TORONTO -- The Hockey Hall of Fame, the majestic stone structure at the corner of this metropolis' Yonge and Front streets, has become a second home not only for Canadian legends but also a steady flow in the past decade from Pittsburgh, from Mario Lemieux to Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Joe Mullen, Larry Murphy, Bob Johnson, Craig Patrick, Mike Lange and others.

Now, they are joined by the Post-Gazette's Dave Molinari, who documented those careers and countless others in covering the Penguins the past 27 seasons.

Molinari yesterday was presented with the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, given annually by the Professional Hockey Writers Association "in recognition of distinguished members of the newspaper profession whose words have brought honor to journalism and to hockey." Recipients are recognized in the Hall, separately from the players and builders categories, and honored at a daytime luncheon.

"Being awarded the Ferguson is the greatest honor anyone in my line of work can receive," Molinari said in his acceptance speech. "To be deemed worthy of inclusion in a group that includes the legends of our industry and colleagues for whom I have so much respect is genuinely humbling. They are people who live and breathe and love this game, and who tell its stories so brilliantly."

The illustrious quartet of players inducted in the evening ceremony was one of the best in Hall history: Detroit Red Wings cornerstone Steve Yzerman, 741-goal scorer Brett Hull, dominant defenseman Brian Leetch and the only former Penguin of the class, Luc Robitaille. Inducted in the builders category was New Jersey Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello. John Davidson, president of the St. Louis Blues, was the recipient of the Foster Hewitt Award for broadcasting.

Molinari was presented by Tom McMillan, a vice president with the Penguins and his one-time competitor.

"Dave has been there through bankruptcies and through Stanley Cups," McMillan said in his introduction. "He's covered some really bad teams but also some of the greatest players and people in our sport."

He cited Lemieux, several of the Hall members and current players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

"We're lucky to have those guys in Pittsburgh, and we're lucky to have Dave covering them. Dave is a big reason hockey has become as popular as it has in our city, always giving us fair coverage even in the down times."

Among those in attendance were NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and other hockey luminaries such as Mark Messier, Scotty Bowman, Glen Sather, Al MacInnis, Mike Richter, Rod Gilbert, Tie Domi, as well as broadcasters and writers from across North America.

Murphy, a member of the Penguins' championship teams in 1991-92, was among those, too.

"We knew, as players, that when Dave would write the story, he would get it right," Murphy said. "As a player, that's important. Whether it was after a win or loss, or we were high or low, you always felt like you could talk to Dave and that he'd be fair and accurate."

Molinari, 54, was born in Glassport, graduated from Elizabeth Forward High School and Penn State University, and broke into the business at the McKeesport Daily News. He joined The Pittsburgh Press in 1980, started on the Penguins beat three years later and was hired by the Post-Gazette in 1993.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.