Joe Sakic, who won four gold medals with Team Canada and is one of just 12 Canadians to have earned membership in the IIHF Triple Gold Club (Olympic Winter Games, IIHF World Championship, Stanley Cup), will be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame this spring, it was announced Tuesday.

Sakic, whose 20-year NHL career with the Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalanche included 17 years as captain, two Stanley Cups and 12 trips to the NHL All-Star Game, among countless other honours, will be inducted alongside Saku Koivu (FIN), Uwe Krupp (GER), Teemu Selanne (FIN) and Angela Ruggiero (USA) during a May 21 ceremony at the IIHF World Championship in Cologne, Germany.

The Burnaby, B.C., native represented Canada on eight occasions, including one IIHF World Junior Championship (1988), two IIHF World Championships (1991, 1994), two World Cups of Hockey (1996, 2004) and three Olympic Winter Games (1998, 2002, 2006).

He finished his Team Canada career with 45 points (25 goals, 20 assists) in 55 games, and is one of only a handful of players in international hockey history to have won gold at the World Juniors, world championship and Olympics, as well as a World Cup title.

Sakic was front and centre for a pair of historical gold medal victories – he scored in the shootout to help Canada beat Finland in the gold medal game at the 1994 IIHF World Championship, giving the Canadians their first world title since 1961, and had two goals and two assists in the 2002 Olympic final, leading Canada to its first Olympic gold in 50 years.

He finished with seven points (four goals, three assists) in six games in Salt Lake City, earning MVP honours, and captained Team Canada four years later, wearing the ‘C’ at the Turin Games in 2006 in what would be his final international appearance.

JOE SAKIC