For the first time in the history of the Toronto Hockey Hall of Fame, two women have been elected to the same class.
The sport owes a debt to two legendary players from Minnesota.
Before they made their mark on the ice for the Gophers and Team USA, Natalie Darwitz and Chrissy Wendell Paul made their mark on the budding world of women's sports as teenagers.
The two longtime teammates will receive one of the greatest honours in sports when they are inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Toronto on Nov. 11.
“Hopefully this will become a regular thing in the future,” Darwitz told The Associated Press. “There are so many players from our generation and past generations who paved the way for women's hockey to get to where it is today.”
The remaining five members of the Hall of Fame are former NHL stars Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Ronick and Shea Weber, former general manager David Poile and longtime NHL executive Colin Campbell. The Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee voted on Tuesday, with the results announced by chairman Mike Gartner.
“The Hockey Hall of Fame is proud to induct these hockey legends. [honored] Gartner said in a news release:
Darwitz (2018) and Wendell Pohl (2019) were both inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame at Eveleth, and Darwitz was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame in January.
Wendell Paul and Darwitz were teammates when the Gophers won NCAA championships in 2004 and 2005. Darwitz, a star at Eagan High School, scored the game-winning point in the 2005 final against Harvard.
Darwitz played for the U.S. Olympic teams in 2002, 2006 and 2010, winning two silver medals and one bronze medal.
As general manager, Darwitz had just led the PWHL Minnesota to a championship, but in a controversial decision, the PWHL league office opted not to reinstate her to the team. Sources say there was a power struggle between Darwitz and head coach Ken Klee. Darwitz has not publicly commented on the decision.
Wendell Paul led Park Center to a state championship in 2000. She was the Gophers' recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the nation's top player, in 2005. Married to former Gophers star and NHL player John Paul, she was an Olympian in 2002, captained the Olympic team in 2006 and scored 106 goals in 147 games for Team USA, leading them to six IIHF World Championship titles.
Being inducted alongside Darwitz makes the honor even more special for Wendell Paul.
“It's incredible,” Wendell Paul said, “to think how far the sport has come in such a short period of time … and that there are now so many opportunities for women to play.”
Roenick has scored a total of 1,216 points with Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Jose, fourth-most among U.S.-born players.
Datsyuk shone as the “Magic Man” during his 14-year career in Detroit, excelling both offensively and defensively, and later won a gold medal with Russia at the 2018 Olympics, when no NHL players were participating.
“Of course I'm excited,” Datsyuk said. “Right now I'm a lucky boy. I'm happy.”
Weber is still under contract — his rights were transferred from Arizona and are owned by the Utah Hockey Club, formerly known as the Coyotes — but is eligible after a career-ending injury in 2021 after helping Montreal reach the finals. A defenseman who won two Olympic gold medals with Canada in 2010 and 2014, Weber played 11 of his 16 NHL seasons with Nashville, serving as captain from 2010-16.
Poile, who drafted and then traded for Weber, is the winningest general manager in league history with stints with the Washington Capitals and Predators and followed in the footsteps of his late father, Bud Poile, a Hall of Fame executive.
Campbell, who spent more than a decade on the selection committee and has worked in senior NHL administrative roles for more than two decades, beginning with his time as manager of the New York Rangers, said he was “pretty shocked” when he got the call.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
