COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The dinner menu for the 2009 United States Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony will probably have plenty of New England fare on it as the six state region has ties to at least four members of this year’s class. Massachusetts natives Tony Amonte and Tom Barrasso, Vermont native John LeClair and the 1998 U.S. Olympic women’s ice hockey team, coached by Gloucester, Massachusetts’ Ben Smith, will be enshrined at the ceremony later this year. The fifth member of the class is the “father of the ice resurfacer”, Frank Zamboni. “This is a truly magnificent class,” USA Hockey president Ron DeGregorio said in a release announcing the honorees. “Each member of the Class of 2009 has had an extraordinary impact on our sport and is most deserving to take their place among the hockey immortals in the United States.” Amonte, who grew up in Hingham, Mass. and played his college hockey at Boston University, entered the NHL in 1988 as a 4th round selection of the New York Rangers and quickly garnered notice by putting up 69 points (35-34) in his rookie season and placing third in the Calder Trophy balloting for top rookie. The five-time all-star logged 1,174 career NHL games with five teams (Rangers, Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Calgary). He is presently 11th all-time on the points list among American-born players with 900 points. During his 15 year career, he broke the 30-goal plateau eight times. On the international stage, Amonte was a member of two U.S. Olympic teams (1998, 2002) and has a silver medal from the 2002 Salt Lake City games. He has also represented the U.S. at the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 and 2004 as well as being a member of the U.S. Men’s National team (1991, 1993) and the U.S. National Junior team (1989, 1990). All told, he tallied 13 goals and 20 assists in international play, including the game-winning goal in the deciding game of the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996 against Canada. Barrasso, a product of Acton-Boxboro Regional High School, was the fifth overall pick in the 1983 draft by Buffalo and became the only net minder to jump straight from high school to the NHL. During his rookie season (1983-1984), Barrasso turned in a startling 26-12-3 record and a 2.84 goals against average, numbers that earned him spots on the NHL All-Star and All-Rookie teams along with the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie and the Calder Trophy as the most outstanding rookie. He played in 777 games with a total of six teams (Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Carolina, Toronto and St. Louis) and holds the career record for most assists and points by a goalie (48). Among U.S.-born net minders, he ranks first in playoff wins (61) and second in regular-season victories (369). He is also the owner of two Stanley Cup rings as a member of the Pittsburgh championships in 1991 and 1992. He is presently the goaltending coach for the Carolina Hurricanes. Internationally, Barrasso was part of the silver medal winning U.S. Olympic team in 2002. He also played for his country in the 1983 IIHF World Junior championship, the 1984 and 1987 Canada Cups and the 1986 IIHF Men’s World championships. St. Albans, Vermont born LeClair entered the NHL after an outstanding career at the University of Vermont. The second round pick (33rd overall) in the 1987 draft spent his first four pro season with Montreal before heading to Philadelphia where he became the first American-born player to record three consecutive 50-goal seasons (1995-1998). By the time he had finished his career with Pittsburgh, LeClair had posted 406 goals and 413 assists for 819 points in 967 career games, which puts him 13th on the scoring list for American players in the NHL. LeClair also excelled as a member of two U.S. Olympic squads (1998, 2002), placing third overall and second on the team in scoring during the silver medal run in Salt Lake City. He also played for the U.S. at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and in 1988 and 1989 at the IIHF World Junior championships. In 31 international games, LeClair scored 22 goals and added 12 assists. The 1998 U.S. Olympic women’s ice hockey team blazed many trails and is considered to be one of the biggest contributors to the growth of girls’ and women’s hockey in the U.S. Assembled for the inaugural women’s Olympic competition in Nagano, Japan, the team rolled through the competition, beating the Canadian squad 3-1 in the gold medal game. Led by Smith, the U.S. team posted a 6-0-0 record and outscored its opponents by an aggregate total of 36-8. Cammi Granato – a 2008 U.S. HHOF inductee, Karyn Bye, Katie King and Gretchen Ulion all tallied eight points during the tournament. Sarah Tueting and Sara DeCosta each won three times while guarding the U.S. net. All of the players owe a huge debt of gratitude to Frank Zamboni for their inductions. Born in Eureka, Utah in 1901, Zamboni and his brother Lawrence settled in Southern California in 1920. After opening their business – an ice plant designed to manufacture block ice – the pair were looking for a way to stay open after the invention of the home refrigerator. Along with their cousin Pete, the Zambonis built the Iceland Skating Rink in Paramount. Keeping the ice surface in good condition meant towing a scraper behind a tractor, shoveling the scrapings up, spraying water over the entire surface, squeegee the excess water away and letting the water freeze. It was a long process, too long for Frank. He set out to devise a way to incorporate the entire process in a more efficient manner. After several tries, Frank Zamboni introduced his “Model A Zamboni Ice Resurfacer” in 1949. He would receive a patent on the machine built over the body of a Jeep vehicle. Olympic skating star Sonja Henie ordered one for her traveling show in 1950. By 1960, Zambonis were being used at the Olympics in Squaw Valley and by the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, every ice resurfacing vehicle bore the Zamboni name. The NHL named Zamboni as the “Official Ice Resurfacer of the NHL” in 2002 and in 2007, the 8,500th Zamboni rolled off the assembly line. Frank Zamboni, who passed away in 1988, was named a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Association Hall of Fame in 2000 and later to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame (2006) and the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2007). Information on the date and location of the induction ceremony will be announced in August. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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