AHL all-star to be a hall of famer

Though he’s small in stature, Ottawa native Mitch Lamoureux is about to earn one of the biggest honours around. He’s becoming a Hall of Famer.

Lamoureux, whose mother is Ojibway, will be inducted into the American Hockey League’s Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies will be held Jan. 31 in Hershey, Pa.
The ceremony will be held in conjunction with the AHL’s all-star game.

“I’m very, very honored,” said Lamoureux, who played just 73 games in the National Hockey League but became one of the biggest stars in the AHL, considered the top minor pro hockey league in the world.

Lamoureux, who retired in 1999, appeared in 802 AHL games and collected 816 points, placing him ninth in the league’s all-time list for points.

Though he earned most of his notoriety while suiting up for the Hershey Bears, Lamoureux also toiled for three other AHL franchises during his career, the Baltimore Skipjacks, Maine Mariners and Providence Bruins.

The AHL hall of fame, however, is not located in an actual building. Instead, it’s a virtual hall, located on the league’s Web site www.theahl.com. It can also be found at www.ahlhalloffame.com.

“I knew it existed and I was hoping one day I’d go in,” Lamoureux said.

So does he mind that hockey fans do not have a physical building they can go to and see perhaps a plaque of him and perhaps of a display of his accomplishments?

“Heck no,” said Lamoureux, who is now 48 and works as the director of business development for the P.A. Central Credit Union in Hershey. “This is a big deal. You’ve got to think that this league has been around for 75 years. And this is only the sixth year of inductions. I’ll be going in as one of the Top 26 inductees.”

Lamoureux had called Hershey home since 1986, when he first played for the Bears.

No doubt Lamoureux had his share of critics over the years who thought he wouldn’t go far because of his size. He’s only 5-foot-6.

Yet he managed to excel, first in the junior ranks with the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals and then later during his 17-year pro career.

Lamoureux put up some whopping numbers with the Generals. During his third and final season in Oshawa he averaged almost two points per game, racking up 121 points (43 goals, 78 assists) in 66 games.

Since he was starring in the Ontario junior ranks, it wasn’t much of a surprise the Pittsburgh Penguins selected Lamoureux in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft.

He went on to play just 70 games with the Penguins. He played just three games in the NHL after that, with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1987-88 season.

In the AHL though, Lamoureux was clearly a star, right from the beginning. He won the AHL’s rookie of the year award after piling up 107 points in 80 during the ’82-83 campaign with the Skipjacks.

More than a decade later he surpassed the 100-point total again, earning 105 points with the Bears during the ’93-94 season.

Since its inception six years ago, the AHL hall of fame ceremony is held in the same city at the same time as the league’s all-star match.

Lamoureux is unsure whether hall officials were keen to induct a former Hershey player this year.

I don’t want to speculate,” he said. “But I think it might have had something to do with it. They were probably looking to put a local guy in.”

Lamoureux will become the sixth player from the Bears’ organization to enter the hall. Two other AHL greats with Hershey ties - coaches Bruce Boudreau and John Paddock - are also in the hall but they entered via the coach’s category.

Though he stopped playing for a paycheque in ’99, Lamoureux still dons the blades. During hockey season he plays a pickup game every Thursday night at an outdoor rink in Hershey.

And he plays anywhere from five to 10 games per season with the Flyers’ alumni squad. Driving to Philadelphia is not that long of a trip for him, about 90 minutes from Hershey.

Lamoureux will have a large contingent join him for the induction ceremony. His wife Renee will be there. So too will be their only child, Corey, who will also bring his wife. And there will also be 13 family members from Ottawa, including his parents.