Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2024 gets induction weekend festivities underway

TORONTO -- Several members of the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2024 shared a story that can serve as advice for all future honorees.

When the Hall calls, answer it.

"I was on the ninth green, and I thought it was a spam call," Shea Weber said Friday at the Esso Great Hall inside the Hockey Hall of Fame. "I was about to putt, and my watch started vibrating – reject. I walk up to the cart, it vibrates again – reject. 'This is weird, is there a Zoom call I'm supposed to be on? Why is Ontario calling?'

"Then Kelly Masse sent me a text message, saying 'It's Kelly from the Hall of Fame, you might want to call us back'."

Weber said he eventually got the news of his selection into the Hall of Fame from Chair of the Board of the Hockey Hall of Fame Lanny McDonald and his successor in that role Mike Gartner before he got to the 10th tee.

"Needless to say, I didn't play the 10th hole," the defenseman said.

Weber's story was one of the several highlights during the Induction news conference and ring ceremony Friday. Along with Weber, fellow inductees in the player category Jeremy Roenick, Pavel Datsyuk, Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl, and Builders Colin Campbell and David Poile started their big weekend here -- one that will be capped with their inductions into the Hall on Monday -- by receiving their rings and answering questions about what it all means to them.

Like Weber, Roenick thought a call from a Toronto area code was spam. Roenick, who retired from the NHL in 2009 after he had 1,216 points (513 goals, 703 assists) over 20 seasons, said he didn't even realize it was the time of the year where the Hall of Fame selections are announced.

"I saw a 416 area code on my phone, and I have a lot of friends up here in the Toronto area," Roenick said. "I usually watch to see when the announcements were, but I wasn't paying attention at all this year, and I was just going about my day. But I was nervous and I called the number back, and it was an answering machine saying 'Welcome to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Press 3 for Tickets.'

"Then I got really nervous. I was in a Starbucks drive thru line and my phone rings again, 416, and my very close friend Mike Gartner was on the other line, and he said, 'JR, it's Mike Gartner,' and I said, 'No it's not, no it's not,' and then Lanny comes on and I remember the tears. I couldn't speak."

Roenick said he couldn't even concentrate on the Starbucks employee holding his order out the window.

"And then Lanny said to me on phone, 'You're never at a loss for words.' And he's right, I'm never at a loss for words, but he took the words away from me."

Even those who knew it was the day the selections were being announced admitted to being overwhelmed by the news.

Poile, who ranks first among all NHL GMs with 1,533 wins with the Washington Capitals and Nashville Predators, was practically waiting by the phone.

"I knew exactly what the date was (for the selection announcements)," Poile said. "I hadn't thought about it too much, but my wife said if it was going to happen, it would happen between 1 and 2 p.m. Eastern time based on what had happened in the past years. At 12:58 p.m. Eastern time on June 24 -- I'll never forget that day -- the phone rings and it's 416 area code and I was really hoping it wasn't spam."

It wasn't, and Poile became the second member of his family to be selected into the Hockey Hall of Fame, joining his Dad, Bud Poile, who was a member of the Class of 1990. In fact, the ring ceremony was held in front of a wall of Hall of Fame plaques that included Bud Poile's.

"Hockey in our family was 24/7, 365 days a year, so it's not surprising that I tried to go in this direction," Poile said.

His dad wasn't Poile's only tie to the Hall on Friday. Weber was selected by the Predators in the second round (No. 49) of the 2003 NHL Draft, was named captain of the team on July 8, 2010, and then was traded to the Montreal Canadiens by Poile on June 29, 2016. He served as captain for each team, playing 1,038 NHL games while winning the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2015-16.

"We've rehashed that," Poile said about him trading Weber, who is the first player drafted by the Predators to make the Hockey Hall of Fame. "It was a tough decision as a manager that I felt had to be done. It was hard but it comes with the territory. But it's part of the game and part of our history together."

Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl also made history with their inductions; it is the first time since 2010 (Cammi Granato, Angela James) that two women are part of the same Hall class.

But their bond is closer; Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl were teammates for three seasons at the University of Minnesota from 2002-05. As teammates representing the United States on the international stage, Darwitz and Wendell combined for four Olympic medals (two silver, two bronze) as well as 12 World Championship medals (10 silver, two gold).

"Not only was she a teammate, she was a really great friend," Darwitz said of Wendell-Pohl. "We were going through high school together, going to tryouts and making teams, and stuff like that. So not only were we able to be side by side, but our families are so close."

For Campbell, who has worked at the NHL since 1998, the induction was a full-circle moment. From 2005-19 he served on a Hall's selection committee. During that time, in fact, during his entire career as a player, coach and league official, he never envisioned ever getting the call himself.

"Like every other kid growing up, all I wanted to do was make the Peterborough Petes," Campbell said. "I never thought I would still be in the NHL 50 years later, in a position I am in."

Campbell not only was teammates with Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier with the Edmonton Oilers, he also coached the two Hall of Famers with the New York Rangers.

"I had to pinch myself when I found them sitting in front of me when I was an Original Six coach of the New York Rangers," Campbell said, "and here they are both sitting in front of me now."