Thornton takes MVP
Once again the Boston Bruins fans had to watch one of their franchise players receive accolades and awards in a jersey that was anything but black and gold. In probably one of the worst trades in recent memory, The Bruins shipped Joe Thornton to San Jose, for three good players, and he did everything to make it known that they made a massive error in judgement. Joe Thornton propelled the San Jose Sharks into the playoffs, transformed Jonathan Cheechoo into a 50+ goal scorer and Rocket Richard Award winner, won himself the Art Ross Trophy for most points in a season, and capped the year off by winning the Hart Memorial Trophy for league MVP.
There weren't many surprises as the rest of the awards went pretty much to whom we all expected. Here's the rundown:
Hart Memorial Trophy Winner: Joe Thornton
Lester B. Pearson Award Winner: Jaromir Jagr
Vezina Trophy Winner: Mikka Kiprusoff
James Norris Memorial Trophy Winner: Nicklas Lidstrom
Calder Trophy Winner: Alexander Ovechkin
Frank J. Selke Trophy Winner: Rod Brind'Amour
Lad Byng Memorial Trophy Winner: I still don't care
Jack Adams Award Winner: Lindy Ruff
Chuck Norris Trophy: Brett Hedican
Alexander Ovechkin ended the evening winning the Calder Trophy for best rookie, and was then named to the NHL's first team All Stars. He is the first rookie to do that in 15 years since Eddie Belfour named in 1991 (although I suspect he may have bribed a Texas Sheriff with a thousand million dollars to get that nod). I can't wait to see what this kid does next year. Same goes for Sidney Crosby and Dion Phaneuf, who had amazing rookie campaigns. These kids will one day be the backbone of the new NHL.
First Team All Stars:
Left Wing: Alexander Ovechkin
Center: Joe Thornton
Right Wing: Jaromir Jagr
Defenceman: Nicklas Lidstrom
Defenceman: Scott Niedermayer
Goalie: Mikka Kiprusoff
Second Team All Stars:
Left Wing: Daniel Alfredsson
Center: Eric Staal
Right Wing: Dany Heatley
Defenceman: Sergei Zubov
Defenceman: Zdeno Chara
Goalie: Martin Brodeur
All Rookie Team:
Left Wing: Alexander Ovechkin
Center: Sidney Crosby
Right Wing: Brad Boyes
Defenceman: Dion Phaneuf
Defenceman: Andrej Meszaros
Goalie: Henrik Lundqvist
Congratulations to all the award winners, and everyone on a terrific 2005-2006 NHL season!
Your friend on ice,
Captain Bosh
Comments
Here's why I hate the offseason:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/photo?slug=b8d81694f0224e0697ec307192724ce8.hurricanes_commodore_hockey_nckt110&prov=ap
Scary.
I love hockey, I love hockey awards, and I like most of the guys who won them...but that awards show needs some serious help. Bad jokes left and right. Awkward moments. Strained teleprompter readings. Terrible Canadian rock music. No offense to those involved, but the whole things needs a makeover. Whew. Kind of sad when the most entertaining thing about it is a 20 year old Russian with bad English...
Posted by: Playoff Moustache | June 23, 2006 01:07 PM
Ovechkin has been speaking English for less than a year, and he was great last night.
I liked the comedian sitting with Messier, that was actually pretty funny. The photo segment, making fun of the pic that Ovechkin took was good too. The band sucked. Musical interludes were unecessary.
The NHL is all into the hip, and cool new game, they should upgrade the awards. Keep the old ones, but have categories like:
Best Goal
Best Save
Best Check
Best Fight
Best Shot
and so on. MTV it a little bit...but without the crappy band.
Posted by: BOSH | June 23, 2006 01:20 PM
I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I'm actually curious as to who won the lady Byng...I always had a sense of hockey bushido.
Oh, and by the way, a thousand million = 1 billion.
Posted by: jeff | June 23, 2006 07:34 PM