The gender gap has finally been broken at the Hockey Hall of Fame. On Tuesday, voters decreed that female hockey pioneers Cammi Granato and Angela James were worthy of enshrinement in Toronto.
In addition to Granato and James, inductees included former NHL All-Star Dino Ciccarelli, and builders Jimmy Devellano and Daryl "Doc" Seaman.
The selection of women to the Hall of Fame has recently been made easier by the inclusion of a women’s category on the ballot. Granato and James are the first two to max-out the two-woman limit on ballot induction. Oddly, Dino Ciccarelli was the only male player inducted on Tuesday. Voters are able to induct up to four male players per year, and this year’s eligible players included legends Eric Lindros, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Doug Gilmour.
Speaking of her induction, James said: "This is a day I never really thought would ever happen. I'm really honoured to represent the female hockey players from all over the world."
James was a star in the Central Ontario Women's League throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She was also part of four world championship winning Canadian women’s teams. She also spent time in Canada as part of the Montreal’s Concordia University Stingers team, prior to the Canadian Inter-University Sport adding more-restrictive rules regarding non-Canadian athletes.
Granato was a stalwart of the U.S. women’s team, and played right wing/centre for the team for 15 years. She led the team to a gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Granato said: "I dreamed of being in the NHL my entire life, and this certainly makes up for those dreams. Being amongst the first women to play at college and later at the Olympics, it certainly was worthwhile being a hockey pioneer."
It is nice that the Hall of Fame selection committee has shown its ability to appreciate female players, but their other voting patterns are troubling and upsetting. Ciccarelli is certainly deserving of the honour, based on his 19-year career and the accumulation of 1200 points in 1232 games. However, up to four male players can be inducted and much worthier candidates than Ciccarelli were left out.
Ciccarelli’s induction is based on point total generated by an extremely long-term career, with much of it spent playing for the mediocre Minnesota North Stars. While considered a good player, Ciccarelli never won any major awards throughout his career, and is by no means to be considered as one of the best of his generation.
The committee ignored worthy players like Eric Lindros, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Doug Gilmour. Although Lindros’s promising career was significantly shorter than Ciccarelli’s due to injuries, he was a seven time All-Star. Ciccarelli only had four All-Star game appearances. Lindros also won the Hart Memorial Trophy, the NHL’s most famous award, and the Ted Lindsay Award for most outstanding player in the regular season.
Nieuwendyk led three teams to Stanley Cups in three different decades. He is only one of ten players to ever win a Stanley Cup with three different teams. He has also won the Calder Trophy, the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, and the Conn Smyth trophy.
Gilmour was a Stanley Cup winner, and played on the same championship Calgary Flames team as Nieuwendyk did in 1989. He is also a Frank J. Selke Trophy winner and currently holds the Toronto Maple Leafs record for points in a season with 127.
It is ludicrous that the committee would vote to include Ciccarelli over these three legends, especially when there is room for the induction of the three of them. It’s a certainty that Gilmour, Lindros, and Nieuwendyk will get their deserved spots in the Hall, but it’s a disgrace that the voters chose to leave empty spots rather than recognizing their greatness.
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