Sask. Hockey Hall of Fame welcomes 2019 induction class

Some of the province’s most celebrated local hockey heroes were in Saskatoon on Saturday to celebrate the 2019 class of inductees welcomed into the Ted Knight Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame.

This year’s inductees weren’t short on star power. Players like Brian Skrudland, Keith Magnuson and Curtis Leschyshyn were all inducted during a banquet dinner at Prairieland Park.

The hall of fame, located at the Credit Union I-Plex in Swift Current, celebrated its 12th class in 2019. That means it wasn’t the goal in mind when a young players like Saskatoon’s Brian Skrudland began imagining his hockey dreams.

“This sort of blows me away,” Skrudland said. “(Being inducted) wasn’t something people my age grew up maybe one day dreaming, yet today’s a reality of that. I’m very, very honoured first and foremost to grow up in Saskatoon, have the opportunity and be able to share this with friends and family.”

Before Skrudland became a Calder Cup and Stanley Cup champion in his first two years of professional hockey, he was an superstar with the Saskatoon Blades. There, he played three seasons between 1980 and 1983, and eventually had his number 10 jersey retired by the club.

Still, he feels he is not recognized much outside his home province.

“When you score five goals a year, your name isn’t on a milk carton unless you go missing,” he said with a laugh.

“I think I live a real life. Even though I became a hockey player, I was just a hockey player,” he said, adding that he spend a majority of his time with team doctors so he could be stitched up or bandaged.

“I look at those guys as being the real heroes — I was a hockey player.”

One man not expecting to be there was Brad Watson, the lone referee selected in Saturday’s class.

The Regina native recently retired from officiating with the NHL after a 23-year career.

“To come to an event like this is a little overwhelming. It humbles you because you’re around a lot of great hockey people, and listen, I just refereed,” Watson said.

“To be recognized is wonderful, but it’s kind of like, ‘I’m not really that special.'”

While many of the players on stage Saturday had no problem getting fans standing and cheering, Watson had the less-than-ideal role of being ice police, a position that rarely endears you to fans.

But since retiring March, he has had an outpouring of support from people he assumed hated him. He said players like Cal Clutterbuck of the New York Islanders was constantly a pain to deal with, while Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock always challenged Watson to be better. Both gave him long congratulatory farewells after hearing of his retirement.

While players can occasionally cross the line, the relationship between hockey players and referees is unlike any other. Swearing and screaming are part of the job’s daily rigours, yet Watson said players still manage to keep it professional during even the most heated conversations.

“As officials, we’re out there with the best players in the world, but it’s a privilege. We’re all in this game together, and it seemed like they really respected my job, and that meant the world,” he said.

Out of the thousand upon thousands of calls he made during his career, there was one that stuck out more than the rest. During game 4 in a first round playoff series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders, Watson awarded Shawn Bates a penalty shot after he was tripped on a breakaway.

Watson said he was confident in his decision, but back home the reception wasn’t so great, especially after Bates scored and won the game for the Islanders.

“I remember my mom’s going, ‘We watched the game last night, Brad. Everything was going really good and then you made that call. Everyone is really made up here,'” Watson said, laughing at the memory.

“I said, ‘Yeah, well I got supported by my bosses.”

https://twitter.com/cleschyshyn/status/1147672769380999170

Other greats in Saskatchewan’s hockey community were also on hand. The Brodsky family, Jim Bloski and Jim McIntyre were inducted as builders or for their grassroots involvement. In total, six players, four builders, one official and two grassroots members were all inducted.

One common theme among all the inductees was family and friends. Celebrating their greatest and even insignificant milestones in their home communities celebrated by loved ones made the night more special, at least Skrudland thought so.

“That’s my message tonight — where the heck are we without those family and friends, and the people that supported us? There couldn’t be a better support system than the people I grew up with in and around Saskatoon,” Skrudland said.