2022 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame class shows progression, determination
Miller, Lamoureux sisters among examples of how much sport has grown in America over past 50 years
The class represented how far American hockey has come in a half-century, how it keeps striving for more.
The late Warren Strelow, a pioneering goaltending coach, received the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States on the day Ryan Miller, the winningest American goalie in NHL history, was enshrined.
There were two female players: Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando, twin sisters who each won an Olympic gold medal and six world championships.
There was the first sled hockey player: Steve Cash, who won three Paralympic gold medals and five world championships.
And then there was the late Jim Johannson, the beloved USA Hockey executive who dedicated himself to developing American players from the grassroots to the elite levels.
"I think he would be most proud of seeing the progression of the game and the growth of the game in the United States," said his wife, Abby. "I think he'd be very proud and, of course, say it was a major team effort. USA Hockey should be so proud of where they're at today."
When the United States Hockey Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1973, it came 28 years after the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted its first. At the time, the NHL and the Hockey Hall of Fame each was almost exclusively Canadian.
Before the 1972-73 season, only 106 Americans had played in the NHL, and only four American players had made the Hockey Hall of Fame: Hobey Baker, Frank Brimsek, Silas Giffis and Moose Goheen. Of the four, only Brimsek had played in the NHL.
The United States had won the gold medal at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics, but it would be seven more years until the "Miracle on Ice" and the gold medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. It would be another 16 years until the United States won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
It would be another two years until women's hockey became an Olympic sport and the United States won that gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
"When [the United States Hockey Hall of Fame] was started 50 years ago, there weren't a lot of Americans being considered for the Hockey Hall of Fame, so it was our own heritage," said Pat Kelleher, the executive director of USA Hockey. "And now, it's grown."
The NHL has doubled from 16 teams in 1972-72 to 32 today, with 25 spread across the United States. As of Wednesday, 1,380 Americans have played in the League, and 16 American players have made the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Billy Burch, Chris Chelios, Phil Housley, Mark Howe, Brett Hull, Pat LaFontaine, Rod Langway, Brian Leetch, Mike Modano and Joe Mullen have made it. So have two American women: Cammi Granato and Angela Ruggiero.
"We've taken strides over the years and proven we can compete with anybody," Chelios said. "From decade to decade, you can see how it's grown."
You can argue more Americans deserve to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame right now, like perhaps Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk. You can see candidates coming in the future, like perhaps some of the inductees Wednesday.
"You look at players like Ryan Miller and the Lamoureux sisters," Kelleher said. "Those are going to be players that are going to get legit consideration for the Hockey Hall of Fame, but it's great that we can celebrate them. There's a lot of crossover now."
That's what makes the United States Hockey Hall of Fame unique, important. It celebrates the people who helped build American hockey, the people who will inspire the next generation of American hockey.
Each inductee Wednesday was joined on stage by inductees from the past, a nice touch that stitched together the past 50 years. Their plaques will be displayed together at the United States Hockey Hall of Fame Museum in Eveleth, Minnesota.
"You have to have some history," said Nashville Predators general manager David Poile, who was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018. "You have to have some tradition. I'm old enough to remember 1980. That changed hockey in the United States to this day.
"But still, we need more things to happen, and that goes specifically to tonight. There are people like Jimmy Johannson, who was such a big part of organizing, developing."
Johannson helped launch the American Development Model and build USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, now based at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
Poile said the United States once was merely a participant in major international tournaments. Now it competes to win. Where will USA Hockey be a half-century from now? How will it have fared internationally in sled hockey, women's hockey and men's hockey? How many Americans will have played in the NHL?
"When I got into the U.S. Hall of Fame, I said someday the United States will overtake Canada to have the highest percentage of players in the National Hockey League," Poile said. "And I think it's going to happen."
