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The Hockey Hall of Fame’s media day, the only opportunity to hear the Class of 2025’s perspective before Monday’s induction speeches, was an opportunity to try to tie up a few loose ends.
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Where is Alex Mogilny?
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After so many of his friends and media members lobbied for years for him as a worthy candidate, the first high-profile Russian defector in 1989, Mogilny will not run. He has pre-recorded comments for the ceremony and Monday’s telecast, but his bejeweled ring and Hall crest blazer went unclaimed Saturday.
Mogilny has always been a squirrelly guy (he failed to win the NHL awards in 2003, thinking little of winning the Lady Byng Good Conduct Trophy) and no one is quite sure whether his absence is a travel problem in Russia, a political difficulty in these difficult times, whether it is related to the club’s managerial duties as KHL president Amur Khabarovsk, or simply his unique sense of evil.
“We don’t know the exact reason, other than he said he couldn’t come,” Hall President Mike Gartner said. “There’s a lot going on in his life right now. We haven’t put a lot of pressure on him; people have talked to him, he said he couldn’t come. But he’s very grateful that he was able to come in.
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“It happens very rarely (in 2022, Riikka Sallinen, a Finnish female star, also missed the visit to Toronto), but we saw Alex’s speech, it’s actually very good, it’s very respectful of how he got to where he is.”
Did being a police officer in Quebec help prepare Daniele Sauvageau as a club and Olympic coach and general manager of the PWHL?
We asked him because the late Hall of Fame coach Pat Burns said being a seasoned cop gave him an idea of who was a real competitor or a floater, especially in a one-on-one meeting.
“The combination of the two (professions) gave me the best way to learn about the human world,” Sauvageau acknowledged. “You see big things, you see things that you want to change. But the reality is the same. You are at the service of the population and you are at the service of football.”
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Like Burns, his dedication often blurred the lines between job descriptions.
“In the police, they called me ‘coach’ and in hockey, they called me ‘chief’. »
Did Jack Parker really say no to the idea of coaching America’s “Miracle on Ice” team at the 1980 Olympics?
The Boston University coach had 897 career wins through 2013 and enough between 1973 and 1979 to warrant an interview with the U.S. hockey program. But it was the late Herb Brooks who got the glory — and got Karl Malden and Kurt Russell to portray him in two films about the Lake Placid upheaval.
“That’s not true, I refused,” Parker clarified. “There was Herb, myself and John MacInnes from Michigan Tech interviewed by the committee. I was the youngest, Herbie was in the middle, John the oldest.
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“But before I was interviewed, I was told that John had already withdrawn. That’s when I walked into the room and found out that eight of the ten people on the committee were from Minnesota. I knew then that I wasn’t going to get the job.”
Brooks was born in St. Paul and coached the University of Minnesota Gophers.
“But Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts didn’t matter. They certainly made the right decision in choosing Brooks. I don’t think anyone could have done a complete turnaround from what he did as coach in 1980.”
Is national team veteran Joe Thornton set to coach Canada’s Spengler Cup team in Davos, Switzerland in December?
His wife Tabsa is Swiss, Jumbo Joe met her in Davos while playing there during the 2004 lockout, so people connect the dots. The family will be visiting the area during the Christmas holidays.
“I don’t know, I prefer to ski when I’m on vacation,” Thornton teased. “I could go watch the boys play, watch a match. But if they really want me, I’ll be in the Swiss Alps.”
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