Roy Is Part of the In Crowd

Patrick Roy remembers the first time he entered the Montreal Canadiens’ locker room, as a gawky, 19-year-old third-round draft pick.

“You look to your left side and you have all the faces of the players who are in the Hall of Fame,” he said.

Roy, who won two Stanley Cup championships with the Canadiens and two with the Colorado Avalanche, on Wednesday joined his predecessors in earning the sport’s highest honor.

Roy and Dick Duff, a six-time Cup champion with Toronto and Montreal in the 1960s and briefly a member of the Kings, were elected to the hall in the players’ category. The late Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, and Harley Hotchkiss, chairman of the NHL’s board of governors, were honored in the builders’ category.

The quartet will be inducted Nov. 13 in Toronto.

Roy, 40, was chosen in his first year of eligibility. He won a record 551 games over 19 seasons but was renowned for his postseason excellence, winning the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs three times. He also originated a memorable comeback: When Jeremy Roenick boasted about embarrassing him while scoring during the 1996 playoffs, Roy replied, “I can’t hear what Jeremy is saying. I’ve got my two Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears.”

Roy, who recently coached the Quebec Remparts to the Canadian junior championship, said hockey remains his passion. “It’s a great day, the crowning achievement for me of a great career,” he said.

Duff, 70, was elected 34 years after he retired. He scored 283 goals and 572 points in 1,030 games at left wing and added 30 goals and 79 points in 114 playoff games. “This means a lot to me, just like playing hockey meant a lot to me,” he said.

Brooks, who had been elected to the U.S. and International Ice Hockey Federation halls of fame, died in a car crash in August 2003 at the age of 66. He coached the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and Minnesota North Stars but is remembered for guiding the 1980 Olympic team to a gold medal by upsetting the powerful Soviets.

His son, Dan, said his father’s legacy rests in the record 10 U.S.-born players chosen in the first round of last week’s NHL entry draft and in the movie “Miracle,” which told the story of the Olympic team.

“If you dream and play by the rules, you can accomplish anything,” Dan Brooks said. “He used to tell me, it really wasn’t a miracle. It was 10 months of blood, sweat and tears.”

Hotchkiss, part of a group that brought the Flames to Calgary from Atlanta, has long promoted hockey at the grassroots level. He also participated in the negotiations that ended the lockout nearly a year ago.

“I feel good about the season. It was a great comeback,” he said.