The Hockey Hall Of Fame today announced the newest members that will join as the Class of 2024 on 11 November, with Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick and Shea Weber representing the male players, while Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell become the first pair of women to be inducted in the same year since 2010, all to join the ranks of the Hall in Toronto.

🇺🇸 Natalie Darwitz was one of the top forwards in the women’s game as the United States‘ dominance over the global stage began to take hold at the turn of the 2010’s, with her eleven seasons on Team USA resulting in three World Championship (2005, 2008, 2009) and two Nations Cup (2003, 2008) Gold medals, along with Olympic (2002, 2010), World Championship (1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007) and Nations Cup (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) Silver. A Minnesota native, Darwitz would captain Team USA in her final three seasons, capturing two NCAA Titles with the University of Minnesota and winning the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2004. Darwitz, a 2024 inductee to the IIHF Hall of Fame, recently won the inaugural Walter Cup with PWHL Minnesota as General Manager, before parting ways with the club shortly after the victory.

🇷🇺 Pavel Datsyuk, “the Magic Man,” enters the Hall after a remarkable 25 year career split between the NHL and KHL, playing at the top level up until age 42. In 14 NHL seasons, all with Detroit, Datsyuk captured two Stanley Cups (2002, 2008), four Lady Byng Trophies for gentlemanly play, and three Selke Trophies for defensive play, making the postseason in every season with the Red Wings, notching 918 points in 953 career games. Datsyuk also capped his career with an additional five seasons in his native Russia, capturing the Gagarin Cup (2017) with Saint Petersburg, spending three seasons with SKA before capping his career with his hometown Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. A mainstay on the Russian national team, Datsyuk captured World Championship Gold (2012), Silver (2010) and Bronze (2005, 2016), along with Olympic Gold (2018) and Bronze (2002), making him the 29th member of the prestigious Triple Gold Club.

🇺🇸 Jeremy Roenick, the American power forward known just as much for his off-ice antics as his on-ice availability, enters following a twenty-season NHL career that saw him notch 513 goals and 1216 points in 1363 career games, only missing the playoffs three times throughout. An eight-time NHL All-Star, the Boston native became the third American to hit 500 goals, playing in Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Jose between 1988 and 2009. Debuting for Team USA’s junior team in 1989, Roenick suited up at two World Juniors, one World Championship, one Canada Cup and two Olympics, capturing Silver at his latter appearance in 2002.

🇨🇦 Shea Weber, the towering defender whose physical play and rocket of a shot terrorized opponents, spent 16 active NHL seasons between Nashville and Montréal, notching 589 points in 1038 career NHL games, being named an NHL All-Star six times and winning the Messier Leadership Award in 2016, coming within three wins of the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 2021, before his body gave out and injuries forced him into early retirement. The Sicamous, British Columbia product featured prominently with Team Canada, capturing World Junior Championship Gold (2005), World Championship Gold (2007) and Silver (2009), a pair of Olympic Gold medals (2010, 2014), and a World Cup Of Hockey title (2016).

🇺🇸 Krissy Wendell, the Minnesota native who was a two-time NCAA Champion (2004, 2005) with the University of Minnesota, shone in her career with Team USA, debuting at the Women’s World Championship in 1999. It was Wendell, along with fellow nominee Darwitz, who helped Team USA break through Canada’s women’s hockey dominance, capturing America’s first World Championship title in 2005. Wendell would also capture five Silver medals (1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007) along with an Olympic Silver (2002) and Bronze (2006), and a Nations Cup Gold (2003) and six Silver (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006) medals in just nine seasons in the national team program.

Also inducted into the builders category are Canadian Colin Campbell, the current NHL Director of Hockey Operations, and Canadian-American David Poile, formerly the long-time general manager of the Nashville Predators. Our congratulations go out to these hockey legends on joining the Hall Of Fame this November!

Photo Credit: Detroit Free Press – Canadian Olympic Committee – MPR News – NHL Auctions – FOX 9 – IIHF – HHOF – IOC