TORONTO: Henrik Lundqvist performed a starring position at Madison Square Garden for 15 seasons.
The New York Rangers legend fed off the vitality contained in the world’s most well-known area — and a metropolis the place many athletes have wilted underneath the identical highlight’s intense glow.
It additionally led the Swede into the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first 12 months of eligibility.
Lundqvist headlined a goaltender-heavy 2023 class inducted Monday that additionally featured Mike Vernon and Tom Barrasso — the primary time three netminders have entered collectively in additional than 60 years.
“Seven-by-three meter sandpit at a kindergarten up in Are, Sweden, to Madison Square Garden and now Hockey Hall of Fame — it’s just an incredible feeling,” Lundqvist mentioned in his speech Monday. “And I try to remember what I was thinking back then as an eight-year-old skating around.
“So much love for the game of hockey.”
Also enshrined within the participant class have been Pierre Turgeon and Caroline Ouellete, whereas former NHL head coach Ken Hitchcock and the late Pierre Lacroix, who was each an agent and govt, went in as builders.
The 2012 Vezina Trophy winner because the NHL’s high puck-stopper, Lundqvist ranks sixth all-time in wins (459), ninth in video games performed (887) and seventeenth in shutouts (64).
The first Swedish goaltender to be inducted into the corridor added 61 extra victories within the playoffs earlier than his profession ended three years in the past due to a coronary heart situation.
A seventh-round choose within the 2000 draft, Lundqvist backstopped the Rangers to the 2014 Stanley Cup ultimate. New York additionally made two Eastern Conference ultimate appearances (2012, 2015) with Lundqvist, who received Olympic gold with Sweden in 2006.
“Growing up I always had big dreams,” he mentioned. “My dad told me, my brother, my sister at an early age, ‘Dream big, it will inspire you to work hard.’ And I’ll never forget that.
“Let’s be honest, I never saw this.”
Eligible since 2005, Vernon received the Cup along with his hometown Calgary Flames in 1989 earlier than hoisting it once more in 1997 with the Detroit Red Wings — including the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with that second title.
He sat seventh in regular-season wins (385), fourth amongst goalies in playoff appearances (138) and fifth in playoff victories (77) when he retired.
“I strapped my pads on at the age of five,” Vernon mentioned throughout his speech. “I never took them off.”
Barrasso, who’s been eligible since 2006, secured each the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the 12 months and the Vezina throughout a magical 1983-84 season with the Buffalo Sabres. A Cup winner with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992, his 369 profession victories ranks fourth all-time amongst American-born goaltenders.
“No one gets here alone,” Barrasso mentioned. “You need love, you need support. And most importantly, you need opportunity from people along the way.”
Ouellette is one among simply three ladies’s hockey gamers to high the Olympic podium 4 or extra instances, profitable gold in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 with Canada. The Montreal native additionally captured six world championships and had a protracted skilled profession.
Turgeon, who retired in 2007, had 515 targets and 1,327 factors over his 19 NHL seasons. The Quebec product received the Lady Byng Trophy in 1993 with the New York Islanders and captained the Canadiens through the staff’s ultimate season on the Montreal Forum.
Fourth on the NHL’s all-time teaching wins listing with 849, Hitchcock lifted the Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999 as a part of a 22-season profession within the present. He additionally received the 2012 Jack Adams Award because the league’s high coach and helped Canada win males’s Olympic gold in 2014.
“I was a demanding coach, I was relentless, and I was very proud of being that,” Hitchcock mentioned. “I know that may be a bad word to some people, but it’s not to me. It means that I’m not afraid of the players, I’m not afraid of doing the tough stuff.
“But I really admired the players. I was in awe of the players.”
Lacroix, who died in December 2020 at age 72, began as an agent earlier than being named basic supervisor of the Quebec Nordiques in 1994. The Montreal native moved with the franchise when it relocated to Colorado and guided the Avalanche to Cup triumphs in 1996 and 2001.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
