There is always a nagging feeling, once a sports hall of fame reveals its annual inductions, that more than numbers are involved in the process. So it is that this year's Hockey Hall of Fame selections just announced give rise to some second-guessing. There's more second-guessing in a sports selection, after all, than there is at a roulette table.
Players in are goaltender Grant Fuhr and forward Pat LaFontaine. Out among first-year eligibles is a cast that includes Dave Babych, Bob Bassen, Shawn Burr, Guy Carbonneau, Shawn Chambers, Wendel Clark, Geoff Courtnall, Murray Craven, Mike Eagles, Dave Ellett, Ed Olczyk, Daren Puppa, Bill Ranford, Bob Rouse, Kjell Samuelsson, Ulf Samuelsson, Brian Skrudland, Ron Stern, John Tucker, Darren Turcotte and Michel Pivonka, only some of whom will ever make it.
But add to them guys with some pretty solid statistical tonnage, chaps who've surpassed such milestones as 450 goals, 1,000 points or two Canada or World Cup titles. That list includes a couple of area guys, former London Knight Dino Ciccarelli and Oil Springs native and current Knights owner/coach Dale Hunter. Others are Glenn Anderson, Brian Bellows, Steve Larmer, Bernie Nicholls, Brian Propp, Bobby Smith, Dave Taylor and Brent Sutter.
You can make a legitimate case for all of them but have a look at Ciccarelli, whose obvious comparison would be LaFontaine. His story is at least as interesting as LaFontaine's.
Most longtime Knights followers know about the badly broken leg, the steel rod that was inserted in it and the suspect label hung on him when NHL general managers looked toward the draft. He may have totalled 346 points in four seasons as a Knight, including a 72-goal season, but would the smallish forward survive the rigours of the NHL?
He did, of course, lasting 19 largely aggravating (to defencemen and goalies) seasons with Minnesota, Washington, Detroit, Tampa Bay and Florida. By the time it was over, he'd amassed an even 1,200 points, 608 of them goals, two goals behind Bobby Hull and 48 ahead of Guy Lafleur.
LaFontaine, whose career was cut to 15 seasons as a result of repeated concussions, scored 468 goals.
What, other than the scoring disparity, separates them? Perhaps the manner in which the goals came. The feisty Ciccarelli was the ultimate poacher, a goal-scorer supreme who found tiny places to tuck the puck either forehanded or backhanded while absorbing a pounding from an invariably larger defenceman.
LaFontaine was more the soaring scorer, blazing in at high speed for the spectacular goal. But was that the only difference? A Detroit native, LaFontaine enjoyed a golden boy reputation around the league, as likeable as he was exciting.
Ciccarelli had a couple of blips in his career, including a one-day jail sentence for beaning Toronto defenceman Luke Richardson with his stick. You won't find a Draft Dino movement around the NHL but this isn't a popularity contest.
Part of it might be that Ciccarelli was seen as a one-dimensional guy, a goal-suck as they used to say. Whenever that came up, Minnesota general manager Lou Nanne said he wouldn't trade Ciccarelli's pure goal-scoring knack for anything.
Not to disparage LaFontaine's honour but there are other deserving candidates for the Hall. His style of play didn't produce gaudy numbers but Guy Carbonneau's 19 seasons in the league produced some of the most inspired defensive plays ever seen in hockey. Anderson's 498 goals and 1,099 points had impact and so did Bellows' 485 and 1,022.
There's a lot to be said for not diluting the honour by inducting a crowd each year, so the two players along with two builders (Mike Ilitch and Brian Kilrea) makes sense. It would be nice to have been a fly on the wall during the Hall of Fame committee's deliberations on the selections, though.
