ATLANTA -- Alexander Mogilny and Jim Kelley, one of the Sabres' most electric players on the ice and one of the area's most respected voices off it, are joining the Sabres' Hall of Fame.
The team announced today it has elected Mogilny and Kelley as the two members of its 2011 class. They will be enshrined on New Year's Day prior to the Sabres' home game against Boston in HSBC Arena.
Mogilny joined Pat LaFontaine in energizing the fan base during the early 1990s. Mogilny terrorized opposing goalies with his speed and shot, never more so than during the 1992-93 season. With LaFontaine feeding him and Rick Jeanneret shouting "Alexander the Great!" from the broadcast booth, Mogilny scored a team-record 76 goals. He spent the first six of his 16 NHL seasons in Buffalo (1989-95), recording 211 goals and 444 points in 381 games.
Kelley, a longtime reporter and columnist for The Buffalo News, has been covering the Sabres since 1979. He started with The News and stayed at the paper until 2000, a tenure that included the 1999 Stanley Cup finals. Kelley, who has also worked for Fox Sports, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and Rogers Sportsnet, has covered 26 Cup finals.
In 2004, Kelley earned Hockey Hall of Fame honors by winning the Elmer Ferguson Award, given for sportswriting excellence. The Timon High and Canisius College graduate still lives in Western New York and continues to write about the Sabres and the NHL for several outlets.
---John Vogl
