‘Why not you?’: HHoF class grateful for those who inspired their journey

TORONTO — The last time Joe Thornton was at the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was celebrating the wedding of then-Sharks teammate Brent Burns’ parents.

“Let me tell you, we rocked so hard that night, I didn’t think I’d be invited back,” Thornton said from the Hall’s podium Monday night before a crowd of family, friends, peers, and fellow hockey royalty.

“But here I am,” he continued. “And this time, I stay forever.”

And he arrived on the first ballot, no less. That his Hall of Fame plaque was presented on-stage by the legendary Lanny McDonald — iconic moustache meets beloved beard — made the moment all the more meaningful, Thornton calling his induction to the hall “an honour of a lifetime.”

The newly minted inductee, never shy about storytelling and known for delivering a great one-liner, w