Kevin Dupont

Igor Larionov and Glenn Anderson will be the headliners Monday when the Hockey Hall of Fame welcomes its latest class of inductees inside the hallowed walls.

Two great choices, and in Anderson's case, way overdue, considering that his name is on the Stanley Cup, oh, a half-dozen times (five with the Oilers, once with the Rangers), and all six of those championships easily could have been in jeopardy without his trademark finishing touch in the lineup.

Larionov, who won three Cups in his years with Detroit, was a smooth and elegant puck-mover at center. Anderson was a marvel off the wing, a fast and dazzling skater with gravity-defying balance, and magical instinct for burying pucks, lots of them, in the net. He scored 498 times in 1,129 NHL regular-season games, and also posted 225 points in 215 playoff games.

True, numbers sometimes lie, but not those numbers. Only Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Jari Kurri own more postseason points.

Another guy who'll have his HHOF day, and also should have been called long before, is Mike 'Doc' Emrick, without question the best-known hockey ''voice'' throughout America the last couple of decades. For Americans who love hockey (see the head shot that routinely accompanies this column), the 62-year-old Emrick is an institution, his storytelling style that of a favorite, eloquent uncle whose charge it is to ''call'' the games we love to watch.

Good ol' Doc, who calls games for the NHL on NBC, will be at the mike in Feb. 2010 to call the Olympic action for NBC at Vancouver. What, you thought it would be someone else? Right.  Go sell crazy in another rink, OK?

The Games, especially Games held in North America, just wouldn't feel right without ''The Doc'' weaving in his great sense of history, his grasp of the game's nuances, his obvious and abundant love for both its skill and its sometimes crude and ever-endearing edges. Without ever cluttering up the airwaves, Emrick ever-so-elegantly captures and captions what we are watching, and leaves us wanting for more.

Wanting ... for ... more. Now that's saying something. In an era when the urge increasingly is to turn down the broadcast cacophony (PLEASE!), Emrick keeps the listener/viewer engaged and entertained. He hooks us with his knowledge of the sport, the wealth of his vocabulary, the urgency in his voice that underscores the drama or poignancy of the moment. And he does it without yelling at us. Thank the hockey gods. Just as Larionov proved time and time again, grace, touch and timing are essential in the hockey biz, and Emrick was every bit the equal of the star Russian in those three departments.

''I try not to overcall the game,'' Emrick said recently, prior to calling a Leafs-Devils game in his ''varsity'' role these days at New Jersey's play-by-play host for TV broadcasts. ''But by the same token, I try to get names in, and that can lead to calling a lot of names. By that I mean — and I don't want to be too scientific here, because broadcasting is a performance art that is entertainment based — many defensive guys are left behind a lot. Everyone talks a lot about the great offensive play, the goal scored, or the huge save by the goalie. I like to credit the fellas who make great defensive plays that can mean so much to a game. They can get lost out there sometimes.''

Emrick grew up in La Fontaine, Ind., in America's basketball heartland, and played freshman high school basketball as a point guard.

''You know, with the glasses that needed tape to keep them together,'' he said, recalling his days suiting up for the La Fontaine Cossacks. ''I looked like one of the Hansen brothers ... one shot and the glasses would just fall apart.''

Out of college [a 1969 Miami of Ohio grad] and teaching high school English near Pittsburgh, he was torn whether to pursue a doctorate in English at either Michigan or Bowling Green, two institutions, not so coincidentally, with pretty good hockey programs. Ultimately, he chose Bowling Green, because, not so coincidentally, the school offered him the radio play-by-play call (second periods only) of their hockey games.

''Sold!'' said Emrick. "My only other play-by-play work I had to offer anyone was what I'd recorded myself into a cassette recorder. That was it. I sent those tapes around for two years and didn't get an offer. What a shock, huh, a kid with zero experience couldn't get a job?  Gee.''

The Bowling Green work ultimately helped him land a gig with the IHL's Port Huron Flags in 1973.

''For the huge sum of $160 a week,'' recalled Emrick ''But I was in hockey heaven — and I've been there ever since.''

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Officially, Emrick will be enshrined as the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award Winner. The other media honoree that day is Neil Stevens, the highly-respected Canadian Press print reporter who will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award.

The late Ed Chynoweth, for decades a proponent and booster of Canadian hockey at all levels, will be enshrined in the ''Builders'' category. Expert linesman Ray Scapinello, who carried the whistle for 2,926 NHL games (including playoffs) over 33 seasons, is a well-deserving entrant in the zebras category.

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