November 18, 2019

Jim Rutherford, a native son of Beeton, a 3x Stanley Cup Champion and the General Manager of the Pittsburg Penguins is being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov 18.

Beeton has the opportunity to honour and celebrate one of their Hockey Stars.
Pittsburg Penguin’s General Manager Jim Rutherford, a 3x Stanley Cup Champion, former OHL Champion and 1996 Memorial Cup Champion, who is a native of Beeton, is being inducted into The Hockey Hall of Fame in the builders category.
Rutherford, a goaltender, played his minor hockey in Beeton and in 1967 was the goaltender for the Banting Memorial High School Hockey Team when they won the OFSAA Championship.
His hockey career continued with a successful Junior term with the Hamilton Jr Red Wings and a 13 year career in the NHL with assignments in Detroit, Pittsburg , LA and Toronto. He twice represented Canada as the goaltender in the Men’s Hockey World Championships
Rutherford got his managerial start with the Windsor Spitfires in 1984, building the franchise into an OHL Champion by 1988. He went on to oversee a highly successful Detroit Jr Red Wings and served as the OHL’s Chairman of the Board of Govenors in 1993 and 1994. He was twice honoured with the OHL Executive of the Year award.
Rutherford made his jump to the NHL in 1994 and has been in the front office for the last 25 years. Twenty years as President and General Manager of the Hartford Whalers / Carolina Hurricanes, where he won his first Stanley Cup in 2006 and five years as General Manager of the Pittsburg Penguins where he won back –to-back Stanley Cup’s in 2016 – 2017
He received the Executive of the Year award in 2002 and 2006 and The General Manager of the Year award in 2016.
In 2019, Rutherford was further honoured by the OHL with the designation of The Jim Rutherford Goaltender Award to be given annually to the top goaltender in the OHL
Today is a day to celebrate Jim Rutherford, a Beeton Hockey Hero and a Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee.