Caroline Ouellette Inducted Into Hockey Hall of Fame
The Team Canada legend is the sole woman inducted among the class of 2023.
The Hockey Hall of Fame announced its newest inductees Wednesday, and Team Canada legend Caroline Ouellette is amongst the ranks.
Ouellette was named alongside Henrik Lundqvist, Tom Barrasso, Pierre Turgeon, and Mike Vernon as the lone woman in the players' class of 2023 (with Ken Hitchcock and Pierre Lacroix named as builders). This was her second year of eligibility after being passed over in 2022.
Welcome to the Hockey Hall of Fame, Caroline Ouellette.#HHOF2023 | #HHOF pic.twitter.com/FcuXGafGiA
— Hockey Hall of Fame (@HockeyHallFame) June 21, 2023
To talk about the impact Ouellette has had on women's hockey since her debut in 1999 is to constantly find oneself lost for words. The Montréal native is a four-time Olympic gold medalist, as well as the recipient of an unbelievable 12 World Championship medals (six gold, six silver) with Team Canada. In her college career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, she was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award in back-to-back seasons (2003-04 and 2004-05) and a top-three finalist for the award in 2004-05.
In the professional hockey realm, she played nine seasons with the CWHL's Montréal Stars (later named Les Canadiennes des Montréal ahead of their partnership with the NHL's Canadiens), where she scored 131 goals and 314 total points, becoming the first CWHLer ever to hit the 300-point mark. She also won four Clarkson Cups with the squad, including her first, in 2009, that made her one of the first-ever female members of the Triple Gold Club alongside Kim St. Pierre (the Triple Gold being a Clarkson Cup, Olympic gold, and Worlds gold).
Ouellette was also named to the IIHF Hall of Fame in late 2022. She becomes the 10th woman to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the first since 2020, when St. Pierre was named. Since Cammi Granato and Angela James were dually inducted in 2010, there has not been a players' class featuring more than one woman, and no female builders have ever been inducted.
The induction ceremony will be held in Toronto Nov. 13.
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