Jarome Iginla, Kim St-Pierre among 2020 class enshrined in Hockey Hall of Fame
CBC
The Hockey Hall of Fame's pandemic class finally got its moment in the spotlight.
And while the delay was longer than anyone wanted or expected, the wait was well worth it for 2020's six inductees.
Jarome Iginla headlined the five players and one executive enshrined Monday night — a year later than originally intended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former captain of the Calgary Flames was joined by Marian Hossa, Kevin Lowe, Doug Wilson and Canadian women's national team goalie Kim St-Pierre, while Ken Holland went in as a builder to round out the group voted in by the hall's 18-member selection committee nearly 17 months ago.
"A career in hockey is a series of exciting chapters where you learn and grow from a wide-eyed rookie to a seasoned veteran," Iginla said in his speech. "And then in a blink of an eye, you're done. When I look back on those chapters, each reminds me of so many things I have to say thank you for."
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A mainstay with the Flames from 1996 through 2013, Iginla led his team in scoring 11 times, winning the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goal scorer twice.
The Edmonton native, who also grabbed the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top point-getter in 2001-02, combined to register 625 goals and 1,300 points in 1,554 games in a career that included four other NHL stops.
Iginla got close to winning the Stanley Cup with Calgary in 2004, but the power forward couldn't quite get over the hump in a hard-fought series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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Iginla did, however, have plenty of success on the international stage. He became the first Black athlete to win gold at a Winter Olympics when he helped the Canadian men end a 50-year drought at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
Iginla also registered one of the most famous assists in his country's history by setting up Sidney Crosby's golden goal at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
Iginla joins Grant Fuhr, Canadian women's national team player Angela James and trailblazer Willie O'Ree, who went in as a builder, as the fourth Black person enshrined.
"Being a young Black hockey player, it was important for me to see other Black players in the NHL," Iginla. "My first year in hockey as a seven-year-old, a kid came up to me and said, 'Why are you playing hockey?' Over the years I would hear, 'What are your chances of playing in the NHL? There's not many Black players.'
