BU, Harvard Legends Chris Drury, Angela Ruggiero to Join U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame
Photo via AP
USA Hockey announced its latest class of Hall of Fame inductees Monday, and this year’s crop has a distinct Massachusetts flair.
Boston University forward and 1998 Hobey Baker Award winner Chris Drury and Harvard University defenseman and 2004 Patty Kazmaier Award winner Angela Ruggiero will be inducted alongside longtime USA Hockey president (and NESN’s “Mini One-on-One” creator) Ron DeGregorio and Mathieu Schneider, who won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
The Class of 2015 will be formally inducted in Boston at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel on December 17.
“This class is extraordinary and has had an extremely positive and wide-ranging impact on our sport,” current USA Hockey president Jim Smith said in a release. “The members of this Class represent the very best of our sport and we look forward to welcoming them as the 43rd class of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame officially in December.”
Ruggiero, who was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto earlier this year, followed up an exemplary four-year career at Harvard, where she won the 1999 NCAA National Championship, by capturing Olympic gold at the 1998 Nagano Games, and silver in Salt Lake City and Vancouver. No ice hockey player has played more games for Team USA than Ruggiero (256), who currently attends Harvard Business School. She has served as a member of the International Olympic Committee since 2010.
Drury remains the all-time leading goalscorer in BU history, helping the Terriers to their 1995 NCAA National Championship as a freshman. A two-time Hockey East Player of the Year and the only player to win both the Hobey Baker Award and the NHL’s Calder Trophy for most outstanding rookie, Drury won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001. In 2008, he became the second American-born captain in New York Rangers history.
In 2009, in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Ruggiero and Drury worked out together alongside NHLers Richard Park and George Parros in her native California.
