Quinn to be inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame

Late coach guided Team Canada to Olympic gold and World Cup title

The International Ice Hockey Federation announced Thursday its newest class of inductees into the IIHF Hall of Fame, and the late Pat Quinn, who led Canada as head coach at seven international events during his decorated career, is among the honourees.

In addition to his coaching career, Quinn worked as a general manager or assistant general manager on four other occasions, helping Canada to five medals and a World Cup championship in total.

The Hamilton, Ont., native got his start with Team Canada as head coach at the 1986 IIHF World Championship, winning a bronze medal in Moscow, Soviet Union.

It would be 10 years before he was involved again with a national team, serving as assistant general manager at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, but that marked the start of long relationship with Hockey Canada.

Quinn was co-general manager of Canada’s gold medal-winning entry at the 1997 IIHF World Championship, and returned to the worlds to serve in the GM’s role by himself one year later.

His most notable Team Canada achievement came in 2002, when, as head coach, he helped end Canada’s 50-year Olympic gold medal drought with a historic win in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He was behind the bench again in 2004, coaching Canada to victory at the World Cup of Hockey, and served at a second Olympic Winter Games in 2006 in Turin, Italy.

After leading Canada’s National Men’s Team to the final of the 2006 Spengler Cup, Quinn was head coach of Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team at the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championship in Kazan, Russia, guiding a team that included Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Cody Hodgson to Canada’s second gold medal at the event.

Five months later Quinn stepped in as head coach of Canada’s National Junior Team and won another gold medal at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa, Ont., Canada’s record-tying fifth consecutive world juniors gold.

Quinn was an NHL head coach for parts of 20 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers, winning the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in 1979-80 with the Flyers and 1991-92 with the Canucks.

He sits fifth all-time in NHL history with 684 wins (in 1,400 games) and twice led his teams to the Stanley Cup Final – in 1980 with Philadelphia and 1994 with Vancouver.

Quinn served as chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame Board of Directors, a position held from August 2013 until his passing on Nov. 23, 2014, and spent 15 years as a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee.

He will officially be inducted on May 22, 2016 in Moscow during the 2016 IIHF World Championship, along with Peter Bondra, Sergei Fedorov, Valeri Kamensky, and long-time U.S. women’s team head coach Ben Smith.