Daily Faceoff Live: Paying tribute to Jim Johannson and the 2022 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame class

It’s induction day at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, and it’s quite the class for 2022, made up of Steve Cash, the first ever athlete with a disability to be inducted; the Lamoureux twins, who were pillars of the U.S. women’s team; Ryan Miller, a Vezina-winning NHL goaltender; and Jim Johannson, who made a huge impact in the U.S. hockey program in his time as an executive.

Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna talked about the 2022 class, particularly Johansson, on today’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: “Jim Johannson, wanted to give a little love to him as well. J.J. was such a big part of everything that happened at U.S.A. hockey for the last couple decades before his still shocking and untimely passing.

And I thought Brian Burke, who was the GM of the 2010 Olympic team that was oh so close to beating Canada for the gold medal in Vancouver, he told a story to NHL.com’s Mike Morreale, who basically he relayed the fact that after the Crosby golden goal goes in, everyone’s sort of sitting around talking about how unbelievable the game was, and still trying to digest the U.S. loss. And Brian Burke tells this story all the time of him walking into that locker room after the game saying to the video coach, even before they were going out to get their medals, ‘I need to see that play again, I need to see it over and over and over again to understand exactly what Sidney Crosby did, and where he put that puck.’

And as they were still digesting it over a beer after the game, there was Jim Johannson in the locker room, helping the equipment managers tape up sticks saying ‘Hey, we’ve got guys going back to NHL teams on the first flight out at 6 a.m. tomorrow, we need to help them get prepared so they can go back to their team.’ [Burke] said ‘We’re still all trying to figure out what just happened, and he’s moving on to the next thing, just trying to help the equipment manager as the guy who’s in charge of the entire operation.’ Says a lot about Jim Johannson, and says a lot about his impact on U.S.A. hockey over the last number of years.

If you haven’t read Mike Morreale’s story on NHL.com, I urge you to do so, about Jim Johannson, someone that we still miss and certainly from the players that spoke in the piece, Patrick Kane and many other stars, had a big impact on their careers, and their interest in playing hockey as well.”

Mike McKenna: “Johannson had time for everybody. I remember in 2013, he called me to ask if I could play for the U.S. team at the World Championships, and I had to decline because my first daughter was set to be born right in the middle of it, and I told Jim ‘I’ve never wanted to do anything more in my career than wear the U.S. jersey, this is tops on my list, but I can’t miss this.’

Then a couple years later in 2017, he called me again and said ‘Hey Mike, I remember what you said, and I don’t know what your contract status is yet’, because it was ahead of free agency that summer, and he said ‘but we’re putting you on the testing list for the Olympic team, and we want to make sure that you have some interest and know what could be possible.’

And it blew me away that he remembered that conversation first off, and I was incredibly honoured to even be in the mix there. And I talked to my friend Nick Petraglia, who’s done a lot of stuff for U.S.A. hockey, and he said you wouldn’t find anybody who was more beloved and respected within U.S.A. hockey, and he has his fingerprints all over how hockey has grown in the United States. Just a truly top-shelf, humble, genuine human being, Jim Johannson.”

You can watch the full episode here…