Matt Cullen heads Class of 2024 for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Matt Cullen grew up in northern Minnesota, scooting around the rinks in Virginia and Moorhead. His father, Terry, was a high school coach, so Matt and his younger brothers and sister were brought up in a hockey atmosphere.

Life came “full circle” for Cullen years later when his three sons were scurrying through PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh while dad was winning Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

“I can still picture them doing their online school at the rink, skating … at lunch time and running around the rink, coming into the locker room, not wanting to eat their vegetables or whatever,” Cullen said. “It was just some really fun times, some of the best years of my life.”

Cullen, 47, played 21 seasons in the NHL with eight different teams, including two stints with the Wild.

On Thursday, he was chosen to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame with Brianna Decker, Kevin Stevens, Frederic McLaughlin and the 2002 Paralympic sled hockey team.

The group will be enshrined Dec. 4 in Pittsburgh; the U.S. Hall of Fame is in Eveleth, Minn. This is the 52nd class, and brings the number of members to 209.

Cullen, drafted by Anaheim in the second round in 1996, skated in 1,516 NHL games, scoring 266 goals. He won the Cup twice with Pittsburgh and once with Carolina, in 2006. He played with the Wild from 2010-13, and then again in 2017-18.

“Watching the North Stars growing up, playing for Minnesota was something I always wanted to do,” said Cullen, who played college hockey at St. Cloud State. “It was a little later in my career, so I could just appreciate being at home and playing in front of friends and family. It was a great way to appreciate being a Minnesotan.”

In 2015 he signed with the Penguins, joining a powerhouse led by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

“I know I wouldn’t be sitting here today if [general manager] Jim Rutherford hadn’t brought me to Pittsburgh and given me the opportunity late in my career when I was considering finishing up,” Cullen said. “Getting there and getting a chance to play with guys like Sid and Gino and Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury, it was pretty special.

“The two years we won the Cup I had my young boys around the locker room, it was kind of full circle for me, [after] growing up in the locker room with my dad as the coach.”

Cullen made his NHL debut with Anaheim in 1997 when the NHL was still a rough-and-tumble league, and played through an evolution before he retired in 2019.

“I got kind of a unique view going through the previous style of game and then going through the lockout and going through the other side when the focus was on skill and speed,” he said. “It’s been kind of fun to watch the game evolve, and once that happened, it’s been no stopping it.

“I can’t say enough about what a good spot the game is in right now.”

Decker was a college star at Wisconsin, where she won an NCAA title in 2011 and the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2012. She was a three-time Olympian, winning gold in 2018 in South Korea, and played on six gold-medal winning world championship teams. She’s now a coach at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault.

Stevens spent 15 seasons in the NHL, and won two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh. He had 54 goals and 69 assists in 1991-92 playing with Mario Lemieux, and was a Hart Trophy runner-up to Lemieux that season. In 874 NHL games, he had 329 goals. He was an All-America at Boston College and played on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team. Stevens now scouts for the Penguins and, after having his career derailed by drug addiction, works for a non-profit to assist others in that predicament.

McLaughlin, who died in 1944 at age 67, was a key figure in the founding of the Chicago Blackhawks and served as the team president for two Stanley Cup champions. He was noted for his support of American-born players.

The 2002 Paralympic sled hockey team won gold in Salt Lake City, setting the stage for the program’s continued success. The team’s top player, defenseman Sylvester Flis, had 11 goals and 18 points in the tournament, records that still stand today. The team’s goalie was Manny Guerra of Plymouth.