ORLANDO , Fla. – Three products of U.S. collegiate hockey, the national voice of the NHL and the man who brought hockey to the City of Brotherly Love all became members of a very elite Monday afternoon when the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame announced its inductees for the Class of 2011.
Former players Chris Chelios, Gary Suter and Keith Tkachuk, broadcaster Mike “Doc” Emrick and Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider will join the previous 148 
enshrined members this fall in a ceremony in Chicago. In their own way, each has made extraordinary contributions to the game in the United States.
“It’s an extraordinary class. The varied contributions to the landscape of hockey in our country is truly amazing,” USA Hockey President Ron DeGregorio said. “Collectively, this class has positively impacted every level of hockey.”
Over his 26 years of professional hockey, Chicago native Chris Chelios became one of the most recognizable faces in the sport. He is the all-time leader in games played by a defenseman in the long history of the NHL (1,651). Selected in the second round (40th overall pick) in the 1981 Entry Draft by Montreal, Chelios’ included seven seasons with the Canadiens, nine season with both Chicago and Detroit and one year in Atlanta. He was selected to 11 NHL All-Star Games and his 948 career points (185 goals, 763 assists) ranks him tenth on the all-time scoring list for blue liners. Along the way he hoisted the Stanley Cup three times and won three Norris Trophies as the league’s best defenseman.
Chelios, who won an NCAA national championship while at the University of Wisconsin in 1983, was also a star for the U.S. on the international stage. He is one of just two men to wear a USA jersey in four Olympic Winter Games (1984, 1996, 2002, 2006) and captained the final three including the 2002 silver medal winning squad in Salt Lake City. In total, he represented the United States ten times internationally including in 1996 when the Americans won the inaugural World Cup of Hockey. Those ten international tournaments included three Canada Cups, a second World Cup of Hockey in 2004 and the 1982 World Junior Championship.
Suter, who also played at Wisconsin, ranks fourth in NHL history in career points by an American-born defenseman (844 points including 203 goals). Picked in the ninth round (180th overall) of the 1984 draft, the Madison, Wisconsin-born Suter became a staple on defense for the Calgary Flames from the start, winning the Calder Trophy as the top rookie in 1986 – the first American-born player to earn that honor. After ten seasons and one Stanley Cup championship in Calgary, Suter went on to play for five seasons in Chicago and four more with San Jose before retiring with 1,145 games under his belt.
In addition to his 17-season NHL career, Suter was a teammate of Chelios on the 2002 silver medal Olympic team and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey championship-winning squad. In all, he was a part of eight international squads, including one World Junior championship, two Canada Cups, two World Championships and the 1998 Olympics. He was the second Suter boy to play in the Olympics as his older brother Bob played on the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” U.S. Olympic gold medal team. He also has a nephew Ryan who currently patrols the blue line for the Nashville Predators.
Tkachuk, who was born in Melrose, Mass., has the distinction of being one of just four American-born players to net 500 goals along with Mike Modano, Jeremy Roenick and Joe Mullen. Following one season at Boston University, he headed for the bright lights of the pro ranks, bursting onto the scene as a player who was a “prototypical power forward” – built to both score and pound opponents into and through the boards. He was the first American to lead the NHL in goal scoring when he netted 52 during the 1996-1997 season, the second of back-to-back 50-goal seasons. In 1,201 career games , he scored 538 goals and added 527 assists for 1,065 points. His 19-year career took him from Winnipeg to Phoenix (a total of ten seasons with the franchise that moved south) then to St. Louis where he spent nine of his final ten season with one year in Atlanta mixed in.
A five-time All-Star, Tkachuk played in two World Junior championships (1991 and 1992) where he posted nine goals and seven assists in 14 total games. His international resume also includes four Olympic appearances (1992, 1998, 2002 and 2006), the 2004 World Championships and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
Ed Snider, a 1988 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame, convinced the NHL in 1966 that Philadelphia deserved a professional hockey team and the rest is history. The Flyers were part of the league’s first expansion and have gone on to become one of the league’s signature franchises, becoming the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup in 1974 with coach Fred Shero at the helm of a team that included the likes of Bobby Clarke, Bill Barbour and Bernie Parent. Shero’s teams were as physical as they come, earning them the nickname “Broad Street Bullies”, a name that to this day is synonymous with gritty, hard-nosed play.
His greatest legacy may be the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, which he founded in 2005 to provide underprivileged children in the Philadelphia area with an opportunity to learn the game. In 2008, the foundation saved three inner-city rinks that had been targeted for closure. Today, five city rinks are open because of the work of the foundation and the generosity of Mr. Snider.
Snider, who oversaw the building of the old Spectrum and the new Wells Fargo Center, was presented the Lester Patrick Award for contributions to hockey in the U.S. in 1980. He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He is the chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, the parent company of Versus, the cable broadcast partner of the NHL and now part of the NBC-Universal family.
Mike “Doc” Emrick’s face may not be familiar to all but hockey fans certainly know his voice. A native of LaFontaine, Indiana, he has spent almost 40 years behind the microphone calling games at just about every level of hockey. His resume includes 13 Stanley Cup Finals and stints with FOX, ESPN, Versus and NBC. He has called games at five Olympics, including the dramatic 2010 gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada, which was the most watched hockey game in America in some 30 years.
For nearly two decades, Emrick called New Jersey Devils games for MSG Network before giving that up to work exclusively for NBC Sports Network beginning this fall. His trademark attention to detail and seemingly limitless memory of the history of the game have made him a role model for future sportscasters.
A graduate of Bowling Green University (where he earned the nickname “Doc”), Emrick has been honored by the NHL with the Lester Patrick Award in 2004 and the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award and induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008. He has also won numerous local, regional and national broadcast awards including a national CableACE award for best play-by-play in 1997, local Emmys for his work with the Devils in 1997 and 2004 and a national Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality – Play by Play in 2011. He has been the vice president of the NHL Broadcaster’s Association since 1985 and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee.
The date and time of the 2011 induction dinner and ceremony will be announced later this summer.
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