Jeremy Jacobs elected to Hockey Hall of Fame – Boston Herald

The boss of the Bruins is now headed for hockey immortality. 

Jeremy Jacobs, the team’s owner, was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame today in the builder category. 

Jacobs has long owned the Bruins and oversaw the team’s 2011 Stanley Cup title run. He is also the chairman of the NHL’s Board of Governors. 

“I am flattered to be included in with this great group of 2017 inductees, and I am humbled to be included with the legends of hockey that went before me,” Jacobs said in a statement. “Owning the Boston Bruins for 42 years has been one of the most rewarding honors of my life. I am indebted to our team’s leaders and players, but most of all, to our fans, for giving me a broad and deeply appreciative perspective of the game.”

Former Bruins player Mark Recchi, who was a member of that 2011 championship team, was also elected to the Hall of Fame today.

The “Builder” category in which Jacobs will be inducted, is defined by “coaching, managerial or executive ability, or ability in another significant off-ice role, sportsmanship, character and contributions to his or her organization or organizations and to the game of hockey in general.”

Jacobs is the sixth member of the Boston Bruins to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the “Builder” category.

“It is certainly deserved,” said long-time Bruins executive Harry Sinden, who is also a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s “Builders” category. “A very well deserved honor to one of the finest Governors and owners in the National Hockey League.”

The Hockey Hall of Fame announced a new class with a Bruins flavor today. 

Among the Hall’s newest inductees are a player – Mark Recchi — who wasn’t a Bruin for long, but earned the undying respect and admiration of B’s fans for his contributions on and off the ice to the 2011 Stanley Cup victory.

Also going in is a fellow of whom Bruins fans aren’t necessarily quite so fond: Longtime team owner and chairman of the NHL board of governors Jeremy Jacobs.

Another member of the Hall’s Class of 2017 is big winger Dave Andreychuk, who, like Recchi, spent most of his career with other teams but made a good impression during his brief stint as a Bruin.

“I am flattered to be included in with this great group of 2017 inductees, and I am humbled to be included with the legends of hockey that went before me,” Jacobs said in a statement. “Owning the Boston Bruins for 42 years has been one of the most rewarding honors of my life. I am indebted to our team’s leaders and players, but most of all, to our fans, for giving me a broad and deeply appreciative perspective of the game.”

Recchi played 22 seasons in the NHL (1,652 games; 577-956—1,533) , won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh (1991), Carolina (2006) and the Bruins, for whom he spent parts of three seasons. 

He played 180 games for the B’s, with 42-65—107 totals. His goal in Game 2 of the 2011 title series made him, at age 43, the oldest player to score a goal in a Cup final. In the ’09 playoffs vs. Carolina, he played despite being hospitalized for surgery to remove painful kidney stones.

Recchi retired after his third Cup win with the B’s, and has worked the last few years in player development for the Pittsburgh Penguins – adding two more rings to his collection.

The Bruins were one of Andreychuk’s six teams. He played 63 games for the B’s in ’99-00, with 19-14—33. In his 23-year-career, he potted 640 goals, with 698 assists, for 1,338 points in 1,639 games.

The other players who will be inducted into the Toronto institution on Nov. 13 – very much worth a visit for those fans who haven’t been, we might add – are former University of Maine great Paul Kariya, who went on to NHL stardom in Anaheim, Colorado and St. Louis; the great goal-scoring winger Teemu Selanne; and Danielle Goyette, who won two Olympic gold medals with Canada’s women’s team.

The other inductee in the builder’s category is longtime Canadian coach Clare Drake.

Like Recchi and Andreychuk, Selanne delivered a remarkably long and productive career. In 21 years with Winnipeg, Anaheim, San Jose and Colorado, the 6-foot Finn put up 684-773—1,457 totals. In his first NHL season (1992-93), with Winnipeg, he had 76 goals and 132 points. A veteran of six Olympics, he’s the all-time leading scorer in Olympic play, with 43 points in 37 games. He was voted into the Hall in his first year of eligibility.

Kariya’s career was cut short by concussions, but in 989 games, he posted 402-587—989. Goyette played for Canada in eight world championships, with 29 goals and 53 points.