Ice Hockey UK’s Hall of Fame Committee are thrilled to announce the new inductees to the Hall of Fame. After being delayed a year because of covid, the 2020 inductees are Colin Shields and Gordon Wade.
Forward Colin Shields needs little introduction to fans. He burst onto the scene at the tender age of 14 with his home-town side Paisley Pirates and played until retiring at the end of the 2018-19 season.
He spent much of his career with Belfast Giants where his number 19 shirt is retired, while he also had stints with Sheffield Steelers and Newcastle Vipers.
Shields also played extensively in North America, especially in the early part of his career and had a season in France with Morzine.
The Scotsman built a huge reputation on both sides of the Atlantic as Great Britain’s top goal scorer of the modern era, the Elite League’s all-time leading points scorer, a draft pick of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and a high-scoring member of the University of Maine (USA) Black Bears.
Shields said: “I am very honoured to be inducted into the Ice Hockey UK Hall of Fame. Many thanks to Jim Graves and everyone from the selection committee.”
Statistician Gordon Wade, by contrast, laboured away behind the scenes as the sport’s senior statistician for over 20 years, first with the Heineken League, then later with the Superleague.
Most of his work was in the pre-internet era when getting results and match reports to the clubs, fans and journalists often meant working into the small hours of the morning.
On receiving his award, Wade said: “I’m honoured to be recognised by British ice hockey with this award and thank the Ice Hockey UK Hall of Fame committee for their nomination.”
Click here to read Colin Shields’ Hall of Fame bio.
Click here to read Gordon Wade’s Hall of Fame bio.
The original Hall of Fame was created in 1948 and over 120 players, officials and personalities have been inducted. The full list with their biographies can be found here.
The members of the Selection Committee are Ian Cooper, former winger with Great Britain (80 caps), Cardiff Devils and Durham Wasps, a Hall of Fame member and trustee of the Ice Hockey Players Benevolent Fund; Andy French, general secretary of Ice Hockey UK; David Gordon, a sports historian specialising in ice hockey; Jim Graves, a Canadian/Scottish netminder who ran Rockies Sports Bar in Belfast with its impressive display of sports memorabilia; Martin Harris, a former ice hockey referee who has published two books on the history of the sport, including The British Ice Hockey Hall Fame (Tempus Publishing, 2007); and Stewart Roberts, editor of The Ice Hockey Annual (1976-2016) and Hall of Fame member.