FanHouse Nhl Hall Of Fame

In September, former NBA superstar Michael Jordan raised more than a few eyebrows. The speech he gave at his Hall of Fame induction quickly turned into a vengeful gong show in which His Airness blasted virtually anyone who he even perceived to be guilty of a slight.

Monday night, the Hockey Hall of Fame welcomed its class of 2009. The ceremony's very first acceptance speech was given by former St. Louis Blue, Dallas Star, and Detroit Red Wing Brett Hull. It was a stirring example of how to give a Hall of Fame speech.

In 1984, a kid with a famous name and loads of potential in his game showed up on the campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth. The Calgary Flames had drafted the kid, but they knew he wasn't ready to play.

After two years at UMD, Brett Hull -- son of the great Bobby Hull -- was ready to tear up the NHL. Boy, did he ever do that.

Turns out Hull was quite the impact player at every level he ever played at. He finished his career as the only player to ever score 50 goals in college hockey, the minors, and the NHL.

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In an age of look-at-me professional athletes, full of boasting, silly taunting and big celebrations over routine plays, Steve Yzerman is a reminder that the best and most talented shine all the brighter for humble behavior.

The longtime Red Wings captain, and a three-time Stanley Cup winner as a player, enters the Hall of Fame as a winner on the ice and off, a gentleman respected by his peers and adored by his fans.

Yzerman was, and is, classy and understated, the embodiment of old-fashioned values of sportsmanship and personal accountability.

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It doesn't matter how good your team's front office is, the NHL draft can still be a complete shot in the dark in which the most highly-touted, can't miss prospect can miss, and ninth-round picks that sneak under the radar because of concerns about their ability to skate at an NHL level can end up scoring over 600 goals and tallying nearly 1,400 points in a 19-year career -- kind of like Luc Robitaille.

Robitaille was passed over 170 times during the 1984 NHL Entry Draft (a class that featured Mario Lemieux going No. 1 overall, and fellow 2009 Hall of Fame Inductee Brett Hull being taken at No. 117) before being selected in the ninth round by the Los Angeles Kings.

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The main press box for Rangers games at Madison Square Garden is in the lower bowl, behind one of the goals. It is here where the perfect imagery can be found to illustrate the magical play of Brian Leetch, who enters the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday.

In this press box sit men and women, some who have been to thousands of games, some perhaps new to the hockey beat. Either way, it can often be a jaded lot. But when Leetch plied his craft as a defenseman for the Rangers from 1988 until 2004, there were countless moments when his artistry made those four rows of tables one of the grandest places to be in sports.

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As anyone who struggled to get the new health care legislation passed over the weekend can attest, it's hard to make systemic changes. The momentum of history carries us along, forcing the boldest and most tenacious of us to aggressively fight the tide in the name of progress.

It may not be nearly on par with lowering the unemployment rate or giving our education system a breath of fresh air, but in the world of this lovely escape we call hockey, few in recent history have had as big of an impact in these terms as Lou Lamoriello. It's entirely appropriate that he's being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night as a "Builder," because he built a dynasty out of a doormat as well as a hockey nation out of a nation with just a curious interest in the sport.

But when I think of what makes Lou Lamoriello great, I don't think about what he's done. I think about the character and personality that drove all that success.

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New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello will be inducted into the builders section of the the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. The architect of three Stanley Cup-winning teams was the guest on a media conference call on Friday afternoon. Some highlights ...

It's not the more prestigious Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, but the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame has been around since 1973, honoring top American-born hockey players, coaches, and contributors.

The Hall has been through some tough times, as its facility in Eveleth, Minn., was scheduled to close due to low attendance in 2006. The building remains open in Eveleth, and they are still actively inducting new members. The 2009 class features some famous NHL stars, an inventor, and a pioneering group of ladies who changed the face of the sport.