I may have mentioned this before, but today is Hockey Hall of Fame Day here in Toronto, which means I had a chance to put my shoddy photography skills into practice this morning. The HHOF put on a press conference starting at 10:30, something that allows beat writers and TV crews to gather some footage that they might not otherwise get their hands on during the actual ceremony tonight.

The inductees:

Former Oilers great Glenn Anderson was yukking it up here, recalling how he "got the call" that told him he was going to the HHOF. He said it felt like someone was playing a practical joke on him ("I thought it was Slats," he said) when he kept calling numbers and getting no response to the message he received.

To Anderson's left is Kootenay Ice vice-president and general manager Jeff Chynoweth, the son of inductee Ed Chynoweth, the late long-time president of the WHL and Canadian junior hockey.

Next up is Igor Larionov, who was by far the most popular man among the media contingent, more for his work with the KHL than the Hall of Fame unfortunately (more on that below). I was surprised as just how small Larionov was in person; it's really remarkable that he had the career he did at 5-foot-9 and 165 or so pounds. He's also very soft spoken.

And finally, on the end there, is 62-year-old former linesman Ray Scapinello, who had some of the day's best stories. My favourite was when he talked about his relationship with his father, an immigrant from Italy who never really grew attached to the Canadian game. After a few years in the NHL as an official, Scapinello was nonetheless still living at home in his 30s, and had amassed a considerable stick collection from some of the most famous players in the game. One day, he came home to find his father had lopped the end off of all the sticks and used them up as posts in his tomato garden.

" 'Best wishes, Phil Esposito,' sawed in half and hammered into the soil to stake tomatoes," he said.

A few more pictures here:

That's the media throng, some of which had disappeared by this point. It's a long afternoon for Anderson and Larionov (him especially so) given the amount of time they give to media during the day. Toronto has four daily newspapers and three round-the-clock sports television stations that were all well represented there, and there was some media from elsewhere (although not as much as in year's past).

For those who don't know, the HHOF is sort of in the basement of a shopping and business centre right in the heart of downtown Toronto at Yonge and Front streets. Tonight's ceremony is taking over a good part of the mall's common area, so this huge setup was upstairs as you make your way through to the Great Hall, which is where the presser was today. I'm sure it'll look great tonight when the presentations are made.

Larionov was the man of the hour for the media, and you almost feel sorry for the guy given his is supposed to be more of a celebration of his career than a discussion about Russian hockey, politics and the wrangling that's going on between the NHL and KHL right now. Still, when you're a public figure, that's the way it goes sometimes.

I didn't record a lot of what was said in the scrums, but here's a bit from Larionov that includes some minor jousting with a reporter. When I came in, he was talking about a time that he gave Alex Ovechkin some advice:

Larionov: "I spent some time with Alex when he was 16 years old, he was playing hockey in Moscow, and I think his mom and dad asked me to spend some time with Alex. I was coming back in the off-season for a short break and I spent a couple of days [with him] in the gym so I told him what to expect to be a great hockey player. I'm glad that he was following my advice because now he's a real force and a really talented hockey player and I hope that lasts a long time."

Reporter: "I wanted to ask you a bit about Alex Medvedev, I spoke with him this morning — "

Larionov: "This morning?"

Reporter: "Yeah."

Larionov: "All right."

Reporter: "You're obviously working with him very, very close now, what do you think his goals are for the KHL —"

Larionov: "You know the answer, you talked to him this morning. He's the head of the league so he'll give you a better answer, not me."

Whew, tough crowd. Keep in mind that Larionov had been speaking with the media for quite some time and was getting a ton of KHL questions. He was smiling through this sequence, but you could tell his patience was waning.

Medvedev's in Toronto for the ceremony tonight and has been pretty prevalent in the local media, so questions about him were too be expected.

"He's trying to make a bit of a statement to the NHL," Larionov said of Medvedev's dealings so far. "How many years has the NHL been taking Russian players? So nowadays they have to recognize the contracts, on both sides. It's possible but I guess there's going to be a new round of negotiations between Gary [Bettman] and Alex.

"It's been a long time now. It's been a very delayed process and everybody expects that it'll be over soon. This season we're going to show what we can do, have an agreement with NHL and KHL, and we'll see how they can work together."

A few more pictures to end off things here:

• "Professor" Makes the Grade [James Murphy, Inside Hockey]
  
• Larionov's Hall induction honors a truly remarkable journey [Pierre LeBrun, ESPN]
• Hockey Hall inductees tell stories, relive memories [Craig Custance, SportingNews.com]
• Honour too long coming [Robert Tychkowski, Sun Media]
• Larionov worries about future of KHL [Eric Duhatschek, Globesports.com]