Ryan Getzlaf, Hayley Wickenheiser headline 2023 Sask. Sports Hall of Fame class

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (SSHF) inducted seven new members at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina on Saturday night.

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (SSHF) inducted seven new members at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina on Saturday night.

Over the years, the SSHF has inducted 540 members including 247 athletes, 166 builders, and 127 championship teams.

Each of the seven 2023 inductees received a standing ovation from the 300-plus in attendance as they received one of the province’s top honours in sports.

Ryan Getzlaf was born in Regina where he played much of his minor hockey. At 16, he began his junior hockey career with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. Over four seasons, Getzlaf would score 95 goals and 215 points in 233 games. He also represented Canada twice at the World Junior Hockey Championships winning silver and gold medals. In the NHL entry draft in June of 2003, Getzlaf was selected 19th overall by the Anaheim Ducks, a team he’d spend his entire 17-year career with. Getzlaf scored 1019 points in 1157 NHL games and helped guide the Ducks to a 2007 Stanley Cup championship.

“This is a nice shout out to all of those who helped me along the way,” Getzlaf said. “It’s a true honour.”

Hayley Wickenheiser is one of the most decorated athletes in Saskatchewan and Canadian sports history. The Shaunavon native won four Olympic golds and a silver in his illustrious career with the women’s national hockey team. Wickenheiser is the all-time leader in goals, assists, points and games played for Canada in women’s hockey and is the Olympic and World Championships scoring leader. Wickenheiser also played for Canada in the 2000 Summer Olympics in softball. During the induction ceremony, Wickenheiser said in a video, that she’s maybe most proud of the softball appearance because she started so far behind the rest of the players and had to train in hallways of hockey arenas to try to keep up. She later went on to have the highest batting average at those games. Wickenheiser was represented on Saturday evening by her mother as she continues her work with the Toronto Maple Leafs where she holds a front office job.

Joan McEachern was one of this country’s top soccer players before there ever was a national team program. Hailing from Leroy Saskatchewan, she’d go on to represent Canada at four national club championships and was the MVP of the 1985 Canadian national soccer championship. McEachern made 31 appearances (including 28 starts) for Canada and was on the team when they made their women’s world cup debut in 1995. McEachern was inducted into the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame in 2009. She won CONCACAF silver in 1991, bronze in 1993 and silver in 1994. At Saturday’s induction ceremony she told the crowd that she dreamed of playing for the national team as a young girl, then found out there was no such thing. She was thrilled to pull on the maple leaf once there was finally a team, and represent everyone in Saskatchewan internationally.