TORONTO - (AP) Former Colorado Avalanche forward Joe Sakic was welcomed into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday.

Sakic was presented with his Hall of Fame member ring at a news conference Monday morning and then attended the ceremony in Toronto Monday evening.

Sakic spent 20 years with the same franchise and is the leading scorer in Avs history.

“As a kid, I think all of us, you just hoped to make the National Hockey League and hope to just play in one game. And today I stand here and feel very blessed,” Sakic said. “As a kid I was supposed to be too small and too slow to get to this level. And as I stand here now, I’m truly humbled by this honor.”

Former teammates Adam Foote and Ray Bourque were on hand to Sakic’s induction.

NHL forwards Mats Sundin, Pavel Bure and Adam Oates were also inducted along with Buffalo Sabres play-by-play voice Rick Jeanneret and Globe and Mail columnist Roy MacGregor.

Jeanneret received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster, and MacGregor was given the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for excellence in hockey journalism.