Blazers legend Hitchcock tapped for Hockey Hall of Fame

Jun 21, 2023 | 2:01 PM

TORONTO — A legendary Kamloops Blazers coach is going to the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF).

The HHOF selection committee announced its 2023 inductees Wednesday (June 21) and they include longtime coach Ken Hitchcock, who will be inducted in the builders category.

Hitchcock was the Blazers’ head coach from 1984 to 1990, winning the Western Hockey League’s Coach of the Year award twice. During his tenure, the Blazers won four division titles and two WHL championships.

Jumping to the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers as an assistant coach in 1990 launched a successful NHL coaching career. Hitchcock’s first head coaching job came in 1996 with the Dallas Stars, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 1999.

Subsequent stops sent him to Philadelphia, Columbus, St. Louis, back to Dallas and finishing up in Edmonton in 2019.

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With 849 coaching wins, Hitchcock sits fourth on the NHL’s all-time win list behind Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville and Barry Trotz.

In the players category, the selection committee elected forwards Caroline Ouellette and Pierre Turgeon, and goaltenders Henrik Lundqvist, Tom Barrasso and Mike Vernon.

Joining Hitchcock in the builders category is longtime NHL executive, the late Pierre Lacroix.

The HHOF induction ceremony will take place November 13 in Toronto.

by James Peters

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Blazers legend Hitchcock tapped for Hockey Hall of Fame

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