rob blake hhof induction 640

Called to the Hall

Blake, Burns and McCreary inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame

Jason La Rose
|
November 18, 2014
|

A trio of Canadians earned hockey’s highest honour on Monday night in Toronto.

Olympic gold medal-winning defenceman Rob Blake, the late Pat Burns and long-time referee Bill McCreary were officially inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2014.

They were enshrined alongside Peter Forsberg, Dominik Hasek and Mike Modano.

Blake made nine appearances with Team Canada, totaling 58 games at the IIHF World Championship, World Cup of Hockey and Olympic Winter Games.

The Simcoe, Ont., native won three gold medals in international play, at the 1994 IIHF World Championship, 1997 IIHF World Championship and 2002 Olympic Winter Games, where he helped Canada end a 50-year gold medal drought.

He also earned a silver medal at the 1991 IIHF World Championship.

Blake was twice recognized as Top Defenceman, at the 1997 worlds and 1998 Olympics.

During a 19-year NHL career with Los Angeles, Colorado and San Jose, Blake recorded 777 points (240 goals, 537 assists) in 1,270 games, won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top defenceman in 1997-98 and served as captain with the Kings and Sharks.

He won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2001, making him one of just eight Canadians in the IIHF Triple Gold Club (Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, IIHF World Championship gold).

Since retiring in 2010, Blake served as assistant general manager of Canada’s National Men’s Team at the 2011 IIHF World Championship, and was general manager at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

Burns was twice an assistant coach with Canadian teams, at the 1987 IIHF World Junior Championship and 2008 IIHF World Championship, where he helped Canada to a silver medal on home ice.

The St-Henri, Que., native spent 14 years as an NHL head coach with Montreal, Toronto, Boston and New Jersey, winning the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach with the Canadiens in 1988-89, Maple Leafs in 1992-93 and Bruins in 1997-98. He is the only coach to win the award three times.

Burns led the Devils to a Stanley Cup championship in 2003.

He succumbed to cancer on Nov. 19, 2010.

McCreary’s international officiating career included three Olympic Winter Games, in 1998, 2002 and 2010. He was selected to officiate the Canada-U.S. gold medal games in Salt Lake City and Vancouver.

A native of Guelph, Ont., McCreary officiated 1,737 regular season games, 297 playoff games and one NHL All-Star Game, and refereed a Stanley Cup Final-record 44 games, including 13 straight finals from 1995 to 2007.

Rob Blake

Year Team Event GP G A PTS PIM Result
1991 CAN World Champ. 2 0 2 2 0 Silver
1994 CAN World Champ. 8 0 2 2 6 Gold
1996 CAN World Cup 4 0 1 1 0 2nd
1997 CAN World Champ. 11 2 2 4 22 Gold
1998 CAN Olympics 6 1 1 2 2 4th
1998 CAN World Champ. 5 1 0 1 6 6th
1999 CAN World Champ. 10 2 5 7 12 4th
2002 CAN Olympics 6 1 2 3 2 Gold
2006 CAN Olympics 6 0 1 1 2 7th
  CAN TOTAL 58 7 16 23 52  

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

[email protected] 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

[email protected]

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

[email protected]

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