Fans will come together at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada to honor the 2015 class. The hockey inductees deserve to be honored and applauded.
Tonight in Toronto, Ontario Canada the spotlight is on the Hockey Hall of Fame building.
It is the Academy Awards night for the NHL where the lights, glamor and festivities will be honoring some of hockey’s talented superstars who have been part of this great game.
Check out the new rings on the Hall of Fame's latest group of inductees. https://t.co/PPd37U4DjJ
— NHL (@NHL) November 7, 2015
There is a lot of talent within the class of 2015. Former NHL greats Phil Housley, Chris Pronger, Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Federov represent some of the top players to have graced NHL arenas since the 1980’s. The United States women’s four-time Olympian defenseman, Angela Ruggerio, is also being honored with the four NHL greats.
The Builder category recognizes Peter Karmanos, Jr. and Bill Hay. Radio announcer for the Los Angeles Kings, Nick Nickson, as well as TSN hockey analyst, Bob McKenzie, are also being accepted into the hallowed shrine.
During the 1990’s decade Lidstrom, Pronger and Federov were some of the best players that opponents feared in the game. They were always known to be able to put the pucks in the back of the net with relative ease and flair. Pronger, Federov and Lidstrom combined won eight Stanley Cup rings during their careers.
While Housley, age 51, was never a part of a championship team, he had a part to play in enshrining his name into the hockey history books. He was part of seven NHL All-Star Games and a participant in two Canada Cup tournaments, the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the Ice Hockey World Championships six times.
Ruggerio, age 35, played defense for the U.S. Women’s Olympic team where her team won one bronze, two silvers and a gold medal in the Olympic games from 1998 until the 2010 Winter games in Vancouver, Canada.
Karmanos was part of the Hartford Whalers’ ownership group, before relocating the franchise south to Carolina and building a championship team with the organization now known as the Carolina Hurricanes. The team made it to the Finals in 2002 but never won the Stanley Cup. However, they returned in the spring of 2006 winning the organization’s first Stanley Cup over the Edmonton Oilers.
Hay played in 506 career games and earned 386 points. He helped the Chicago Blackhawks win a Stanley Cup in 1961 before retiring in 1967, at the age of 31. He has also had various management type roles within the NHL.
Nickson, a radio analyst, and McKenzie, a hockey writer, left their mark on the game in various forms. Nickson has been the radio voice for the Kings since 1990 and covered a lot of Los Angeles Kings hockey broadcasts. McKenzie, now a hockey analyst in Canada with TSN (The Sports Network), has always been the go-to guy when hockey stories are about to be broadcast and his sources are very reliable and perfect.
Congratulations to the 2015 National Hockey League Hall of Fame class. You have left various legacies for hockey fans and your work is to be commended.