A star-studded class is heading to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Led by a couple of Norris Trophy-winning defensemen, Zdeno Chara and Duncan Keith, along with former Hart Trophy winning Joe Thornton, and Jennifer Botterill, a three-time Olympic gold medal winner with Team Canada, the Hockey Hall of Fame will welcome eight new members in November. A vote on Wednesday by the selection committee in Toronto also guaranteed fall enshrinement for Brianna Decker and Alexander Mogilny as players and longtime NCAA men’s coach Jack Parker and Daniele Sauvageau, who served Team Canada as a general manager, coach and consultant, as builders.
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Mogilny made the Hall of Fame in his 17th year of consideration.
Sauvageau will be the first woman to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.
An induction ceremony will be held on Nov. 10 in Toronto.
A candidate’s entire hockey career is considered by the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, but Chara, Keith, and Thornton built overwhelming resumes based solely on their respective accomplishments in the NHL.
Chara played the most games by a defenseman with 1,680. He won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2009 and captained the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup in 2011.
Keith was a key figure on the Chicago Blackhawks’ Cup champions in 2010, 2013, and 2015, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP for that third championship run. His Norris wins came in 2010 and 2014.
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Thornton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1997 NHL Draft, is most remembered for his time with the Bruins and San Jose Sharks, and is one of only 15 players to score 1,500 points. And though he never played for a Cup champion, he won a gold medal for host Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Mogilny debuted in the NHL in 1989 with the Buffalo Sabres. A dynamic offensive player, he finally won the Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2000. He is a member of the IIHF Triple Gold Club, winning Olympic gold (1988) and the IIHF World Championships (1989) for the former Soviet Union in addition to the Cup.
Botterill was a first-team All-American in each of her four seasons at Harvard University. She played professionally until 2011 and was a mainstay for Canada’s national team at the Olympics and IIHF World Championships, where she was named MVP in 2011.
Decker played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin and earned awards, but her star turn came for Team USA, with whom she won the gold medal six times at the IIHF World Championships and gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
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Parker captained Boston University in his final season as a player and became his school’s head coach in 1973. His teams won the NCAA championship three times and appeared in an NCAA-record 24 tournaments during his 40 seasons.
Sauvageau’s contributions to the women’s game are unrivaled among non-players in Canada. She was part of seven Winter Olympics in various roles with Team Canada. Sauvageau also was the first woman to coach in the QMJHL, as an assistant with the Montreal Rocket.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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