One of our favorite days of the year has come as the Hockey Hall of Fame has announced their Class of 2019 but we have to say that this is one of the strangest Hall of Fame classes ever. This is a six-person class consisting of the greatest female player of all-time, two former NHL players who were not considered to be the best of the group, a former Czech player that most people never heard, an executive and a U.S. College Coach.

The members of the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2019 are:

Hayley Wickenheiser:  Wickenheiser is this year’s headliner and without question is the greatest women’s player ever.  Entering in her first year of eligibility, the Canadian superstar represented her country five times in the Olympics where she would win four Gold Medals and one Silver. In the World Hockey Championships, she would take Canada to seven Gold Medals.  She was so good that she played semi-pro in Switzerland, making her the first woman wo play hockey on any pro level.  There is no other woman more deserving of this accolade.

Guy Carbonneau:  Carbonneau was the team captain of the Montreal Canadiens when they won the Stanley Cup in 1993.  He had previously won the Cup with the Habs in 1986 and would again win it with the Dallas Stars in 1999.  Carbonneau never had a season where he scored 60 Points but his strength was his two-way play as he was the winner of the Frank J. Selke for the best defensive forward three times.

Sergei Zubov:  A teammate of Carbonneau on their 1999 Stanley Cup winning team, Zubov was also a champion with the New York Rangers in 1994.  A four-time NHL All-Star, Zubov was named to NHL Second Team All-Star in 2006 and the Defenseman would score 771 Points over his career.  Internationally, he was part of the Unified Team (former Soviet Union) in 1992 where he won an Olympic Gold Medal.

Vaclav Nedomansky:  From Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Nedomansky made history in 1964 as the first hockey player from the Communist Bloc to defect and play in North America.  Before defecting, Nedomansky scored 534 Points over 388 Games in the Czechoslovakian league and upon arriving in North America he would play for the Toronto Toros of the WHA and later the Birmingham Bulls before joining the Detroit Rings midway through the 1977/78 Season.  He would also play for the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues and scored 278 Points in the NHL.

Jim Rutherford: Rutherford played in net for 13 seasons but he enters as a builder.  He has won the Stanley Cup three times as a General Manager, once with the Carolina Hurricanes (2006) and twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins (2016 & 2017).

Jerry York: York is the winningest active coach in the NCAA, and he is a five time NCAA Champion taking Bowling Green to the 1984 Title and Boston College to the 2001, 2008, 2010 & 2012 Championship.

Notable snubs include Alexander Mogilny, Theoren Fleury, Daniel Alfreddson and Jeremy Roenick.

Where we are left scratching our heads (allow is to get half-conspiracy and half-editorial) is that we are openly wondering if any of the above candidates were not chosen so that there could be no doubt that Wickenheiser was the headliner.  This makes good press for the Hockey Hall of Fame and reflects them as a progressive entity.  Had any of the above names been chosen would they have leapfrogged her in public opinion’s “ranking”?  

Possibly.  

But, with due respect to Zubov and Carbonneau they aren’t former players who leap off the page and scream “headliner”.  This is the first time that anyone in our top ten list (regardless of the sport) and in this case we have to go all the way to #29 before we have our first inductee. We do need to add the caveat that at present we do not rank women or builders, but are looking to change that in the future.  

Wickenheiser could have still have been the lead attraction over anyone else this year and would people have really debated it?  They wouldn’t have, but we openly think that there are people at the Hockey Hall who worried about it and wanted this to be all about Wickenheiser.

We want to be very clear that Hayley deserves this but we have always wanted to see the best possible class every year!  

This isn’t it.

We would like to extend our congratulations to the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2019 and we will shortly begin work on updating our core Hockey list.  

The University of Indiana Athletic Hall of Fame has announced six new names who will be inducted into their institution.

The Class of 2019 is:

Eric Anderson, Men’s Basketball (1989-92):  Playing at Power Forward, Anderson was a Hoosier for 131 Games, and would score 1,715 Points and 826 Rebounds.

Kay Burrus, Field Hockey & Women’s Basketball Coach (1962-76):  Burrus pulled double duty coaching both field hockey and women’s basketball for Indiana for over a decade.

Chris Gartner, Football(1970-72):  Gartner would be the Hoosiers’ Place Kicker for three years.

Jeff Overton, Men’s Golf (2002-05):  Currently on the PGA Tour, Overton would help Indiana win the Big Ten Conference Championship in 2005.

Rose Richmond, Women’s Track and Field (2000-03):  Richmond would specialize in the Long Jump.

Donnie Thomas, Football (1972-75):  Thomas played Linebacker for the Hoosiers.

These additions will bring the total number to a whopping 237.  The induction ceremony will take place on September 20 and will officially be introduces at the Hoosier’s home football game against UConn the next afternoon.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the soon to be newest members of the University of Indiana Athletic Hall of Fame.

The Poker Hall of Fame has announced their 10 Finalists for the Class of 2019.

The 10 Finalists are:

Chris Bjornin: From Sweden, Bjornin has earned $5.7 million on the tour winning two WSOP Gold Bracelets.  He is eighth all-time on the cash list and is second all-time among Swedish born players.  Bjornin has none WSOP Main Event cash-ins.

David Chiu: From China, David Chu is a five-time WSOP Gold Bracelet winner.  He has made $8 million over his career, which began in 1996.

Eli Elezra: From Israel, Elezra has won over $3.7 million on the tour and four WSOP Gold Medal Bracelets.  

Antonio Esfandiari: Nicknamed the “Magician”, Esfandiari won the first ever WSOP Big One for One Drop $1,000,000 buy-in tournament and he is ninth all-time in winnings.  He has also won three WSOP Gold Bracelets and two WPT Titles.

Chris Ferguson: Ferguson has 129 WSOP cashes, which ranks him second all-time.  He has made $9 million playing tournament poker.

Ted Forrest: Forrest has won more than $6.3 million over his career and won three WSOP Gold Bracelets.  That accomplishment happened over three different type of poker variances, making him the only one to do so.

Mike Matusow: Dubbed the “Mouth”, Matsuow has won four WSOP Gold Bracelets with $9.5 million in earnings.  He has made the WSOP main event table twice.

Chris Moneymaker: Moneymaker made online poker more popular by winning the 2003 WSOP Main Event after winning his entry in an online satellite for only $39. He has won $3.7 million in tournament winnings.

David Oppenheim: A pro from Los Angeles, Oppenheim has won nearly $2 million in career earnings.

Huck Seed: Seed is a four-time WSOP Bracelet winner with $7.6 million over his career.  

To qualify for the Hall of Fame the inductee must:

1. Have played against acknowledged top competition.

2. Be at least 40 years old at the time of nomination.

3. Played for high stakes.

4. Played well and gained the respect of others.

If the inductee is a non-player, he/she must have contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker.  To date there are 56 members of the Hall, which was founded in 1979.

The Class of 2019 would be decided by 30 Hall of Fame members ad 21 poker industry members.  Ballots are due on July 8 and the Class will be announced on July 15 during the WSOP main event final table.

With the exception of Esfandian, all of the Finalists have been nominated before.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players and executive.  As such it is news to us that yesterday the Vancouver Canucks have announced that they will be installing Alex Burrows into their Ring of Honour next season.

This announcement comes at the same time that the team announced that the Sedin Twins will have their numbers retired.  The Canucks have a secondary accolade where they don’t retire numbers but place their name permanently in the arena.  

Burrows would play at Left Wing from 2005-06 to 2016-17 for 822 Games where he was one of the better defensive forwards in the Game.  The native of Quebec received Frank J. Selke Award votes six season in a row and he would score 384 Points as a Canuck. 

Burrows joins Orland Kurtenback, Kirk McLean, Thomas Gradin, Harold Snepts, Pay Quinn and Mattias Ohlund in the Vancouver Canucks Ring of Honour.