Brett Hull was one of four players announced yesterday for the class of 2008 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.  The induction ceremony will be held in Denver on October 10th.

St. Louisans will always consider Brett Hull a Blues player.  He rose ot prominence in the NHL with the Blue Note and played 10-1/2 years in St. Louis.  In his first full season with the Blues (1988-89), he scored 41 goals and received the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.  The next 3 years he scored over 70 goals a season, including the 1990-91 season when he won the Lester B. Pearson Trophy and the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL’s MVP after scoring 86 goals.  He scored 50 goals in 50 games twice in his career, the only player other that Wayne Gretzky (who did it three times) to have done that more than once.

He scored an amazing 741 in his 20 year career, third all time in the NHL, and recorded a total of 1,391 points.   He went on to win Stanley Cups with Detroit and Dallas, and was a 9-time All Star.  He also won an Olympic Silver medal with the U.S. team in 2002.  In 2006, his #16 jersey was retired by the St. Louis Blues and raised to the rafters, and it marked another milestone:  the only time in any professional sport that a father-son combo had their respective numbers retired.  Congrats Brett!

Kudos also go out to Brian Leetch and Mike Richter of the New York Rangers, and to Cammi Granato, the all-time scoring leader for the U.S. women’s hockey team, who were also announced for the 2008 class.