Former Montreal Canadiens defenceman Shea Weber ties up Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews during NHL Stanley Cup playoff action in Toronto, May 31, 2021.

Image Credit: Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative

The player considered the greatest goaltender of his generation and one of the toughest, meanest, most feared defensemen of his generation – who happened to be teammates for several seasons with the Montreal Canadiens – are the two newest inductees into the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame.

Former Olympian gold medalists Carey Price and Shea Weber will be entering the Hall of Fame in Penticton at the 2024 induction ceremony set for Saturday, July 19 at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Price, who hasn’t officially retired from the Canadiens and the NHL after suffering serious knee injuries, is the winningest goaltender in Canadiens’ history with 361 career wins.

He was selected fifth overall in the NHL draft from the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League

He’s considered by most hockey pundits to be the greatest goaltenders of his generation. His greatest season was in 2014-15 when he led the NHL in goals against average, save percentage and wins. He would win the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player, Vezina Trophy as Best Goaltender and Ted Lindsay Award as Most Valuable Player as voted on by NHL players.

Weber played 11 seasons with the Nashville Predators, including six as captain, after being selected 49th overall in the NHL draft. He was traded to the Canadiens in June of 2016.

Weber was a member of the 2005 Canadian World Junior team that won gold at the world championships. As a member of the Kelowna Rockets, he helped lead them to a Memorial Cup championship in 2004.

From the time he entered the NHL in 2006 until his recent retirement, Weber was considered one of the toughest defenders in the NHL and finished in the top five in voting for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s Best Defenseman numerous times.

Among his many accomplishments, Weber received the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2015-16 and has 589 career regular season points with the Predators and Montreal Canadiens in 1,038 career games. He added 42 points in 97 career Stanley Cup playoff games, helping the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Joining Price and Weber in the class of 2024 will be Tom Kowal (officials category), Scott Bradley (builder) and the 2010 Fort St. John Flyers. “The B.C. hockey community has become very deep and rich so we have another wonderfully deserving class,” said B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame chair Jim Hughson, the longtime CBC television play-by-play legend of Hockey Night in Canada.

“Our inductees are from Sicamous, Anahim Lake, Abbotsford, Vernon and Fort St. John. Truly a provincial group and some fantastic stories of great contributions to the game.”

“It’s really a big honour being a B.C. boy in a small town of Sicamous,” said Weber, in a news release. “I was lucky to play my whole minor hockey and junior career in B.C. and to get this call definitely means a lot.”

He is honoured to join the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame, especially looking at the names before him, “it definitely makes you feel special.”

In 2015, Price did something that hadn’t been done since Dominik Hasek in 1998 - he won the Hart Trophy, Vezina Trophy and Ted Lindsay Trophy - plus he shared the William H. Jennings Trophy with Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Price was inspired to play like Patrick Roy and in 2018, passed the legendary Hab for second place in Canadiens history with his 290th victory in a 3-0 shutout against the Boston Bruins.

Price went 361-261 in 712 career NHL regular season games, and added 43 wins in 92 career Stanley Cup playoff games. He led the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2020-21 season with Weber.

“Obviously I’m incredibly honoured to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, especially with a teammate of mine, that means a lot to me,” said Price. “I’m proud to be from B.C.”

In talking about the recognition, Price said it’s a time for reflection.

“To me it’s amazing how incredibly fast careers come and go,” he said. “Sitting here at home in my room full of equipment and everything, it’s really humbling to have been able to experience such an amazing ride from Anahim Lake to now. It has really been a surreal ride.”

Being inducted into the provincial hockey hall of fame is special to every new inductee, said Hughson

“What we’re trying to do is really honour the players, the builders and the teams that made our province proud,” he said. “Each year the class is fantastic. It really is a cool event.”

There are now more than 300 cabinets filled with photos, trophies, sweaters and other hockey memorabilia inside the Hall of Fame at the SOEC, said Hughson.

“We want everyone attending this year’s event to come on in and check out the hall of fame,” he said. “You can wander the hall, see the exhibits and meet a lot of the people who are represented by those exhibits. Then we’ll move into the SOEC to honour this year’s inductees.”

Hughson got to see first-hand just how great Price and Weber were in their prime and being able to broadcast dozens, if not hundreds, of their games, was something he’ll never forget.

“They were both key cogs in the 2014 Sochi gold medal winning team, which, to me, was the greatest hockey team to ever play,” he said. “There was no time in that tournament was there one second where I thought they might come close to losing a game. That’s how dominant they were. And Shea and Carey were such prominent players on that team.”

 Both men were thrilled and honoured when they were informed they would be the newest inductees and are looking forward to the induction ceremony, said Hughson.

Bradley, of Delta, is the senior advisor to Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, and has been with the Bruins for three decades.

As part of the scouting department, the Bruins drafted key players like Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Before working his way into the pro ranks, the B.C. native coached for five seasons with the Tier II Junior A and Senior AAA League teams in Abbotsford, including an Allan Cup finalist squad in 1989-90.

Kowal officiated minor and amateur hockey while growing up in Vernon. After officiating in amateur and junior hockey, including the Western Hockey League and a Memorial Cup, Kowal was hired by the NHL as a referee in 1998 and officiated until the 2017-18 season having worked 1,094 regular season NHL games and 12 Stanley Cup playoff games.

After retiring from the NHL, Kowal joined the WHL officiating development staff in 2018 and is currently the WHL officiating development coach, based out of High River, Alta.

The 2010 Flyers won their first ever Allan Cup, the 102nd National Senior Championship with a 3-1 win over the Bentley Generals. Fort St. John went through the tournament undefeated. The Flyers became the ninth host team to win the Allan Cup since the tournament went to a round-robin format in 1992.

The national title was the 12th all-time for British Columbia, second only to Ontario’s 48.

The Allan Cup is one of the oldest club-team hockey competitions in North America, having been first competed for in 1908.

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald.

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