ethic that I didn’t want to be stopped and I would do whatever it took. I felt I could have played in any era because of that.”
He also talked about playing junior hockey in Kamloops, his hometown.
“I had supportive parents who didn’t put any pressure on me and only asked that whatever I do, that I put in 100 per cent. It prepared me perfectly for the NHL, and the culture was wonderful and it became a confidence thing for me. When you’re in that culture you live it and breathe it and continue on.
“I was very fortunate to have Ken Hitchcock, Don Hay and Don Moores as my coaches in Kamloops, and obviously Hitch was the hammer guy. But when you have coaches like that it sets you up to succeed.”
Recchi drew heat from Vancouver fans in 2011 after comments about the Canucks’ arrogance. Recchi played for the Bruins against the Canucks in that year’s Stanley Cup Final.
“I probably shouldn’t have said anything and I wish I wouldn’t have, but that’s what happened and that’s how the series was,” said Recchi.
“People know I love B.C. and Vancouver and it was an unbelievable series, but there was a lot of dislike on both sides. And it wouldn’t have been a Stanley Cup Final if there wasn’t that much dislike — we really didn’t like each other. There was a lot of passion and fire.”
Kariya had 989 points in 989 games with Anaheim, Colorado, Nashville and St. Louis. His career was cut short after suffering multiple concussions.
It’s fitting Selanne and Kariya are going in together, since some of the finest moments of their careers were spent as teammates.
“If I didn’t get the opportunity to play with him, I wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame so I’m very thankful,” Kariya told reporters on a Monday afternoon conference call.
The two bowled over opponents for six seasons in Anaheim, a terrifying blend of speed and creativity with Kariya on the left and Selanne on the right. In their first full campaign together as Ducks, the duo mustered 95 goals combined. They added 86 more as a duo in 1998-99 and 75 in 99-00.
“Teemu always joked that I could read his mind,” said Kariya, the first Ducks draft pick. “Off the ice, it wasn’t hard to read: he was always watching Baywatch shows.”
Selanne, known as the Finnish Flash, was one of the NHL’s greatest goal-scorers and arguably the finest player ever from Finland.
He set an NHL record for most goals in a season by a rookie when he scored 76 for the 1992-93 Winnipeg Jets, and later helped the Anaheim Ducks win a Stanley Cup in 2007.
Selanne finished his career with 684 goals and 1,457 points over 1,451 games with Winnipeg, Anaheim, San Jose and Colorado.
Selanne, who is the second Finn in the Hall after Jari Kurri, won bronze and silver medals for his country in Olympic play.
“I was waiting for that phone call today, but you never know,” Selanne told TSN. “I wasn’t going to (tie up) my phone making calls. This is an amazing feeling.”
Selanne’s career started without Kariya in Winnipeg, but with a bang no less.
He set what is likely an unbreakable NHL record: 76 goals as a rookie. No other first-year player has managed even 60 and only four have cracked 50. Only four players, period, have ever scored more than 76 in one season: Wayne Gretzky (twice), Brett Hull, and Mario Lemieux.
Selanne’s 132 points, meanwhile, trailed only Gretzky (137) for tops in one season by a rookie.
“In that time I didn’t really realize what happened,” Selanne said of his debut season with the Jets, who drafted him 10th overall in 1988 and then traded him to Anaheim in 1996, shortly before the Jets moved to Arizona. “Now, the number (for goals) is just so big and I don’t know really how it happened.”
Andreychuk had 640 goals and 698 assists in 1,639 games with Buffalo, Toronto, New Jersey, Boston, Colorado and Tampa Bay, and led the Lightning to a Stanley Cup title in 2004.
Goyette helped lead Canada’s national women’s team to two Olympic and eight world championship gold medals.
The 18-person selection committee of former players and executives, as well as media and administrators of the game in North America and Europe, met for four hours Monday in Toronto. Only they could put names forward for consideration, but a 75 per cent majority of votes was needed for induction.