Jarome Iginla headlines Hockey Hall of Fame’s 2020 class
Posted June 24, 2020 4:53 pm.
Last Updated June 24, 2020 4:59 pm.
Jarome Iginla will headline the Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2020.
The Calgary Flames icon and former captain was in his first year of eligibility following a standout career that spanned from 1996 through 2017.
Six-time Stanley Cup champion Kevin Lowe will join Iginla in the players’ category along with forward Marian Hossa, defencemen and Doug Wilson and three-time Olympic gold medallist Kim St. Pierre, the first female goaltender elected to the hall.
Ken Holland will go in as a builder, rounding out the 2020 class unveiled this afternoon in Toronto following a vote by the hall’s 18-member selection committee.
For the first time the selection committee was forced to vote remotely because of COVID-19. The 18 members located in Europe or other parts of North America who were not able to get to the hall’s location in downtown Toronto used an online system opposed to the paper ballots they traditionally employ. But one thing stayed the same, the inductees all got the call from Hockey Hall of Fame member and Chairman of the Board Lanny McDonald.
“This selection is hard to believe and makes me reflect and look back on my career,” Iginla said in a statement. “I was always just trying to make the NHL and this recognition means a lot to me and my family.”
Iginla, who helped Canada win gold at the 2002 and 2010 Olympics, will be the fourth Black person enshrined in the hall, but just the second recognized for on-ice accomplishments in the NHL.
He’s set to join former Edmonton Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr, Angela James of the Canadian women’s national team, and Willie O’Ree – the league’s first Black player – who was inducted as a builder.
The class is set to be official inducted into the hall in November.
