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"I remember the first couple of years when I came up, I was scared to the death of him," Stevens said with laughter. "I grew up watch- ing him and I was kind of like him. He always wants the puck. They then took me off his line because I couldn't play with him because it wasn't working. Eventually it all came togeth- er, and we won a couple of Cups and it was an amazing, amazing time." The dominant power forward spent more than 15 years in the NHL, but "Artie," as he was affectionately nicknamed, was also thrilled to get to spend some time with the 2002 Paralympic Sled Hockey Team and learn about their gold-medal journey this week in Pittsburgh. "This is quite an honor, and it is great to be up here with the others and the sled team," Stevens said. "I honestly didn't know much about the sled team until I sat down with these guys. What unbelievable guys." Of course, Stevens has helped inspire many through his own remarkable comeback from a devastating facial injury in 1993 and his resil- ience and dedication advocating for addiction awareness and support through his non-profit Power Forward 25. "I try to help people," Stevens said. "I was very lucky to have my sister come to me at the right time to form this. We help other people who are struggling with addiction. In the addiction world, the only thing I have to do to help people is tell the truth. I tell people what happened to me. I got hurt. I got stuck on some things. "If I can help people that way, I try to do the best I can. I take it one day at a time. Follow through and life is good. I am so grateful to be standing up here today." Decker may not have played for Pittsburgh like Cullen or Stevens, but she was a "huge" childhood Penguins fan in Dousman, Wisconsin. "I invited (Jaromir) Jagr tonight, but he didn't seem to show up," Decker said in laugh- ter. "He was my favorite player growing up." An Olympic goal medalist, NCAA champion and eight-time world champion as a player, Decker had a remarkable on-ice career and today continues to positively impact the game as a coach at Shattuck- St. Mary 's and with Team USA on the international stage. " I h a d t h e t r e m e n d o u s h o n o r o f p l ay- ing for the U.S. Women's National Team," Decker said. "Representing our country on the world stage was a privilege that I'll never take for granted. "All of my teammates and coaches pushed me to be better, not to just strive for greatness, but to always remember that the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back." P INDUCTION SPEECH LEARN MORE ABOUT DECKER BRIANNA DEC K E R INDUCTION SPEECH LEARN MORE ABOUT STEVENS KEVIN S T E VENS JAN/FEB 2025 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 31