Dynamic duo
Stastny, Goulet named to Hall of Fame
Posted: Wednesday September 16, 1998 11:50 PM
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Goulet (center) played alongside Stastny (left) for 10 seasons in Quebec AP |
TORONTO (AP) -- It didn't take long for former Quebec Nordiques
teammates Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet to start walking down memory lane
on Wednesday, the day the Hockey Hall of Fame announced the two forwards
were the new inductees. "Remember, Peter, that trip to Vancouver and
Washington?" Goulet asked during a conference call. "Yep," replied
Stastny, knowing what was coming. "Peter had five points in
Vancouver," Goulet said. "The next day we were playing in Washington and he
had eight points that day. It was unbelievable." Peter and his
brother, Anton, each struck for an astounding eight points in Quebec's 11-7
victory over Washington on February 22, 1981, which continues to stand as a
league record for most points in a road game. "I remember it very
vividly because it was our rookie season," Stastny said. "I tell you
what, when Washington came to Quebec a month later we both ended up with
zero points because they were focusing on us so badly." The Quebec
Nordiques are long gone from the NHL, becoming the Colorado Avalanche in
1995, but Goulet and Stastny represent the Nordiques' heydey in the 1980s
when Quebec had a venomous rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens.
Stastny, 42, and Goulet, 38, will be officially inducted into the Hall of
Fame on November 16, along with Roy Conacher in the veterans category and
Notre Dame College founder Pere Athol Murray as a builder. The Hall
also announced French journalist Yvon Pedneault will be given the Elmer
Ferguson Memorial Award for hockey writing and Howie Meeker the Foster
Hewitt Memorial Award for broadcast journalism. Stastny was the
1980-81 NHL rookie of the year and he went on to score 450 goals in 15
seasons for Quebec, New Jersey and St. Louis. He retired after the 1995
season and currently is a scout for the Blues. "It's overwhelming,
but humbling," Stastny said of his selection. Stastny made
international headlines in 1980 when he, his pregnant wife and brother
Anton fled then-Czechoslovakia under cover of darkness to play in North
America for the Nordiques. The operation, aided and abetted by Nords
general manager Marcel Aubut, was James Bond-like in its covertness and
fraught with peril. The brothers actually became separated in Innsbruck,
Austria, before sneaking onto a plane for Amsterdam and then Canada.
The Stastnys were a hit in Quebec and even more so after Peter and Anton
raised about $30,000 in bribe money to pry their brother, Marion, out of
Czechoslovakia in 1981. The three brothers played on the same line for a
time with the Nordiques and were popular players at Le Colisee. "As
a fan base, it was unbelievable," said Stastny, who along with his brothers
are considered part of the first wave of European players into the NHL.
"Through good years and bad years there would be 90 to 100 per cent
capacity season after season and I just hope that maybe somewhere in the
future, there might be a ray of hope in getting the NHL back to Quebec."
Goulet spent 11 seasons in Quebec and played alongside Stastny for
10 of them. A head injury forced Goulet to retire from the Chicago Blackhawks after
the 1994 season. Goulet, now the director of player personnel for
Colorado, scored 548 goals over 15 seasons with Quebec and Chicago to
ranked 16th on the NHL's career list. Stastny and Goulet are the
fourth set of teammates to be inducted together in the 1990s. Pittsburgh's
Mario Lemieux and Bryan Trottier went in in 1997, Montreal's Steve Shutt
and Guy Lapointe in 1993 and the New York Islanders Denis
Potvin and Mike Bossy in 1991. Other players nominated this year
were former Chicago Blackhawk Bill White, Los Angeles Kings goaltender
Rogie Vachon and Pittsburgh Penguin Vic Hadfield.
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