Roenick puts on show at Legends Classic, shares joy of Hall of Fame induction

TORONTO -- Jeremy Roenick put on a show at the Hyundai Hockey Hall of Fame Legends Classic at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday, and he didn’t just dance around the ice for three goals -- two in regulation, one in a shootout -- in Team Lindros’ 9-7 loss to Team Hefford.

During a timeout, the 54-year-old forward grabbed a microphone, stood at center ice and asked the fans to dance along with him. As WALK THE MOON’s “Shut Up and Dance” played on the speakers, he showed off another set of moves.

“It’s always nice to just get out there and kind of relive it, but also to get the fans into it,” Roenick said. “And we’re having fun. We’re supposed to have fun.”

Roenick will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday with Natalie Darwitz, Pavel Datsyuk, Shea Weber and Krissy Wendell-Pohl because of his playing ability, but he will be remembered for his personality too.

His dance routine at the Legends Classic relived what he did at he did with the Los Angeles Kings at the Frozen Fury at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sept. 24, 2005.

During a 2-1 overtime preseason loss to the Colorado Avalanche, a pane of Plexiglas broke. While the crew worked on it, Roenick started shaking his body to the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing.” Then he danced out to center ice as the crowd roared and the other players watched.

And then he kept going, singing, bobbing his head and wiggling his hips along to KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight.”

“The music was playing, so I decided to dance for everybody,” Roenick said. ”Everybody got up and danced with me, and we killed about 10 minutes of downtime. It was fantastic.”

It was Roenick being Roenick. This is a guy who used to hang a disco ball in the locker room.

“He’d do that same routine in the locker room just to get everyone jammin’,” said his wife, Tracy. “That’s just part of him. That’s who he is.”

Tony Amonte started playing against Roenick when they were 10, and he has played with him multiple times, including twice in the NHL -- for the Chicago Blackhawks from 1993-96 and the Philadelphia Flyers from 2002-04.

When he reunited with Roenick on Team Lindros on Sunday, he wasn’t surprised by what happened.

“You knew it was coming, and he’s just got the personality,” Amonte said. “He’s got the game, and he had the talent, and he had the drive. All those forces came together. That’s what made him the player he is, and the inner confidence too. You know what I mean?

“I mean, at his party last night, he had the mic more than the band did. Oh, yeah. That’s just his personality, and guys that know him best know just know that’s who JR is and that’s how he thrives. He does his own thing.”

Roenick, the No. 8 pick of the 1988 NHL Draft, had 1,216 points (513 goals, 703 assists) in 1,363 NHL games for the Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Flyers, Kings and San Jose Sharks from 1988-2009. He ranks fourth in goals and fifth in points among players born in the United States.

“He’s got the stats,” Amonte said. “He’s been a character in this game. People love him, people hate him, but they know his name.”

The Hockey Hall of Fame means so much to Roenick. For years, it bothered him that he hadn’t made it. His wife said she told him he needed to put better energy into the world, and he grew as a person this spring.

“He really changed his life and did some soul-searching about who he was as a man, a human, and stopped worry about this,” she said. “And it’s funny how in life, when do good and you’re better and you walk a good line, all of a sudden the phone rang.”

Toward the end of his dance routine Sunday, Roenick found a kid against the glass. He posed with him, and they appeared on the scoreboard screen.

“Wave to the camera!” Roenick said. “Hi!”

Roenick gave the kid his game stick, but he seemed like a kid himself after the game with autographs from his teammates scrawled all over his jersey.

He won’t dance through his induction Monday. He won’t be able to.

“He’s going to be very emotional tomorrow, his speech,” his wife said. “I don’t know how he’s going to make it up on stage even to say thank you.”