Clare Drake, who attended graduate school at the University of Oregon during the 1960s, has been announced as one of seven 2017 inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Drake, who coached Team Canada during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid as well as the NHL's Edmonton Oilers during the 1975–76 season, is known as the "dean of coaching" and is credited with being one of the first Canadians to apply an analytical approach to coaching hockey.
His University of Alberta hockey teams won six championships during his 28 years at the helm, and he also holds the distinction of being the only coach to win hockey and football championships in the same year, when in 1967 he led Alberta's hockey and football squads to national titles. When he retired in 1989, he did so as the holder of the North American collegiate record for wins, with 697.
During his "retirement" he was part of the Jack Adams Trophy winning Winnipeg Jets staff in 1989–90, and mentored the silver medal winning Canadian Women's National Hockey Team at the 1998 Winter Olympics. A lifelong educator—Drake taught physical education at the UA while also coaching there—he established clinics to train fellow coaches, and was involved with the development of the Canadian National Coaching Certification Program. In 1990, the University of Alberta renamed its arena Clare Drake Arena in his honor.
In addition to his Hockey Hall of Fame honor (or honour, for the benefit of our Canadian Ducks), Drake is a member of the Canada Sports Hall of Fame, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, the Order of Canada, and the Order of Hockey; a recipient of the Alberta Centennial Medal and the Geoff Gowan Award (the highest award given to any Canadian coach in any sport); and in 2008 was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence.