The Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame (NSSHF) today announced that American Hockey League president and CEO David Andrews is among its 2006 inductees in the builders category.
Andrews will be honored at the annual induction ceremony on Oct. 20 in Halifax.
"In every sport there are people who work tirelessly, contributing behind the scenes to ensure success," said Keith MacKenzie, chair of the selection committee. "These individuals are the backbone of organizations and this year’s builder inductees have done remarkable things for their chosen sports."
Andrews, a Nova Scotia native, brings to the AHL presidency a unique background which combines highly successful experiences as a player, coach and manager at the professional level, with sports management credentials as an innovator and strategic planner.
A goaltender in his playing days, Andrews earned a Nova Scotia high school hockey championship and went on to star at Dalhousie University in both rugby and hockey, and was the Tigers’ hockey MVP in 1969. After a successful four-year playing career in Europe, he returned to play an additional college season at the University of British Columbia, where he was selected as MVP and a Conference All-Star.
Following his playing career, Andrews served as technical director for the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association, and served on the Canadian Hockey Association Development Council where he was instrumental in the development of national coaching and officiating certification programs, and in the development of the CHA Program of Excellence.
Andrews later coached in the Western Hockey League, reaching the Memorial Cup finals with Victoria, and was the first head coach of the Canadian National Under-18 program. After joining the Edmonton Oilers organization, he was on the management team of two Stanley Cup champions and served as general manager of the 1993 Calder Cup champion Cape Breton Oilers, based in Sydney, N.S.
Currently serving his 12th year as president of the AHL, Andrews has seen the league grow from 16 to 27 teams, adding more than 20 new cities and expanding its footprint geographically to create a greater presence across North America. His positioning of the AHL as a dedicated player development league has led to affiliation relationships with all 30 NHL teams, as well as the absorption of six cities from the former IHL in 2001.
This growth has led to an environment where more than 80 percent of today’s NHL players, coaches and officials have served an apprenticeship in the American Hockey League.
During his tenure at the AHL, Andrews has also played a significant role both independently and with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to design, develop and introduce significant changes to professional hockey’s rules. Among these changes were the four-on-four overtime concept, the awarding of a point for a regulation tie, the establishment of hurry-up line changes to speed up the game, the implementation of a shootout and the creation of the goaltenders’ restricted area behind the net.
Andrews was inducted into the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005.
