Goyette, from St-Nazaire, Que., is the sixth female player the IIHF has inducted. She joins Canadians Angela James and Geraldine Heaney, who entered in 2008.
Goyette was 41 years old when she played her final game for Canada at the 2007 world championship. She won Olympic gold in 2002 and 2006 as well as eight world championships.
“Danielle Goyette developed every year,” former Swedish women’s coach Peter Elander said. “She was a better player as a 41-year-old than a 26-year-old.”
Her 114 goals and 105 assists in 172 career game ranks her fourth all-time in national team points.
“I didn’t have role models as a female hockey player,” Goyette said. “My role models were the guys I got inducted with. That’s pretty amazing, Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin.
“Paul Henderson, you hear about that goal all the time and I can’t tell you where I was that day, but I can tell you I heard about that goal year after year and that’s what made it special today.”
Now 47, Goyette is currently the head coach of the University of Calgary women’s hockey team and will be an assistant coach to Dan Church on the Olympic women’s team.
“When you think about what you want to leave behind, it’s a chance for girls to be able to play hockey and it to be normal to play hockey,” she said.
“When the girls start to play hockey at five years old and on a girls’ team, I think we did a pretty good job and not just talking about me, but all my teammates who have been through it.”
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