Committee of shame: why the legends of domestic hockey in Canada refused to be included in the Hall of Fame

Why hasn’t Russian been canceled in the West in the past few years! Culture, art, literature, music. They rewrote history by erasing or falsifying facts. Wrestlers with everything Russian and sports did not bypass their attention. First, under various pretexts, the flag and anthem were taken away from our athletes at the Olympics and other international tournaments, and national symbols were banned. Then they got to the point where they forced them to sign some papers with refusals to support Russian international policy. Now we have reached the history of sports.

Every year in Canada, the greatest hockey players and coaches from all over the world are selected into the Hockey Hall of Fame. On June 21, another ceremony took place. The list of candidates included four of our compatriots, whose names are known to any hockey fan: Gonchar, Mikhailov, Mogilny and Maltsev. They were on the list of candidates, but they did not get into the Hall of Fame.

Why? This question was answered by the Western media themselves. Blame politics. This, in particular, was written by The Athletic journalist Rob Rossi on his page in social networks. “The person I spoke to on the Hall of Fame organizing committee said that, given global politics, you should not expect Russian Hall of Fame candidates to be inducted anytime soon.” So now, to enter this prestigious list, it is not enough to be a great hockey player. You don’t have to be a Russian hockey player yet.

According to Rossi’s source, “the already high bar for the entry of Russian players into the Hall of Fame has become even higher, because now it is easier not to enter Russians than to enter.”

With the fact that the Russians were not included in the Hall of Fame because of politics, one of the nominees, the legendary Soviet hockey player Boris Mikhailov, also agrees.

“Why were none of ours chosen? Apparently, the political issue played a key role here. Life doesn’t end there. I knew that they would not choose me, I take this philosophically, calmly, ”TASS quoted Mikhailov as saying.

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The last of the Russians included in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in 2019 was Sergei Zubov, ex-defender of CSKA and the USSR national team, Olympic champion and world champion, who also played in the NHL for the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh and “Dallas”. With the latter club, he won the Stanley Cup.

In 2022, three of our compatriots were candidates for inclusion in the hockey pantheon – Sergey Gonchar, Boris Mikhailov and Alexander Mogilny. But – by. This year, Alexander Maltsev was added to them. However, neither a year ago, nor now, none of our brilliant hockey players were chosen.

And again we ask: why?

Is the merit of Mogilny and Mikhailov to world hockey lower than that of the Swedish goalkeeper Lundqvist, or Barrasso, or Tarjon, or Vernon, who were inducted into the Hall of Fame this year? We won’t talk about getting the hockey player Michelle Ouelette there yet – women generally stand apart in the list of candidates. According to the new rules of the new Western world.

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Are there any objective selection criteria? And they don’t exist! It is well known that elections to the Hall of Fame are conducted by a special selection committee, consisting of 18 people. Their identities are not revealed, but they are people already inducted into the Hall of Fame, as well as sports journalists and functionaries. Each committee member may nominate one person annually. Hockey players who completed their playing careers at least three years ago at the time of the election can be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Each nominee is voted on, televised, and a nominee must receive at least 75 percent of the vote to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. No more than four former hockey players and two hockey players, as well as two hockey functionaries or League officials, can be selected in one year.

It is not clear how better Lundqvist, Barrasso, Tarjon and Vernon are our candidates for inclusion. Nothing! With all due respect to the Swedish goalkeeper, who received 91 percent of the vote in the elections, he never lifted the Stanley Cup over his head in his NHL career. Three other candidates have not won the Olympic Games and have not won the World Championships. So why did the special commission choose them, and not Alexander Mogilny, who is part of the “triple golden club” – Olympic champion, world champion and Stanley Cup winner?

The answer, unfortunately, is obvious. Pierre Tarjeon and Mike Vernon are Canadians, Tom Barrasso is American. And in the current realities of the Anglo-Saxon part of our world, they do not need to make any special contribution to the development and popularization of hockey. They are chosen on a national basis.

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But there was no such attitude towards our hockey players and specialists in previous decades. The first compatriot to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame was Anatoly Tarasov, coach of the great Soviet national team. It happened back in 1974, at the height of the Cold War. Even in North America, they could not help but appreciate the huge contribution that Anatoly Vladimirovich made to the development of hockey.

After him, in different years, nine more Russian players received their place in the Hockey Museum in Toronto. These are Valery Kharlamov, Alexander Yakushev, Vladislav Tretyak, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Pavel Bure, Sergey Zubov, Sergey Fedorov and Sergey Makarov. Even in the ears ringing just from the enumeration of these names.

The funny thing is that Canadians, who invented modern ice hockey, still understand that they are doing something wrong, following the “general line of the party”. And they suffer from a split personality.

At the end of the last ceremony, the presenters announced the list of prospective candidates for inclusion in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2024. And among the six nominees are again two Russians – Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk. Because the history of world hockey simply does not exist without Russian hockey players. Yes, you can’t choose. But it is impossible not to notice at all! Real North American fans won’t understand.