Hockey Hall of Fame Weekend continued on Sunday afternoon with the annual Hockey Hall of Fame Legends Classic. This year the legends matchup was headlined by Hall of Famers Scott Niedermayer (Team Canada) and Mike Modano (Team World). In addition to Niedermayer and Modano the game also starred this years Hall of Fame inductees. Jarome Iginla, Marian Hossa, and Kim St-Pierre
Here are the full legendary rosters of each team:
| Team Canada | Team World |
|---|---|
| Chris Phillips | Mike Modano |
| Brent Seabrook | John LeClair |
| Mike Gartner | Darius Kasparaitis |
| Simon Gagne | Brian Rolston |
| Jarome Iginla | Sergei Samsonov |
| Mike Cammaleri | Dmitri Mironov |
| Jayna Hefford | Tomas Kaberle |
| Wendell Clark | Jason Pominville |
| Shane Doan | Molly Schaus |
| Mike Commodore | Steve Thomas |
| Erica Howe | Al Iafrate |
| Scott Niedermayer | Graeme Townshend |
| Robyn Regehr | Nik Antropov |
| Kim St-Pierre | Marcel Hossa |
| Larry Murphy | Marian Hossa |
| Eric Lindros |
Alongside Iginla there were four other former Flames players participating: Mike Cammalleri, Robyn Regehr, and Mike Commodore. Lanny McDonald was also participating as Team Canada’s head coach.
Opening Ceremonies
The event began with the Scotiabank Arena’s land acknowledgment being played before each team was introduced on ice. Then each of this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame inductees were given a video tribute as well as their Hall of Fame jackets. Here you can see Jarome Iginla’s portion of the opening ceremonies as recorded on my phone.
The Hall of Fame Game
The game itself was about as chaotic an affair you’d expect from a group of old NHL alumni. The rules of the Hall of Fame game are quite different from your typical NHL game. There are only two periods, followed by a shootout that happens no matter what the score is after two periods. Veteran NHL referees Bill McCreary (HHOF 2014), and Ray Scapinello (HHOF 2008) were also on the ice. But essentially just blew their whistles for timeouts. Rod Black additionally did colour commentary for the crowd all game, and was clearly having the time of his life cracking jokes and being about as biased as possible rooting for Team Canada.
World domination
Molly Schaus was the clear star of the game as she managed to shutout Team Canada for almost the entirety of the first half. Team World completely dominated scoring at first, as Modano got the first goal of the game with assists by Leclair, and Antropov. Shortly after Antropov got his second assist of the game on a goal by Marcel Hossa. Which was quickly followed when Samsonov got the third straight point for Team World.
Team Canada had some good chances in the first half but were struggling to actually shoot the puck despite many fans telling them to. Schaus had a brilliant save against Gagne who had a brilliant breakaway nine minutes in.
About halfway into the first half Iginla and Hossa had joined their teams after changing out of their formal attire. Iginla quickly helped to shift momentum a bit more equally. But Samsonov got another goal assisted by Antripov with 5:43 left in the half and then only 14 seconds later Antripov scored again. It’s safe to say Team Canada struggled significantly in the first half.
Toronto Maple Leafs legend Wendell Clark was able to finally get Team Canada their first goal with 2:27 left, and I’ve never seen a hockey player return to the bench so quickly after a goal. (He really needed to sit down and take a breath.)
Unfortunately Al Iafrate answered that quickly, ending the first half at 6–1 for Team World.
It’s also worth mentioning that the half time show was an interactive Kahoot game.
Canada strikes back sort of…
While Schaus continued to be the most dominant player on the ice, Jarome Iginla gave her a run for her money in the second half. He spent most of the game with former Flames teammate Mike Cammalleri, who scored Canada’s second goal of the game.
This of course was almost immediately answered by Tomas Kaberle on yet another assist by Antropov, and Samsonov.
To remind everyone why he’s in the Hall of Fame Iginla then came in with a goal straight out of the early 2000s as you can see below:
Marian Hossa then followed up with his own goal to make the score 8-3. Gagne got the last goal in regulation ending the second half at 8–4.
The shootout
The shootout acted as somewhat of an equalizer with Canada managing to bring the final score a bit closer.
Many players attempted trick shots, notably including a one handed shot attempt by Iafrate which unfortunately got stopped.
Ultimately Samsonov, and Hossa scored for Team World. While Gartner, Clark and Iginla scored for team Canada leaving the final score of the game 10–8. What a way to cap off the Legends Game.
You can see the Iginla goal below:
Three Stars
First Star: Molly Schaus
Second Star: Nik Antropov
Third Star: Jarome Iginla
(Photo Credits: Kevin Sousa/Hockey Hall of Fame)
