Czech Jaromir Jagr, Swede Mats Naslund and Russian Igor Larionov head up a who's who of international hockey by becoming the first players inducted into the Triple Gold Club.
Canada's Joe Sakic and Igor Larionov of Russia were also among the players honoured at lavish ceremony at Molson Hockey House for the 22 inductees late Monday.
A player has to have won a Stanley Cup title, Olympic gold medal and a World Championship to become part of the Triple Gold Club.
"They are all hard to win," said Russian Alex Mogilny, who won a gold medal with the Soviet Union in 1988. "There are no easy ones. They are all different like kids, but you love them all.
"When I saw the list I couldn't believe it was only 22 players. I was lucky to be part of those great teams. A lot of great players play this game and never have a chance to do this."
Each player was brought on stage and presented with a jersey of his country, a gold watch with the player's name and Triple Gold Club number on the back and special pin.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel joined the players on the stage.
"Remarkably through the decades only 22 have won championships in all three major competitions," Bettman told the standing room only crowd.
"One explanation is that for a very long time, the World Championships and the Olympics were contested by amateur players."
Sweden has the most members with nine followed by Russia with six and Canada with five. Only three of the group of 22 have won at least two of each title, Peter Forsberg, Vyacheslav Fetisov and Larionov. There are no goalies.
Sweden's Henrik Zetterberg said it was an honour to be included in such a select group with players he grew up idolizing. Zetterberg is one of eight players inducted who are in Vancouver competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
"Every clip they showed on the giant screen I was sitting in front of the TV watching the game when I was a boy," said Zetterberg, who won an Olympics and a World Championship in the same year, 2006.
Zetterberg also has a National Hockey League play-off championship in 2008 with Detroit and says the hardest to win is the Stanley Cup trophy.
"The Stanley Cup is a longer grind than the Olympics where you just play six games," Zetterberg said. "You have to be really good in the Stanley Cup games and there are more teams that can win it."
Canada's Rob Blake says the toughest to get a crack at is the Olympics.
"They are all so different," defenceman Blake said. "The toughest opportunity wise is the Olympics.
"A tremendous amount of effort goes into the Stanley Cup. The World Championships are great."
Copyright 2010  AFP American Edition
