Chelios, Tkachuk, Suter Among U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Inductees

Chelios, Tkachuk, Suter Among U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Inductees
John Nestor

Former NHL stars Chris Chelios, Gary Suter and Keith Tkachuk were selected for induction into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame Monday.

Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider and play-by-play announcer Mike "Doc" Emrick also were selected. and will be formally inducted in the fall.

Chelios played 26 NHL seasons with Montreal, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta. He left the NHL after the 2009-10 season as the all-time leader in games played by a defenseman (1,651). He also was part of three Stanley Cup championships.

Tkachuk is one of just four American-born players to score 500 career NHL goals. He also was a five-time All-Star and a four-time Olympian.

Suter played 17 seasons mostly with Calgary, where he won a Stanley Cup title in 1989. The defenseman also played up for Chicago and San Jose.

Snider started a strong hockey tradition in Philadelphia with his successful bid to bring an expansion team to the city.

"I have seen our city grow from a very few people knowing what a puck was to 2 million people at each of our Stanley Cup parades," Snider said. "Philadelphia now, in my opinion, is a top-notch hockey town."

Emrick has been behind the microphone for 13 Stanley Cup finals and called the gold-medal game between the U.S. and Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

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