CHL Grads Andreychuk and Recchi Elected to Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2017
The Canadian Hockey League is proud to announce that two CHL alumni are among the class of 2017 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees.
Lanny McDonald, Chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame and John Davidson, Chairman of the Selection Committee, announced that seven individuals have been elected to Hockey Hall of Fame Honoured Membership, five in the Player Category and two in the Builder Category. The vote took place at the annual meeting of the Selection Committee in Toronto.
CHL graduates in the Player Category include Oshawa Generals graduate Dave Andreychuk and Kamloops Blazers graduate Mark Recchi.
A native of Hamilton, Ont., Andreychuk played in over 1600 NHL regular season games in his more than 20 years in the NHL. After being drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1982 Entry Draft, Andreychuk played 11 seasons with the Sabres before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs where he scored 50 goals in the 1993-94 season. By his retirement in 2006, he scored 640 regular season goals, while adding 698 assists.
The 6-foot-4, 225Ib. left-winger captained the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup championship in 2004 while also appearing in two NHL All-Star Games (1990, 1994). He was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 2009.
“When I look back I always think of hockey as a team game and it was never about me.” said Andreychuk.” As a player it is how we are taught and that makes this individual award even more unique.”
Andreychuk’s OHL playing career spanned parts of three seasons with the Oshawa Generals from 1980-83. He recorded 87 goals, 89 assists and 176 points over 148 regular season games, headlined by a 57-goal, 100-point season in 1982.
Five years younger than Andreychuk, Mark Recchi, a native of Kamloops, BC, will also enter the Hall later this year.
After a season in the IHL, Recchi joined the Pittsburgh Penguins full-time in 1989 and began the fourth longest regular season NHL career in history, playing in 1,652 games. Recchi won his first Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh in 1991, and went on to add championships in Carolina in 2006 and Boston in 2011 – only the 10th player in NHL history to win Stanley Cups on three different teams.
“I can’t thank the Selection Committee enough for this recognition,” said Recchi. “It’s an incredible feeling and the icing on the cake after 22 years of playing the game.”
Amassing 577 goals, 956 assists and 1533 points over 1652 career regular season games, Recchi’s NHL career was a continuation of his prolific scoring presence with the WHL’s New Westminster Bruins and Kamloops Blazers from 1984-88. He recorded 109 goals, 183 assists and 292 points over 173 regular season games, capping off his tenure as a first team all-star in 1988.
Recchi also helped Canada capture gold at the 1988 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Moscow, Russia.
Andreychuk and Recchi will join former Anaheim Ducks stars Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne and seven-time Canadian National Women’s Team gold medalist Danielle Goyette in the Player Category. University of Alberta Golden Bears coaching legend Clare Drake will join Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs in the Builder Category.
The 2017 Induction Celebration will be held on Monday, November 13th at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. For more information regarding the 2017 Induction Weekend/Celebration, visit hhof.com.
Established in 1943, the Hockey Hall of Fame’s (“HHOF”) mandate is to recognize and honour the achievements of players, builders and officials who bring special distinction to the game of hockey, and to collect, preserve, research and exhibit objects, images and resource materials connected with the game as it is played in Canada and throughout the world. As a non-profit corporation and a registered charity under the Income Tax Act, HHOF owns and operates a museum and place of entertainment offering state-of-the-art exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational programming from its premises at Brookfield Place, Toronto, Canada.
