Jets welcome Steen and Carlyle to Hall of Fame

WINNIPEG -Tuesday night saw the Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame officially grow by two.
Thomas Steen and Randy Carlyle became the seventh and eighth members of the Jets Hall of Fame in a pre-game ceremony that saw their banners join Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson, Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk, Lars-Erik Sjoberg and Ab McDonald in the Bell MTS Place rafters.

Both Steen and Carlyle were not born in the Manitoba capital, but the city holds a special place in the hearts.
"First time I came here I certainly could recognize the love for hockey. I've had that since I was really young but I recognized it was the same level here," said Steen who was a fifth round pick of the Jets in 1979.
"So it felt really good right from the beginning and obviously it's been growing on me over the years."
For Carlyle after he was traded to Winnipeg by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1984, he made it his mission to make sure that he and his family would make Winnipeg home.
"When I came to Winnipeg my son Craig, he was only three weeks old. It was a pretty difficult time for me to get on an airplane and leave that when you've just had a newborn baby and you're leaving your wife and travelling. As I was walking out the door I promised her that it would never happen again and it didn't," said Carlyle who played in Winnipeg until he retired in 1993.
"There was a commitment made on my behalf for my family that I'd started that I was going to stay somewhere. I did everything that was necessary and in my power to be involved with the community and to raise a family in a community like Winnipeg, it was very valuable."
Carlyle played 564 games for Jets, the most of any Jets 1.0 defenceman, and posted 306 points (80G, 226A) for the club and he then began his coaching career as an assistant with the Jets and then served as an assistant and head coach for the Manitoba Moose.
"We worked diligently on trying to create a level of hockey here, we knew it wasn't the NHL but we treated everything about it as close to the NHL as we could within budget," said Carlyle.
"To see the Moose prosper to see the hockey club come back to Winnipeg is a great accomplishment. It just reinforces in my mind that this is a big league city."
As for Steen, he played his entire NHL career with the Winnipeg Jets leading the 1.0 edition in games played, assists and playoff games. There were a lot of special moments for the Swedish born forward so you can imagine it was difficult for him to narrow it down to one.
"Today I think I enjoy the comradery that we had with the players I played with. I really think I appreciate them more today; I mean I know I do when I can't see them as much," smiled Steen.
"I really appreciate what good guys they were and how much fun we had. I don't really think about the results a whole lot but I know it was tons of fun. It was the best level of competition I could ever imagine."
Steen and Carlyle have pointed out before that they are thrilled to be going into the Jets Hall of Fame together because of their off-ice friendship that developed back in the 80's and continues to this day. Steen's son Alex celebrated his 1000th NHL game on February 1st in the city where he was born and to Carlyle it pleased him to see how the events unfolded.
"There's some higher being allowing to happen in this community for a kid to grow up and play street hockey, pick up hockey at Tuxedo Community Centre, River Heights Arena. All those things brought back the memories about the hockey academy that Thomas started out of the Highlander," said Carlyle.
"All those things go back to the history that we had and it's of vital importance that we remember that. But how special is that. It was like it was meant to be."
Steen clearly was a proud father on that night especially when the Jets faithful gave a loud ovation to Alex while playing for a divisional rival in the St. Louis Blues.
"I could feel the warmth in the ovation. I could really feel how good it was," smiled Steen.
"The whole day was just joy like today."
A special night indeed, just like tonight, for both Thomas and Randy.