Hockey great Wayne Gretzky was among a group of nine inductees added to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in Toronto Thursday.

Other inductees including kayakers Alwyn Morris and Hugh Fisher, former national soccer captain Bruce Wilson, Sandra Schmirler's curling foursome, and Dr. Tom Pashby, who develops equipment that makes sport safer for players.

In life we play a game that we love to play and sometimes we're rewarded with special nights like this, said Gretzky, 39, in a report from The Canadian Press.

To be part of Canadian sports history and to be along side so many great Canadian athletes that we've had over the years, it's a real honour and thrill for me, he added.

Gretzky, who is the NHL's all-time points leader, has won just about every sporting honour available and went directly into the Hockey Hall of Fame last autumn after retiring a year ago. The Great One was appointed executive director of Canada's Olympic hockey team on Wednesday.

Morris, 42, and Fisher, 45, won gold and bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in kayak.

I think it is a fundamental part of our makeup as Canadians to think about canoes and kayaks, said Fisher, a family doctor in Pemberton, B.C.

Everybody relates to the sport. This is close to our heart, what we are, and how we define ourselves.

What we did is part of that, he said in a report from CP.

Morris also won the Tom Longboat Trophy in 1977 as the top native athlete in North America.

Wilson, 50, earned 66 caps in soccer internationals and was captain of the Canadian team for 10 years. He is only the second soccer player to be named to the hall.

One of the biggest things I have learned in playing for our country is a true appreciation of our country, Wilson said.

We got a shock, us players, when we played abroad in places like Haiti, and realized just how lucky we are to be in a country like Canada.

The Schmirler rink won Olympic gold in Nagano, Japan, two years ago. The four also won three Canadian and world curling championships. Schmirler died of cancer in March at 36.

I felt like there was so much as a team we could have done if cancer hadn't claimed Sandra's life, said Marcia Gudereit, the foursome's lead. It's an incredible honour, but I wish circumstances were different.

Pashby, 85, entered the hall after developing helmets, face guards, visors and other equipment to protect the face. He became involved in hockey helmet safety after his son suffered a Grade three concussion playing hockey 40 years ago.

I feel a bit embarrassed to be in a group of world champions, Pashby said. But, people say you deserve it, so if I hear that often enough I will begin to believe it.

These last inductees bring the number of honoured members in Canada's Sports Hall of Fame to 419.