There's a definite Humboldt flavour to the 2010 wave of inductees.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) was in Humboldt on November 5 to announce the names of those being inducted into the SJHL Hall of Fame this fall.
The class of 2010, which will be officially inducted into the hall during a banquet in Humboldt on November 27, includes more than a few local hockey heroes.
Humboldt native Glenn Hall, Mr Goalie and a member of the NHL hall of fame, is the first name on the list.
Born in Humboldt in 1941, Hall played with the Humboldt Indians of the SJHL for five games in the 1947 season before coming back to assume the number one goalie spot in 1948. After a stellar season in the SJHL and stops in Windsor, Edmonton and Indianapolis, Hall played with the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks.
The second name on the list of inductees is former Humboldt Bronco Bill McDougall, who played just one season in the SJHL in 1986-87. In that one season, he was the top goal scorer, collecting 83 goals and 104 assists for 187 points in 61 games. That season, the Broncos hosted the Centennial Cup and made it to the final of the tournament, where they lost to the Richmond Sockeyes.
After Humboldt, McDougall played senior hockey on the east coast, and semi-pro hockey in the ECHL. In January of 1990, he signed with the Detroit Red Wings and played with their farm team. He was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in 1992 and was playoff MVP in 1993 after registering 26 goals and 26 assists in 16 games.
The third inductee is the first official to make it into the SJHL Hall of Fame - Mike McGeough. A controversial NHL referee, McGeough got his start in the SJHL and Western Hockey League as a linesman.
He eventually worked his way up to referee, and moved to the NHL level in 1987, where he became one of the game's all-time greatest characters.
On February 3, 2007, McGeough refereed his 1,000th career game. At the end of his career, he had refereed 1,063 regular season games, 63 playoff games, and had been officiating for 20 years.
The SJHL will also induct its first team this year - the 2002-03 Humboldt Broncos.
This edition of the team won the Royal Bank Cup, the Junior A national championship - the first ever for the Humboldt Broncos.
The Broncos in this season had a record of 39-12-6-3 in the regular season, then won the SJHL title over the Melville Millionaires, the ANAVET Cup over the OCN Blizzard and in the RBC final, claimed the national title over the Camrose Kodiaks.
Craig Olynick, a current member of the Humboldt Broncos board of directors, was a member of the team that year, and was named the MVP and top defenceman at the RBC tournament.
Other members of that team included Keith Reade, Jeremy Wrap, Matt Brown, Kris Kasper and Josh Podaima.
The last two inductees this year are huge figures in the history of the Humboldt Broncos: Dr. Terry Henning and Dr. Gerry Rooney.
Henning was a general practitioner in Humboldt when, after several years of coaching minor hockey teams to glory, he took on the role of coaching the Humboldt Broncos as they started as a franchise in the SJHL in 1970.
Henning's Broncos won the league in 1972 and 1973. In 1973, the Broncos faced the Portage Terriers in the ANAVET Cup series, a series that ended up embroiled in controversy. The Broncos withdrew from the series after five games, fearing injury from what they alleged was brutal tactics and dirty hockey from the Terriers. Henning was suspended by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, and while the suspension was later lifted, Henning said it was a move he does not regret.
After leaving the team for a few seasons, Henning came back to the Broncos in 1987, working one season for the club as their director of hockey operations. That year, the team won the league and hosted the Centennial Cup.
Henning left Humboldt in 1999 and is currently retired and living in Nanaimo, BC.
Rooney also played an integral role with the Humboldt Broncos.
"The Humboldt Broncos may not exist today if it weren't for Dr. Gerry Rooney," the SJHL states in its press release.
The optometrist from Estevan came to Humboldt in 1958, and was on the committee that established the Broncos organization. It was Rooney who met with Mike Shabaga of Swift Current in the late 1960s to talk about Humboldt putting together a junior A team that would be affiliated with their franchise in the Western Hockey League.
After discussing the issue, Rooney decided to give it a try, and the team was born, with the help of a monetary donation from the Swift Current Broncos, and a gift of two sets of "Broncos" sweaters.
Rooney stayed with the team until 1976. He retired and left Humboldt in 2003, and is now living in Calgary.
"We are extremely proud to induct these names into the SJHL Hall of Fame," SJHL president Laury Ryan said at the press conference held at Conexus in Humboldt on November 5. "We look forward to recognizing their contributions to our league and the game in general."
The SJHL Hall of Fame was formed in 2009, and its first induction ceremony was held in Weyburn last fall.
"We will be inducting people each year in each (SJHL) community... hopefully for eternity," Ryan added.
Significant among this year's inductees, he said, was the fact that they are inducting their first official - "We wanted to make sure we recognize our officials... many have gone on to do great things," he said - and their first team.
The induction banquet will be part of a weekend of events in Humboldt. A banner ceremony will take place at the league game in Humboldt on November 26, with the SJHL Hall of Fame banquet at Humboldt's Jubilee Hall presented by Highwood Distillers and this year's host sponsor Conexus on November 27.
Mayor Malcolm Eaton thanked the SJHL for bringing this event to Humboldt this year.
"We have a long and proud tradition of hockey in Humboldt," Eaton said while sporting a Broncos jersey worn by his son, Joey Eaton, a member of the 2002-03 Humboldt Broncos. "Thank you for recognizing the achievements and success of the Broncos and for honouring Hall, Henning and Rooney - we're very proud of these men and what they've contributed."
The Hall of Fame weekend ties in nicely with the Humboldt Broncos' own 40th anniversary celebrations, taking place throughout this season, indicated Bob Johnston, president of the Humboldt Broncos.
Having these members of the Broncos alumni honoured with induction into the Hall of Fame is a going to be a big piece of "showing them we appreciate everything they did to get us to where we are," he said.
Every one of the inductees this year "has very strong ties to the City of Humboldt and the history of hockey in Humboldt," Johnston stated.
"It will be unique experience, getting them all together in one room - it will probably never happen again," he added.
It's not a coincidence, Ryan admitted, that the list of inductees to the hall of fame has such a Humboldt flair. They plan on holding Hall of Fame inductions in each SJHL community and want to choose local inductees in order to gain local support as they catch up on all those who deserve to be a part of the hall.
After being chosen to host this year's Hall of Fame weekend, and using the SJHL's long list of criteria, the Humboldt Broncos submitted a list of people they felt should be inducted to the SJHL Hall of Fame. It was then whittled down by the SJHL to this list of names.
With this year's induction, all of the SJHL Hall of Fame categories have been filled, save one - they have yet to induct a member of the media.
"That's the only hole we have in the program so far," Ryan said.
