06/22/26 04:36:00
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06/22 16:34 CDT Keith Tkachuk is elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame after his
sons become NHL teammates
Keith Tkachuk is elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame after his sons become NHL
teammates
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
Keith Tkachuk waited more than a decade and a half from the end of his NHL
playing career to get the call from the Hockey Hall of Fame. Not known for his
patience, Tkachuk was so overcome with emotion that he waited 45 minutes to
tell his family.
"I said, ?Hey, you guys want to have a beer together?'" Tkachuk recalled. "And
I told them and broke the news to them there."
The timing gave them even more reason to celebrate. Tkachuk was elected to the
Hall of Fame on Monday, less than 24 hours after his sons became teammates when
Brady was traded from Ottawa to Florida, joining older brother Matthew, during
a weekend that also included a U.S. Olympic gold medal celebration and a
baptism.
"It's been a great weekend for the Tkachuks," Keith said. "It's been a crazy
weekend, but this tops it off. ... This is the ultimate, for sure."
The patriarch nicknamed "Walt" Tkachuk is part of a player class that includes
center Patrice Bergeron, who won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and the
Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward six times, and goaltenders
Carey Price from Montreal and Pekka Rinne from Nashville.
U.S. women's hockey pioneer Cindy Curley and executive Brian Burke in the
builder category also are set to be inducted on Nov. 9 at a ceremony in Toronto.
Tkachuk was one of the premier power forwards of his era, playing in the 1990s
and 2000s as part of the first great generation of American pro players. He
recorded 1,121 points in 1,290 games, counting the playoffs, with Winnipeg,
Phoenix, St. Louis and Atlanta, and was part of the U.S. team that won the 1996
World Cup of Hockey.
Bergeron, who spent his entire career with the Bruins, was chosen in his first
year of eligibility. Price and Rinne were selected in their second, with Henrik
Zetterberg and Rod Brind'Amour among those passed over again.
"You knew what you were going to get every single time you played against him:
You had to dig in," Tkachuk said of Brind'Amour, fresh off coaching Carolina to
the Stanley Cup two decades after captaining the Hurricanes to a championship.
"Hats off to him. He'll be here, there's no doubt in my mind, as a player and
as a builder."
Price and Bergeron played together on Canada's 2014 Olympic gold medal-winning
team. That was during Price's prime, which included winning the Hart Trophy as
NHL MVP, Vezina as top goalie and the Lester B. Pearson as the most outstanding
player as voted by his peers following a dominant 2014-15 season with the
Canadiens.
"During Carey's heyday, every goalie wanted to play like him," said Rinne, who
is the first player to make the Hall of Fame after spending his entire career
with the Predators and is ranked in the top 25 in wins, save percentage and
shutouts in league history.
Curley skated in the first International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World
Championship in 1990. Her 11 goals, 12 assists and 23 points in five games
remain single-tournament records, and she'll be the 15th women's player to go
in the Hall at a peak of the sport with the PWHL thriving.
"When I was playing, I was I hopeful I could play on a girls team at some
point," Curley said. "Seeing it progress to Olympics and now the professional
(level) and seeing how great the players are, it's just wonderful."
Burke won the Stanley Cup as Anaheim's general manager in 2007, one of several
front-office stops for him, along with time spent as the NHL's director of
hockey operations. Burke also took on a leading role in hockey's Pride efforts
and was a longtime advocate of the women's game, including a stint as executive
director of the PWHL Players Association.
"They're on the same level for me," Burke said of the Cup and his off-ice
advocacy. "That was just as important as anything else I've ever worked on."
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
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