The Hockey Hall of Fame has announced their inductees for 2018, and among them are former NHL stars Martin Brodeur and Martin St. Louis.
The Hall has also inducted Gary Bettman, Willie O’Ree, Alexander Yakushev and Kingston’s Jayna Hefford.
“It’s a huge, huge honour,” said the four-time Olympic gold medallist Hefford.
“I had a tremendous support network with family and friends encouraging me to follow my passion and my dreams. I achieved so many things but to be able to go into the Hall of Fame is a way I can represent everyone who’s been a part of it.”
Hefford, now 41, officially retired from competitive hockey in 2014.
She helped Canada win four-straight Olympic gold medals from 2002-2014 and famously scored the winning goal against the United States at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City.
Hefford scored a whopping 439 goals in 418 competitive games while playing internationally for Canada, and the Mississauga Chiefs and Brampton Thunder of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.
Before that, she netted more than 1,000 goals while playing minor hockey with the Kingston Kodiaks.
“Again, it comes back to the support I received from my parents, coaches, teammates and friends. It wasn’t easy playing in a traditionally male sport but the encouragement I got along the way was unbelievable.”
Hefford isn’t stepping away from the game she loves. On August 1, she assumed the role of interim commissioner of the CWHL.
The Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on Monday, Nov 12.
Hefford will be the eighth Kingstonian to enter the Hall. She will join Captain James T. Sutherland, George Richardson, Bill and Bun Cook, Marty Walsh, Scotty Davidson, and Doug Gilmour who was enshrined in 2011.
Hefford isn’t sure what she’s going to say in her speech that night, but one thing is for sure. It will come from her Kingston heart.
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