George Parros Sums Up Hall-of-Famer Teemu Selanne in One Word: Class
- Updated: November 14, 2017
Not taking anything away from Friday’s ring ceremony but Monday evening was the highlight — the coup de gras, if you will — of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s induction weekend. Among this year’s inductees, as you may already know, the SoCal contingent was solid with Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya headlining the event.
While Kariya contributed so much to the Anaheim Ducks organization, though, it was Selanne who was on the 2006-07 team that won the Stanley Cup — the first for the franchise and even for the state of California.
A few of Selanne’s teammates from that Cup win were on hand Monday evening for the induction ceremony, including Jean-Sebastien Giguere and 2007 Conn Smythe winner Scott Niedermayer. Another one of Selanne’s teammates from that spring who was on hand was former tough guy George Parros.
(photo credit to Jeff Duarte)
Just prior to the induction ceremony, my colleague Jeff Duarte and I had a chance to ask Parros about his former teammate’s entrance into hockey’s Holiest Shrine and what first comes to mind when thinking of Selanne.
“Class. He’s an unbelievable human being. He’s as good as he was a hockey player,” Parros said.
Parros, who is now the NHL’s Director of Player Safety, may be impressed by his personality but Selanne’s on-ice performance in the twilight of his career may have been what mesmerized the mustachioed ex-enforcer the most.
“He was called ‘The Flash’ for a good reason,” Parros continued. “He was still the fastest in his later years at 40 years old. It’s pretty impressive.”
As an added bonus, my aforementioned colleague complimented Parros’s wife, Tiffany, on her work on ‘Hockey Wives’. Mrs. Parros was so thankful that she hugged Mr. Duarte before continuing on.
After a two-game stint with the Colorado Avalanche, Parros was traded to Anaheim early in 2006-07. He would play 32 games for the Ducks that season, scoring once and registering 102 penalty minutes. Parros would go on to play five games the following spring en route to the Stanley Cup.
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