observer_reporter
Keith Tkachuk waited more than a decade and a half from the end of his NHL playing career to get the call from the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Not known for his patience, Tkachuk was so overcome with emotion that he waited 45 minutes to tell his family.
I said, Hey, you guys want to have a beer together?' Tkachuk recalled.
And I told them and broke the news to them there.
The timing gave them even more reason to celebrate.
Tkachuk was elected to the Hall of Fame on Monday, less than 24 hours after his sons became teammates when Brady was traded from Ottawa to Florida, joining older brother Matthew, during a weekend that also included a U.S.
Olympic gold medal celebration and a baptism.
Its been a great weekend for the Tkachuks, Keith said.
Its been a crazy weekend, but this tops it off.
..
This is the ultimate, for sure.
The patriarch nicknamed Walt Tkachuk is part of a player class that includes center Patrice Bergeron, who won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and the Selke Trophy as the leagues top defensive forward six times, and goaltenders Carey Price from Montreal and Pekka Rinne from Nashville.
U.S.
womens hockey pioneer Cindy Curley and executive Brian Burke in the builder category also are set to be inducted on Nov.
9 at a ceremony in Toronto.
Tkachuk was one of the premier power forwards of his era, playing in the 1990s and 2000s as part of the first great generation of American pro players.
He recorded 1,121 points in 1,290 games, counting the playoffs, with Winnipeg, Phoenix, St.
Louis and Atlanta, and was part of the U.S.
team that won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
Bergeron, who spent his entire career with the Bruins, was chosen in his first year of eligibility.
Price and Rinne were selected in their second, with Henrik Zetterberg and Rod BrindAmour among those passed over again.
You knew what you were going to get every single time you played against him: You had to dig in, Tkachuk said of BrindAmour, fresh off coaching Carolina to the Stanley Cup two decades after captaining the Hurricanes to a championship.
Hats off to him.
Hell be here, theres no doubt in my mind, as a player and as a builder.
Price and Bergeron played together on Canadas 2014 Olympic gold medal-winning team.
That was during Prices prime, which included winning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, Vezina as top goalie and the Lester B.
Pearson as the most outstanding player as voted by his peers following a dominant 2014-15 season with the Canadiens.
During Careys heyday, every goalie wanted to play like him, said Rinne, who is the first player to make the Hall of Fame after spending his entire career with the Predators and is ranked in the top 25 in wins, save percentage and shutouts in league history.
Curley skated in the first International Ice Hockey Federation Womens World Championship in 1990.
Her 11 goals, 12 assists and 23 points in five games remain single-tournament records, and shell be the 15th womens player to go in the Hall at a peak of the sport with the PWHL thriving.
When I was playing, I was I hopeful I could play on a girls team at some point, Curley said.
Seeing it progress to Olympics and now the professional (level) and seeing how great the players are, its just wonderful.
Burke won the Stanley Cup as Anaheims general manager in 2007, one of several front-office stops for him, along with time spent as the NHLs director of hockey operations.
Burke also took on a leading role in hockeys Pride efforts and was a longtime advocate of the womens game, including a stint as executive director of the PWHL Players Association.
Theyre on the same level for me, Burke said of the Cup and his off-ice advocacy.
That was just as important as anything else Ive ever worked on.