ELECTIONS: 1951

The 1951 election saw a better turnout. Eighteen members cast votes, which then meant 14 were needed for election.

Fred Waghorn, Earl Seibert and Joe Primeau were elected.

Waghorn's enshrinement was heavily endorsed by long-suffering Sabre fan (and hockey writer) Karl-Eric Reif.

"If one referee is deserving of enshrinement, it must be the British-born Waghorn, who not only reffed more than 2,000 games during a 50-year career that began before the Stanley Cup was created, but is the only official to offer genuine, positive innovation to the game in that role," Reif said.

"It was Waghorn who instituted the practise of dropping the puck for face-offs, rather than placing it on the ice between the players' sticks, as had been the custom. It was Waghorn who replaced the referees' steel whistles with hand-held bells in the days of outdoor hockey in subfreezing temperatures, then replaced the bells with whistles again, once games moved indoors. And it was Waghorn whose Solomonic judgment provided one of the game's best-known rules and greatest yarns: while Waghorn was reffing a turn-of-the-century contest, the puck struck a goalpost and split in half, one part going through the uprights and across the line, the other part skittering wide. The attacking team claimed goal, but Waghorn ruled otherwise, declaring that the puck had not entirely crossed the goal line."

HONOURED MEMBERS:

REFEREES/OFF-ICE EXECUTIVES:

Here is how the final voting went: