One of our favorite days of the year is here! Today, the Hockey Hall of Fame has announced their Class of 2014, and in what has become a tradition for the Toronto based institution there were little surprises in the way of obvious snubs.
We had Czech Goalie, Dominik Hasek at number one on our list of those who should be considered for the Hockey Hall of Fame when he first became eligible this year, and to the shock of nobody “The Dominator” enters on his first year of eligibility. Hasek won everything worth winning in Hockey as he captured the Hart Trophy twice, the Vezina six times, the Stanley Cup and Olympic Gold. We are sure that he was a no-brainer in the eyes of the committee and the easiest choice of the lot.
Hasek is joined by another European and former Hart Trophy recipient, Peter Forsberg. The Swedish forward was number four on our list, and won the Stanley Cup twice with the Colorado Avalanche and the Olympic Gold Medal twice with Sweden. Forsebrg had a stellar 1.25 Points per Game Average in his career and also won the Art Ross Trophy for the most Points in the NHL in 2003.
Keeping with the International flavour of this year’s class, is American born Mike Modano who also enters the Hockey Hall of Fame on his first year eligible. Modano was a seven time All Star and took the Dallas Stars to their first ever Stanley Cup and his popularity solidified the game of Hockey in Texas. He is also the all-time leader in Points scored by an American born player. We had Modano ranked at the number five spot.
The final player chosen this year was a minor surprise in our eyes, as Rob Blake makes his way to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Blake (who we had ranked at number 18) also won the Stanley Cup with Colorado and was named the leagues top Defenceman in 1998. Like Hasek and Forsberg, he has an Olympic Gold Medal, which was won with Canada in 2002.
The Hockey Hall of Fame also chose Pat Burns, the former Coach of the Year who died a few years ago. There was a major push within the Internet to have him elected before he passed away, as he was openly battling cancer, so that he could receive this before he died. Burns was the Jack Adams Trophy Winner representing the NHL Coach of the Year three times. This has to be a bittersweet moment for his family.
The Hockey Hall of Fame will also induct former Referee, Bill McCreary who officiated nearly 2,000 Games between 1984 and 2011.
Notable omissions are Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya and Dave Andreychuk. Lindros in particular, has been the subject of many articles touting his candidacy for enshrinement.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame Class. We intend to have our revised Hockey List for 2015 out by August of this year.
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