It's A Small World, After All - entering the Hall of Fame

Hockey Digest, Dec, 2001 by Bob Grove

With a Finn, a Russian, two Canadians, and an American, this year's Hall, of Fame class exemplifies the game's global reach

NO ONE ENTERS THE HOCKEY Hall of Fame quietly or without a secure attachment to the history of the sport. But few classes have achieved more than the one that will be inducted November 12 in Toronto.

Representing four countries, players Jarl Kurri, Viacheslav Fetisov, Mike Gartner, Dale Hawerchuk, and builder Craig Patrick together have won nine Stanley Cups, 11 World Championship tides, five Canada Cup rifles, and five Olympic medals.

It is a diverse group that includes three of the greatest offensive players in history, one of the best defensemen ever to play the game, and one of hockey's most accomplished management minds. This will be the first class in. the history of the Hall to include two players from Outside North America, and it will be inducted at a time when Europeans make up a larger portion of the NHL player pool than ever before.

"Their contributions to the game of hockey are well documented and their election to the Hall of Fame is richly deserved," Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee chairman Jim Gregory said after the group was elected in June.

Kurri, a 41-year-old native of Helsinki, will be the first player from Finland to enter the Hall. In 17 NHL seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, and Colorado Avalanche, the right winger scored 601 goals and 1,398 points in 1,251 games. Drafted No. 69 overall by the Oilers in 1980, Kurri remains the highest-scoring European-born player in NHL history.

"It is a great honor since so few players are able to make it to this level," Kurri says of his election to the Hall. "To be the first Finnish player elected is especially gratifying."

Kurri's most memorable years came in Edmonton, where he played 10 seasons and recorded 1,043 points, second in team history to linemate Wayne Gretzky. Kurri was most often the recipient of Gretzky's great passes, but it was his brilliant finishing ability that turned chances into goals.

Playing alongside Gretzky, Kurri had four consecutive 50-goal seasons from 1983-84 to 1986-87 and five consecutive 100-point seasons from 1982-83 to 1986-87. In each of Edmonton's first four drives to the Stanley Cup, Kurri was the leading goal-scorer in the playoffs. Kurri also won the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly conduct in 1985 and appeared in eight NHL All-Star Games.

What made Kurd even more valuable to the Oilers was file fact that he understood how to play the game without the puck. Although he was never honored with a Selke Trophy, Kurri was easily one of the best defensive forwards in the league in the '80s.

"He was an integral part of a group of young guys who matured together and went on to win five Stanley Cups," says Kevin Lowe, a teammate of Kurri's and now general manager of the Oilers, who raised Kurri's No. 17 to the rafters of Edmonton's Skyreach Centre this October.

Kurri also earned a bronze medal with Finland in the 1998 Olympics.

Fetisov, a 43-year-old native of Moscow, will follow goaltender Vladislav Tretiak as the second Russian player inducted into the Hall. But there are few other instances of Fetisov being second in anything.

Known as "the Russian Bobby Orr," Fetisov led the Central Red Army to 12 consecutive league championships and was an integral part of Russian teams that won 11 World Championship rifles, three Olympic medals, including gold in 1984 and 1988, and the 1981 Canada Cup tournament. In his prime, Fetisov was unmatched as an offensive defenseman and rock-solid in his own end.

"You know, we saw him very late in his career when he played in the NHL, but I played against him previously, and he was just dominant out there," recalls Gartner. "I played against him many times in the Canada Cup and in the World Championships, and he Was such a great competitor, such a solid defenseman ... he had no weaknesses."

Fetisov, one of the few players to earn an Honored Master of Sport award from his country, was an unexpected draft choice of the New Jersey Devils in 1983, going No. 150 overall. He was not the first Soviet player in the NHL, but he was one of the first players from his country to reach the NHL when he was finally allowed to join the Devils at the age of 31 in 1989.

He went on to win two Stanley Cups with Detroit and never finished with a negative plus/minus rating in nine NHL seasons with the Devils and Red Wings. He now serves as an assistant coach with New Jersey and this summer was named coach and general manager of the Russian team that will compete in the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

Fetisov calls his election to the Hall "something I have worked for all of my life," a sign that he wasn't satisfied with just being a noted player in his native country.

While Gartner had his hands full playing against Fetisov, he rendered most other defensemen and goaltenders he faced helpless. A 42-year-old native of Ottawa, Gartner was a speedy right winger, who became a scoring force the minute he turned pro. As a 19-year-old with the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association, Gartner finished second to Gretzky in the Rookie of the Year race and never looked back.