If you have read this column over the last couple of years, you’ll come to realize how I like to root for people rather than teams.
On Tuesday, two of my favorites were named as part of the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2024 to be inducted in Toronto on Nov. 11.
Shea Weber and Jeremy Roenick will be part of a class that includes David Poile, Pavel Datsyuk, Colin Campbell, Krissy Wendell-Pohl and Natalie Darwitz.
I’m lucky enough to call Weber and Roenick friends.
A few years ago, I emceed Weber and Cody Franson’s golf tournament at Hyde Mountain in their hometown of Sicamous, and the pair always returned the favor by playing in our tournament at The Harvest in Kelowna.
Roenick was a regular for us on our TSN 1040 days and we’d always meet up whenever our paths crossed whether it was during a golf trip to Phoenix, the Olympics in Vancouver, or a Super Bowl in New York.
The funny thing is you couldn’t pick two guys farther apart when it comes to personality.
Roenick was outspoken at every turn whether it be during his two decades as a player or as a broadcaster for NBC.
From his infamous “Wake up NHL!” rant as a player to his current Snipes and Stripes podcast with former NHL referee Tim Peel, Roenick has never been at a loss for words.
As for Weber, he is as quiet and unassuming as they come. During his tournament in Sicamous in 2012, Weber donated $80,000 to local flash flood victims but didn’t even speak to the golfers gathered for dinner — he left that to Franson. It wasn’t a case of Weber being too big for the moment — it was just another example of Weber leading by example and not wanting the fanfare for it.
The one thing that the pair had in common was their passion for the game that drove them to success.
Weber’s story has been well-documented.
Small-town Sicamous boy who plays junior with the Kelowna Rockets, gets drafted by the Nashville Predators where he spends 11 seasons while winning a pair of Olympic Gold medals with Team Canada in the process. He’s then traded to Montreal where he spends the last five years of his career.
Roenick beat the odds in a different way, making the NHL when Americans in the league were the exception and not so much the rule — part of a generation inspired by the ‘Miracle on Ice’ performance of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team.
In January of 2008, Roenick became just the third American-born player to reach the 500-goal plateau. He is one of only 47 players to score 500 goals in the NHL. Of that group, Pat Verbeek, Petr Bondra and Roenick’s good friend in fellow American Keith Tkachuk have all been denied entry into the Hockey Hall of Fame until this week.
Roenick had been eligible since 2012 and had given up hope for a spot in the Hall.
“Yeah, I pretty much did. That’s why it was so surprising. I didn’t think it would happen. I didn’t think it would have this big of an effect on me. I was happy about that,” said Roenick from his home in San Diego.
For Roenick, the call from Hall of Fame committee members Lanny McDonald and Mike Gartner to inform him of his selection for induction was an emotional one.
“I couldn’t speak. I started crying. There was like an overflow of emotions. Just hearing Lanny and Michael’s voice — I thought I was dreaming. I just started crying. I was at a Starbucks, going through the drive-thru, getting my coffee. The guy must have thought somebody died,” Roenick said.
Weber was playing golf at Black Mountain in Kelowna with his father-in-law and two brother-in-laws, trying to qualify for the RBC Scramble and had just made the turn when he got the phone call.
“I had no idea anything was coming. I kind of just dropped down to one knee – I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t tee off on that hole and everyone was kind of wondering what was going on. I was on the phone for a while and then we went out. It’s funny actually - I almost jarred the next approach shot. It was a family group so it was pretty special. I wasn’t really supposed to say anything to anyone but they were asking a lot of questions. I think they kind of got a grasp on what was going on. It was a pretty special moment. I think golf was definitely a second thought at that point. I don’t think anybody in the group really cared how we did,” Weber said during a conference call.
After that 10th hole, Weber called his father James to inform him of the honour but was still to shook up to convey what was going on.
“I couldn’t even talk to him. I was choked up. I was crying. It’s funny because my dad is such a stoic guy. He was like “What’s your problem? Get it together! What are you doing?” and then I finally spit it out, and he was just like “Oh my goodness”. I chatted briefly with him and then I called again later that night and we had a good, long discussion,” said Weber.
For both father and son, the discussion later that night was a bittersweet one.
“I mean for me…especially him and my mom…who’s not around anymore…just how much they gave me and my brother in life. Not just the opportunity to play hockey but just the values and morals that him and my mom gave us. It just really made me break down at that point,” said Weber, who lost his mom Tracy to brain cancer in 2010
Going in with the general manager that drafted him in Nashville makes the induction even more special. Poile selected Weber with Nashville’s second round pick – 49th overall – in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
“It means a lot. I spent 11 years with them and he’s done so much for the game - not just in Nashville - but everywhere he’s been. He’s been a builder and that’s why he’s going in. He’s a deserving man and it means a lot to be going in with a guy that I had for a long time, believed in me and gave me a chance to play,” said Weber.
Ironically enough, Weber and Roenick never won the Stanley Cup.
Weber and the Habs lost in five games to Tampa Bay in 2021 while Roenick’s Chicago Blackhawks were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins in four games in 1992 – even though the four games were decided by a total of five goals.
“I watched the Cup get raised last night like I’ve watched for the last 35 years. I had a lot of emotions that went over me - mainly envy and just how lucky those guys are - and what it must feel like and how happy I was for Matthew Tkachuk and all that. But then getting the call from the Hall, it was almost like that was my Stanley Cup,” explained Roenick.
As for Weber, who has won everything but a Cup including Olympic golds, World Hockey Championships both on the junior and senior levels as well as a Memorial Cup, the emotion was totally different.
“It’s totally different to be honest. When you’re in a tournament or Stanley Cup playoffs, you’re in that moment. This one was unexpected. I had no idea that it was going to be coming at all, let alone now. As the days go on here, it’s probably going to sink in a little bit more. Not just the shock aspect, but what it actually means,” said Weber.
Well fellas, you better get those emotions in check.
You don’t want to be a slobbering mess when you have to give those speeches on Nov. 11.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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