Cam Neely Indcution Speech 2005

[copelanda]

KICK HIS ASS SEA BASS

[robinioh]

Some may say their hero was Gretzky, others may say Lemieux, however Cam is my Hockey hero, the way he played the game, and the way he fought back after injuries and scored his 50. There wont be many players like him, and he fully deserves his place in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Oh and to an earlier comment about the fastest 50 in history, im sure that was Gretzky with 50 in 39 games back in the early 80's.

[bourque801]

Thank you Cam, for everything, they can't take the Stanley Cup away from you & the Boston Bruins....magnificent, you & the Bruins fully deserve this!!!!

Typed on June 16, 2011

[KurtHoegh]

"Thanks to my opponents, well not all of them". Very subtle and classy, Cam.

[mornay77]

LOL@ whoever said Kyle McLaren was going to be the next Larry Robinson. r u fo' real?

Anyway it was good to see Michael J Fox make it to the ceremony as he and cam have been friends since cam was in juniors

[highguy9900]

I liked him as Seabass in Dumb and Dumber LOL

[CommonwealthCelt]

Your Awesome Cam. You represent what a true hockey player is, a mix of toughness and class.

[djcokely]

@ oehieze... are you fucking crazy? Cam Neely defined the role of power forward in ice hockey and is pure class. How is he an embarassment for the hall. Fastest 50 goals ever. Please you are a joke

[EyesOfTheSouthSTi]

@djcokely fastest 50 goals ever? That's Gretz not Neely dude. I love Cam, but Grezt has the fastest 50 goals.

[avaxtakaka]

@EyesOfTheSouthSTi Technically, you guys are both right.

Cam had 50 goals in 43 games played. However, Cam had

missed about 12 games, so this occured in the 55th game

of the season. That being the case, the NHL didn't recognize

Cam as the record holder.

[EyesOfTheSouthSTi]

@avaxtakaka No he is far from right. That is why I said he had the second fastest to 50 goals in 50 games. I know they did not recognize it (because they are pathetic like that).

[avaxtakaka]

@djcokely Cam Neely, had he stayed healthy, would've

re-written the NHL record book for a winger. Does he

deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? ABSOLUTELY!!!!

He re-defined the position, and is widely recognized as

THE power forward!

[oehieze]

shouldn't be making this speech.. what an embarassment for the hall

[weeks420]

50 in 44....it is all i have to say

[TAG037]

It's great to see #77 in this video, surprised Cam didn't thank guys like Adam Oates for passing the puck to him so he could score those 50 goal seasons

[BoSoxnation1972]

@TAG037 Oates was only his center for 1 of his three 50 goal seasons. Craig Janney was there for 2 of them. Cam and Adam were only played together for about 140 games (less than 2 full seasons) because Cam was limited by his thigh injury and couldn't play back to back games. Oates also got hurt around 1995 and missed half the season.

[avaxtakaka]

Montreal Coach Jacques Demers once

told his players, "Don't ever make Neely

mad!". THAT'S RESPECT! When the game was on-the-line, Cam Neely was at

his best. No, Cam never won a Cup, but

that was the fault of Bruin Management,

not Neely's. Now that Cam's a team VP,

maybe he can make some good business

decisions.

[avaxtakaka]

When Cam Neely came to the Bruins from Vancouver, he had the reputation as a guy who either wouldn't or couldn't fight. As a result, a lot of opposing players tried to challenge him in his first year as a Bruin. They didn't challenge him after that, being that he'd beat-up half the league. But that was only a small part of Neely's game. He was THE "power forward", and his type won't be seen again. Alex Ovechkin is a great player, and a future Hall-of-Famer. But I'd still take Neely!

[bottigle]

Cam Neely is a Legend, to say otherwise is simply foolish.

[TAG037]

I'm still waiting for Adam Oates to get into the hall, him and Dougie Gilmour

[avaxtakaka]

Adam Oates, for sure! Doug Gilmour.....

well, I'm not certain.

[fundyracer]

He is still sorely missed as we all know he was "the power forward". Never will a player score 50 in less than 50 games in the latter part of the season ever again. He will bring a Cup to Boston.

[lugg500]

Cams in, whether you like it or not because all of the people involved in that decision process recognized he defined what the term "power forward" meant. He was one of the best hitters in the game, he could fight with the best of em and a gifted goal scorer. His career was cut short by gutless douchbag who went after players' knees. Hes in the hall of fame, he deserves to be there.

[neely08]

Yes no doubt his career was cut short, but his style of play was rare, he delivered when he played, went through difficult times with injuries and the illness of his parents, he was the complete package. Give the NHL some 50,60,70 goals a year for 5-8 years then fill in the rest of your career with ok numbers, your in the hall. You can question those players who played 20 some odd years or so and got in or will get in, cant you?

[avaxtakaka]

Right after Cam was traded to the Bruins,

I was either the first or second game he

played in. He scored two goals, had two

assists, and beat-up three of the opposing players. Before then, I knew very

little about Neely. That game convinced me that the B's made a good trade (and

that happens VERY seldom in Boston).

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka Boston has made plenty of great trades! Ray Bourque traded for back-up goalie Ron Graham! They also traded Pit Martin, Jack Norris and Gilles Marotte for Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stansfield! They traded an old Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais for Jean Ratielle and Brad Park! They traded an old Hodge for Rick Middleton! Pederson for Neely and Wesley.

They've made bad one's too like the Thornton trade, but that cleared the cap space to sign Chara! Id rather Chara than Joe!

[avaxtakaka]

@BoSoxnation1972 Oh, let's not forget Boston trading

a young Al Secord to the Black Hawks for Mike O'Connell.

Al the Bruiser went on to have some GREAT seasons in

Chicago, including one 54 goal campaign. Secord was

an all-star in Chicago for at least three seasons, while

O'Connell was just another man on the roster. Janney

for Oates was a good trade, then we give Adam away!

Grrrrrrrr!

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka I loved Secord, & we lost that trade, but O'Connell was an all-star too. He was a solid 2 way d-man scoring 18 goals and 60 pts, and was a +44 playing beside Mike Milbury for Christs' sake! And we didn't "give"Oates away. Oates was old, and never scored 20 goals in a season again! We got Jason Allison, a center who scored 36 g's and had 95pts, along with Anson Carter who scored over 20 goals 6 more times in his career! The Ranford for Carey part of the deal was a bust both ways.

[avaxtakaka]

@BoSoxnation1972 Do you know that Bernie Parent and

Ken Dryden both started their careers as Boston Bruins?

Granted, we had Gerry Cheevers at the time, but couldn't

we have kept one of those guys as a backup? I know,

hindsight is always 20/20, but still......

[avaxtakaka]

@avaxtakaka We traded Anson Carter and a 1st

round draft pick for Bill Guerin, who was in the

last year of his contract. Had we been able to re-

sign Guerin, that would've been a great trade.

But, in essence, we got Guerin for a short-term

stay, then lost him. I liked Anson Carter, and he

had some good seasons after he left.

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka Well thanks for making my point. You said we traded Oates for nothing when he traded Oates for Jason Allison and Anson Carter, which is far from nothing. I agree the Guerin deal could have been awesome if we resigned him. With him, he finished 1st in our division. The year after he left, we dropped to 7th! Dallas did overpay Guerin though! They gave him a 5 year 45 million dollar deal! (That's more than Zdeno Chara makes today per year)

[avaxtakaka]

@avaxtakaka I use the term "journeyman" to describe an average player. Marco Sturm is a hard-working player, but you simply cannot compare him with Jumbo Joe in ANY way. To me, this was THE most one-sided trade in NHL history (with the exception of Esposito, Hodge & Stanfield for Pit Martin). OK, Neely and Wesley for Barry Pedersen is also up there. But dumping Jumbo Joe for peanuts hurt the Bruins. Could we use him today? You bet!

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka Nobody is arguing that the Thorton trade was a good trade. It wasn't. It was a TERRIBLE trade. But the silver lining is that it freed up money for Boston to sign Chara! Joe and Chara make roughly the same money. I'd rather have Chara than Thornton anyday, but you can take Joe if you want.

The point of this conversation was to show you that for every bad deal the Bruins made, that they made 1 that was equally as good. Things tend to balance out in the end, and I proved that.

[avaxtakaka]

@avaxtakaka Remember Don Awrey? He was a

VERY good defencemen back in the glory days.

We gave him away! This was probably the worst

deal that the great Milt Schmidt ever made. After

he left Boston, he had some excellent years with

Montreal.

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka And by the way dipshit, do you know who we traded Samsonov for? Marty Reasoner, Yan Stasny, and a 2nd round draft pick that turned out to be a guy named Milan Lucic! Not bad, huh? Lucic is indirectly a benefit of the Wesley trade!

Now I agree about Parent and Dryden, especially since Dryden went on to play for Monreal and beat us in 1971-but nobody had a clue Dryden was going to be that good! Every team in the NHL passed on drafting him at least twice as he was a 3rd rd pick!

[avaxtakaka]

@avaxtakaka You cited some good trades, but you're

going WAY back, my friend! Also, we traded future

Hall-of-Famer Glen Wesley for three 1st round picks,

then chose three duds. We gave Adam Oates away.

We also had a young Bill Ranford (yes, he started with

us), and traded him for an aging Andy Moog. If the ob-

jective of trading Jumbo Joe was to clear-up cap room,

then at least get some type of value in return! Marco

Sturm is a journeyman. Joe is a future Hall-of-Famer.

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka Your argument fails miserably. Andy Moog wasn't "aging" when Boston traded for him. We got him when he was 28 years old in his prime, and he played 11 more seasons. He took Boston to the stanley cup finals. He is a Hall of Famer, unlike Ranford. Secondly, we didn't draft 3 duds with the Wesley picks. We got Kyle McLaren, a solid D-man & Sergei Sampsonov who is still playing in the NHL 13 years later with 222 NHL goals. Marco Sturm isn't a journeyman as he's only played for 2 teams.

[avaxtakaka]

@BoSoxnation1972 Kyle MacLaren had a great

rookie season, then fizzled. I'm sorry, but I still

have to classify him as a "dud". After all, he was

the 4th overall pick, and he's long-since been

out of the league. Samsonov was a fire-cracker

of a player, but I don't think his pick was part of

the Wesley deal. In fact, he should STILL be a

Bruin! We simply released him if I'm not mistaken.

Why?

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka LMAO Boston got Hartford's 1st rds in 95,96, and 97.(google it stupid) McLaren was the 9th overall pick in the 95 draft, not the 4th. Samsonov was part of the Wesley deal because we finished dead last in 96,and picked Thorton 1st overall with our pick in 97, and used Hartford's pick to Grab Sergei 8th overall in the same draft! In 96 we picked Jonathan Aiken who was a bust. And McLaren didn't fizzle after his rookie year. He played 11 more seasons in the NHL, dumbass.

[avaxtakaka]

@BoSoxnation1972 Look, pal, we're both Bruins fans.

I'm not calling you names, am I? We may disagree on

some points, but that's that. Show some class!

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka Well when you get basic facts wrong that anyone can look up if they didnt remember, then you look foolish. By saying that Samsonov wasn't part of the compensation picks we got for Wesley, when that was the biggest draft in either of our lifetime for the Bruins being that they had the top overall pick and and 2 in the top 8, makes you lose credibility! That would be like not remembering who we got for Barry Pederson!

[avaxtakaka]

@BoSoxnation1972 I don't care how many seasons

Kyle McLaren played in the NHL. Except for his first

season, he was a bust! When he was drafted, he

was supposed to be "the next Larry Robinson". He

lasted a while, yes, but he was more of a liability

than an asset. When he played for the Sharks, he

was almost booed out of town. With his physical

skills, and being tutored by the great Ray Bourque,

McLaren should have been MUCH better than he

was. Don Sweeney was a better player!

[avaxtakaka]

@avaxtakaka THE BRUIN TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. Thou shalt not ever criticize Bobby Orr, Eddie Shore, Ray Bourque, Phil Esposito, Cam Neely, Gerry Cheevers or Terry O'Reilly.

2. Thou shalt never speak ill of another Bruin fan.

3. Thou shalt not covet thy other man's season tickets.

4. Thou shalt never root against the Bruins.

5. Bobby Orr is God.  To be continued

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka The next Larry Robinson? ROTFLMAO If he was supposed to be the next Larry Robinson, he would have been drafted first overall you fucking imbecile! LMFAO He was the 4th defenceman taken in that draft! That was the year Bryan Berrard was picked 1st. Wade Redden and Aki-Petteri Berg were picked 2 and 3 in that draft, and Berg was the one that was a bust! Hell, Montreal picked ahead of us, and they drafted Terry Ryan 8th overall! He is a career minor leaguer & never scored an NHL goal!

[TAG037]

@avaxtakaka Don Sweeney is the most underrated D-Man of all-time

[avaxtakaka]

@TAG037 Don Sweeney was a great defenceman,

but let's not overlook Gary Doak and Rick Smith. They

were extremely underrated players. Gord Kluzak

would've been an all-time great if it hadn't been for

his knee injuries.

[avaxtakaka]

@BoSoxnation1972 Dude, Andy Moog is not in the

Hall-of-Fame. 

[BoSoxnation1972]

@avaxtakaka Moog isn't in yet, but he should be. When he retired in 98, Andy had the highest win% all-time among NHL goalies with 10+ seasons. He's been blackballed because of his association as V.P. to the player's association. The Bruins were 1-18 against Montreal all-time until Moog came around. He beat them 3 straight playoff series going 12-4 in those games! He had a better career GAA than Fuhr who is in the HOF. Fuhr played 155 more games, & only 33 more wins! Moog's GAA was .25 lower too!

[Skrangelben]

I wonder why he never thanked Ulf Samuelsson?

[MrBarelylethal]

lol

[bigphil399]

I am in disagreement with Cam making the Hall of Fame. I think that if he had a full career he would have made it, but I think there was some sentiment involved in getting him in there.

There's a chapter in the new book "Let's Talk Hockey 50 Wonderful debates" on amazon that cuts apart some current Hall of Famers already in and Cam Neely is one of the ones mentioned although there is a lot of good things said about him as well. Good read

[WhiskeyyBreath]

you are one dumb motherfucker

[bigphil399]

hardly, and if you knew your hockey well enough you would know that Neely is a controversial selection into the Hall. Google it if you want, you will find a ton of people on both sides of the fence on the issue. While there are some good points for Cam making it there are also some negative sides to it as well. Try looking at it objectively.

[macassa420]

I also enjoyed watching Cam Neely play but i,m really pissed that a guy like Paul Henderson still can,t make the Hall of Fame after scoring the biggest goal in Canadian history. The Hall isn,t only about stats but like the name says,its the Hall of Fame and Paul Henderson belongs there before Cam Neely. Is Cam more "famous" than Paul Henderson? I don,t think so.Cam belongs in the Junior Hockey Hall of Fame for his great acomplishments. I,m not going to the Hall until Paul Henderson is inducted.

[deejaykgb]

cam was the best power forward of his era.

[macassa420]

I can,t believe Neely made the hallof fame. If this goof made it why didn,t Tim Kerr or Paul Henderson get in ? Cam was o.k. but he never won fuck all.

[JFiannaca]

50 goals 44 games enough said

[batmanjwo]

Neely was awesome. He score 50 goals in year with only one good leg. He would have easily scored 500 goals with two good legs.

[DJMFilms1]

I thou Glen Anderson chould have got in before Neely. Neely only spend 10 seasons in the NHL:!!!

[dnasty312]

13, DJ!

[DJMFilms1]

what?

[dnasty312]

He played 13 seasons in the league, DJ. Not 10!

[kiba2001]

But it were those 10 with the Bruins that made him the heart and soul of Boston

[xmuscularghandix]

if Cam didn't get cheap shot injuries he could have been one of the best.

[kiba2001]

Agreed

[JBthree24]

KICK HIS ASS SEABASS

[shortylongbacks]

Dino needs to behave himself off of the ice.thats why he's not in.

[RadicalNotion]

neely's wife looks like a horny freak! seems like a great chick. her dress was kinda low cut and slutty.

[WWEDivasRock328]

well theres lucic coming up but he can never replace ur 50 goals and 9000000000 fights a season 4 ever cam u will b in hearts of bruins fans young and old

[prezzakid]

Show some respect you shitbag

[notionsradical]

you show some fucking respect to me then you little underwear smudge. i commented on his wife. big deal.

[prezzakid]

Ok so Shitbag may have a been a bit much. Sorry to insult you dude. Still you were being a bit disrespectful would'nt you say, especially as it is another man's wife ?Besides saying she is slutty looking how about saying what we all think, She is a hotty!!!lol peace

[OSHockey15]

"Scoring 50 goals in 50 games is considered the bench-mark of great goal scorers. Maurice Richard, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, and Mario Lemieux are the only players to reach the milestone of 50 goals in 50 games or less. In the 1993-94 season Neely scored his 50th goal in his 44th game; only Gretzky has scored 50 goals in fewer games"- wikipedia

[GTate888]

You gotta love how classless some people can be to a HHOF member. I,m just wondering if they're either Flyers or Canadiens fans

[oehieze]

great human being.. good player... the worst thing to happen tothe hall of fame induction process.. no matter how bad bruins fans razz they know deep within themselves that cam was picked for being a good guy and for his potential.. not for actual results. There are players who did what he did for LONGER. Cam was a very good junior and a good nhl'er for 2yrs and for that he;s in the hall? great guy should NOT be in the hall of fame

[werbinator]

oh please he invented a position and was second on the quickest 50 in 50 list. he had 568 career points and that includes the two years he played sparingly for rehab reasons. get a clue.

[oehieze]

gordie howe INVENTED the power forward my dear young un oh and dino ciccarelli had more goals than neely had POINTS and he isn't in the hall.... people from boston should not be allowed to comment.... or marry their sisters anymore

[werbinator]

boston is far from the deep south there big guy.

[jjhartwell99]

If you have nothing better to add than ad hominem attacks, maybe you'd be more comfortable with knuckle draggers on ESPN?

[OSHockey15]

You are quite wrong. With all of his injuries, Cam actually had 3 50+ goal seasons. And how does Dino not getting in have anything to do with Cam's worthiness? Dino was a great player, but also a total piece of shit. Go to Wikipedia (a non-Boston general fact site) and look up Cam Neely and Ciccarelli. Dino was awesome, but Neely was so much better. And of course he has more points. He played 19 seasons while Neely played 10. And the marrying their sisters thing is totally fuckin stupid.

[RadicalNotion]

Neely. The name has more resonance than Ciccareli. If Neely was healthy he would have had greater numbers. He represented everything great about the game and is easily Hall worthy. maybe your alzheimer's is kicking in old timer?

[ledneely79]

How stupid can you be,or are you just ignorant?Cam played with the guts,raw emotion,and true desire that is rarely seen in all of sports.If every team had a Cam Neely, the NHL would be more popular than the NFL. Cam had 694 points in about half as many games as he could have played without injury. Only Lemieux, Gretzy, and Bossy have a higher goals scored per playoff game average,and Neely would have kicked all their asses at the same time. You don't know shit.

[ledneely79]

This was in resonse to oehieze , don't know why it didn't show up that way.

[TheGooch21]

Cam - your the fuckin best buddy! You were my idol growing up as a kid/teenager...

thank you so very much... #8

g.

[SharksRule86]

What a great moment.

Neely played the game the way it is supposed to be played. Brutally and with fights!

[miafan89]

Kick ass Sea Bass!!

[kugel8]

The greatest power forward to ever lace up the blades.

[avaxtakaka]

@kugel8 I've never met Cam Neely, but I know

people who have. They've all told me that Cam

is an even better person than he was a player.

That's HIGH PRAISE! Cam was like Bobby Orr,

in terms of having his career cut short. But in

his day, Cam was THE best power forward......

EVER!

[stockmos]

My favorite player all time. :)Go Cam. :)

[thexanswer]

one of the greatest all around players ever to to cut ice, thank you Cam.

[ksambirs]

Thank you Cam.

[sdrek2]

A better human being does not exist. Camster may life bring you nothing but joy and happiness to you and your family. I'm toasting to with a glass of Neyer's right now! Peace, David.

[DreamingOfBaba]

He is truly one of the greatest players of all time--I miss watching him play!!

[tylerlucero]

Holy shit this is freakin sweet. There's not a dry eye in the house. Cam Neely rocks.

Thanks Cam!