The state’s premier two-way hockey player and one of the country’s greatest women’s rugby players highlight the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025.
Anchorage’s Brandon Dubinsky was a 13-year veteran of the NHL who racked up 153 goals and 438 points in 823 career regular-season games. He played his first six seasons with the New York Rangers and the final seven with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who rewarded him after two seasons with a six-year, $35.1 million extension. Dubinsky played youth hockey in Anchorage, junior hockey in Portland and made his NHL debut with the Rangers in 2006.
Eagle River’s Alev Kelter is a legendary rugby player and three-time Olympian who won a bronze medal with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Games and is the first American woman in World Rugby Sevens Series history to reach the famed 1,000-point career benchmark. The 33-year-old Kelter is currently a pro in women’s 15s and was part of a Premiership league championship for Saracens of London. Kelter was also a dual-sport NCAA Division I athlete for the University of Wisconsin in hockey and soccer.
“Alev Kelter and Brandon Dubinsky are extremely talented athletes that put together sparkling resumes,” said Alaska Sports Hall of Fame executive director Harlow Robinson. “They’re two Alaskans that excelled on the biggest stage of their respective sports and we’re excited to induct them into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame and add their enshrinement portraits to the wall.”
Upon enshrinement, inductee portraits are displayed at the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame Gallery at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
Dubinsky and Kelter will be honored at an induction ceremony and banquet in April at the Anchorage Museum. They are joined in the Class of 2025 by two moments:
- Mario Chalmers’ game-saving 3-pointer in NCAA title game in 2008.
- Anchorage named America’s choice to host 1992 Winter Olympics.
“The moments that get inducted into the Hall of Fame are the times that have resonated historically,” Robinson said. “Mario’s shot and Anchorage’s Olympic bid are very different types of moments but both of them evoke a ton of pride for Alaskans to this day.”
The Class of 2025 will be the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame’s 17th inducted class.
Dubinsky is arguably the most versatile, complete player among the 17 Alaskans who have competed in the world’s best league.
He scored. Dubinsky bagged 153 goals, 285 assists and 438 points in 823 career regular-season games for the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets – the third-most games played behind Alaska Sports Hall of Famer Scotty Gomez and fellow retired center Nate Thompson – to rank second in all three scoring categories behind Gomez. He is the only Alaskan to twice author NHL seasons of 20 or more goals, and his nine seasons of double-digit goals and seven seasons of 40 or more points ranks second behind Gomez (10 of each). In the 2010-11 season, Dubinsky led the New York Rangers in goals, assists and points with 24-30—54 totals in 77 games.
He defended. Dubinsky killed penalties and his 11 career short-handed goals tops Alaskans. He frequently took important defensive-zone face-offs, a sign coaches trusted him. He won 52.9 percent of his face-offs in the NHL. And Dubinsky’s line often drew difficult defensive assignments – against the likes of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, for instance.
And he got his nose dirty. Dubinsky’s 905 career penalty minutes tops Alaskans and he fought 43 times in his NHL career, whether to stick up for a teammate, or himself, or try to tilt the momentum in a game.
Dubinsky three times as a NHLer skated for Team USA, twice at the World Championships and once in the World Cup. He last played in the 2018-19 season for Columbus and retired due to a wrist injury.
The Rangers picked Dubinsky, 60th overall, in the second round of the 2004 draft. He made his pro debut in the American Hockey League playoffs in 2006, bagging 5-5—10 totals in 11 games for Hartford. The following season, 2006-07, he put up 21-22—43 totals in 71 games for Hartford and made his NHL debut, playing six games for the Rangers. Dubinsky made the Rangers roster out of training camp in 2007-08 – Gomez was his teammate – and delivered 14-26—40 totals while playing all 82 games.
The only time he appeared in the minor leagues after that was when he played for his hometown Alaska Aces of the ECHL – as did Alaska NHLers Gomez, Thompson and Joey Crabb – during the NHL lockout that delayed the 2012-13 season.
Prior to turning pro, Dubinsky played four seasons for the Portland Winter Hawks (now Winterhawks) of the Western Hockey League, debuting at 16 and generating 82-148—230 totals across 234 regular season games.
Perhaps no other Alaskan has excelled in as many sports as Kelter. She starred in hockey, soccer and flag football at Chugiak High, was a dual-sport Division I athlete for the University of Wisconsin in hockey and soccer, and was a three-time Olympian in women’s 7s rugby.
As a defenseman for the Wisconsin hockey team, Kelter made the all-tournament team while helping the Badgers win the 2011 NCAA championships; as the starting center midfielder for the soccer team, she led Wisconsin to the Sweet 16 in 2009. As a rugby player, Kelter is a force — in women’s 7s, she led Team USA to the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics and is one of the top players in team history.
In Paris, Kelter and her U.S. teammates captured the bronze medal with a dramatic 14-12 victory over Australia. With no time left on the clock, the Americans scored the game-winning try in the bronze-medal match at the Summer Olympics in France.
Kelter sank to her knees on the pitch, her head bowed, when it was all over. It was her third Olympic appearance, and her first medal.
Her dream growing up was to play hockey for Team USA, but it didn’t work out, so she reinvented herself as an American hero in rugby.
In her 10 years in the World Rugby Sevens Series, she racked up 99 points or more six times including a league-high 171 points in 2020. She was fourth with 168 points in 2018 and seventh with 149 points in 2019 when the Alaskan established herself among the greatest players in the world.
Kelter is rugby royalty, a veteran of three Olympics and three World Cups while winning an Olympic bronze and Pan Am Games silver medals.
She also owns 250 caps with the national team and is one of only two Century Club players in World Rugby Sevens Series history with 100 career tries and 100 career conversions.
Known for making big shots, Chalmers sank the biggest 3-pointer of his career in the 2008 NCAA tournament title game.
With No. 1 seed Kansas trailing No. 1 seed Memphis 63-60 in the final moments of the NCAA Tournament championship game, Chalmers drained a one-dribble, top-of-the-key 3-pointer that tied the game with 2.1 seconds left in regulation. The Jayhawks won 75-68 in overtime over John Calipari and Derrick Rose, with Chalmers’ shot completing their improbable comeback from a nine-point deficit over the final 2:12 of regulation.
The former Alaska prep player of the year out of Bartlett High finished the game with 18 points and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He averaged 15 points in six tournament games and was selected All-Final Four.
Mario’s Miracle defined Chalmers for the rest of his life. The moment is memorialized in the form of a gigantic, three-story-tall mural in downtown Kansas City.
“It’ll probably be the biggest shot ever made in Kansas history,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
On June 16, 1985, the Sunday editions of Anchorage’s two warring newspapers were uncharacteristically in sync. Both ran huge headlines about the U.S. Olympic Committee’s choice of Anchorage as its bid city to host the 1992 Winter Olympics.
The entire front page of the Anchorage Times was devoted to the news. The Anchorage Daily News published multiple stories too. For the next few years, barely a week would pass without Alaskans hearing more news about the Anchorage Organizing Committee’s unlikely quest to land the 1992 and 1994 Winter Games.
On paper, the effort was a failed effort. The 1992 Winter Olympics were awarded to Albertville, France, where Juneau’s Hilary Lindh made herself at home by winning the silver medal in the women’s downhill ski race. The 1994 Games went to Lillehammer, Norwary, where Palmer’s Tommy Moe became a gold medalist in the downhill and a silver medalist in the super-G.
But the campaign to bring the Olympics to Alaska was a triumph when it came to dispelling myths about Alaska and establishing Anchorage as a host for major winter sporting events.
It injected a sense of pride and purpose into the state and city. One out of three Alaskans said yes to an option on their Permanent Fund Dividend application to donate $5 to the Anchorage Organizing Committee. Two out of three Anchorage voters said yes to an advisory vote on whether the city should pursue the Olympics. More than 3,000 people showed up at the Delaney Park Strip one day to arrange themselves in the shape of the Olympic rings for a widely circulated aerial photo.
The AOC – a group led by PR wizard Rick Mystrom, who would go on to become Anchorage’s mayor – wowed USOC delegates at a meeting in Indianapolis where Anchorage competed against Salt Lake City, Lake Placid and a joint bid by Reno and Lake Tahoe,
A tap-dancing moose and other costumed critters frolicking to the “Wild About Anchorage” song got their attention.
A presentation emphasizing Anchorage’s advantages – a location equidistant from London, Tokyo and New York City; an airport used to daily international flights; a handful of existing sports venues like Kincaid Park and Alyeska Ski Resort; ample daylight and often moderate temperatures in the month of February – kept their attention.
Anchorage won on the first ballot by a substantial margin.
What happened next was a series of high-profile events that tested the city’s organizational skills and a parade of Olympic VIPs who wanted to see Alaska first-hand.
The World Junior Hockey Championships came to Sullivan Arena, bringing some of the greatest skaters to ever play the game. The World Junior Alpine Championships came to Alyeska, showcasing skiers who a few years later stood atop Olympic podiums.
Being America’s Choice put Anchorage and Alaska on the international sports map. It paved the way for the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games. Sports Illustrated, national sports columnists and documentarians cast the state in a positive light. Alaskans who initially scoffed at what they considered a far-fetched idea became believers.
Anchorage eventually lost its status as America’s Choice to Salt Lake City, which went on to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. Salt Lake achieved what a tap-dancing moose could not by bribing numerous sports officials, a scandal that cost a number of high-profile VIPs their jobs.
The section panel is comprised of Beth Bragg (panel chair), former sports editor, Anchorage Daily News; Bruce Cech, Fairbanks sports broadcaster and journalist; Lew Freedman, former Anchorage Daily News sports editor and author of numerous books about Alaska sports; Mike Janecek, longtime Mat-Su Valley high school coach and athletics administrator; Kathleen Navarre, longtime High School coach and administrator in Kodiak and Anchorage; Keith Perkins, Sitka-based high school sports official and broadcaster; Jordan Rodenberger, Alaska’s News Source sports director; Klas Stolpe, former Juneau Empire sports editor; and Doyle Woody, former sports writer and editor at the Anchorage Daily News.
Each selection panel member completes a ballot and the cumulative vote from the public and from the living inductees is aggregated into one ballot each.
Upon enshrinement, inductee portraits are displayed at the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame Gallery at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Each inductee is recognized on the ASHOF website featuring a written biography, video profile and photo gallery.
For full list of Alaska Sports Hall of Fame Inductees, click here.