TORONTO -- One of the great reminders Hockey Hall of Fame induction weekend affords is of the place international hockey plays in helping judge honored members.
As you've heard me say before, it's not the NHL Hall of Fame, it's the Hockey Hall of Fame.
That's incredibly true yet again with this year's class.
For as much we remember Eric Lindros for changing the NHL with his formidable skill and physicality, he's also one of the more decorated Team Canada players: he played in three world junior championships, a world championship, a Canada Cup, a World Cup of Hockey and three Olympic Games.
Helping Canada snap a 50-year Olympic gold medal drought in hockey at Salt Lake City topped them all.
"I look back to 2002 as a pretty big moment," Lindros said Friday after receiving his Hockey Hall of Fame induction ring.
"We had the World Cup in '96 that we lost in the last five minutes or so in Montreal. I don't know what happened there. Whoa. And then in '98, we lose in the shootout in the semis to the Czechs and Dominik Hasek after playing really good hockey for the whole tournament.
"So then to come back in 2002, and it ties in with Pat [Quinn] being our coach, it felt great to bring it back. That was a nice time."
The late Pat Quinn also coached Canada to a championship title in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, a memory his daughter Kalli Quinn fondly recalled Friday.
"My favorite memory from '04 was sitting in his coach's office after the game with family and friends and just having laughs and carrying on," Kalli said. "We actually brought the family and team bus to the post-reception. We all figured out a way to get there."
And yes, her father had his trademark cigar in hand.
"But it wasn't lit," she said with a laugh.
Sergei Makarov's eyes lit up when he remembered the 1981 Canada Cup in which Russia crushed Canada 8-1 in the final game -- a Canadian side that had Scotty Bowman behind the bench and the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Guy Lafleur on the roster.
"It was not expected for us to win like that," Makarov said. "The games between Russia and Canada, it doesn't matter what age, they're always hard. You don't expect 8-1. For us, it was a big surprise."
Speaking of Gretzky, The Great One often says the 1987 Canada Cup finals were some of the best hockey he's ever been part of, with Canada edging Russia 6-5 in Game 3. Superstars on each side left it all on the ice in a historical display of hockey.
"It was a great three games, 6-5, 6-5, 6-5," said Makarov, one of the best players of the tournament. "Top-level hockey, and it was so good. I totally agree with Wayne on that."
Rogie Vachon backstopped Team Canada to glory in the first-ever Canada Cup tournament, held in 1976, as the team MVP.
"One of the great highlights of my career," Vachon said Friday after getting his Hall of Fame induction ring. "We had Bobby Orr and Guy Lafleur and all these guys. The Canada Cup is right there with some of my best memories."
The debate that rages is which Canadian team was more talented: Orr's squad in '76 or Gretzky's in '87?
"If you look at the lineup we had, it was just so much fun," said Vachon. "We played seven games and I ended up giving up 10 goals. My defense was unbelievable. Guys like [Serge] Savard and [Larry] Robinson, they would say, 'Make the first save and don't worry about the rebound.'"
Of note, Vachon added, is that Team Canada got very serious in its preparation for that tournament.
"In those days, that's when we really started to watch video," he said. "Video was never popular before in the NHL. But when the Canada Cup came in, we spent a lot of hours watching the Russians and the Czechs [to] see how they play, when they pass, when they shoot."
Lindros introduced himself on the big stage as an 18-year-old playing in the 1991 Canada Cup with and against big NHL stars. But what he remembers most was how two veterans took care of him.
"When I think back to '91, I think of Steve Larmer and Dirk Graham, guys that were ... the glue of that team, guys that took time to help some of the younger guys immensely," he said. "I remember Larms always taking me out for dinner and just being around for me. Both Dirk and Steve were guys that I truly remember from that."
What people tend to forget, however, is that Lindros also played in a non-NHL Olympics, joining Canada's national team for the 1991-92 season while he waited for the Quebec Nordiques to trade him.
"It was great," Lindros said of the team that earned silver in at the 1992 Albertville Olympics. "We had Joe Juneau, Sean Burke, Kevin Dahl, Dan Ratushny -- a good team and a great group of guys. But with Hockey Canada, you might not have a game for, like, three weeks. So you're training and going to practice three weeks straight, and all of a sudden you go and play 17 games in 21 days in 14 countries. It was a tight group because of that. We were together a lot. We had fun."