Boston Bruins News: Patrice Bergeron Wins Selke.
The Boston Bruins fan can celebrate a little tonight. Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron has been named the winner of the 2015 Frank J. Selke Trophy at tonight’s NHL Awards. The Selke Trophy goes to the forward “who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game”.
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This is the second consecutive and third overall Selke win. (He previously won the Awards in 2012 and 2014.)
Bergeron finished the 2014-15 regular season as being the most dangerous player to face in the faceoff circle. He led the league this year winning 60.2% of battles. This is the second time in three seasons that Bergeron has been the best faceoff player in the league (Bergeron had a 62.1% faceoff win percentage during the 2012-13 season.) He’s also led all players in total faceoff wins for the second straight season(1,175 this season, and 1,015 last year).
It was a close run for Bergeron this year. While the three finalists were the same as the year before, Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks came close to beating Bergeron (Bergeron only won by ten points in 2014) for the Award. (Toews won the Selke in 2013.) When Toews was nominated for the Selke, he appreciated the honor of being considered along Bergeron.
Bergeron was equally honored to be considered by the Professional Hockey Writers Association for being one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL.
Bergeron accepted the award with his usual dignity and humility. “You look at the names that have won it three times,” said Bergeron on receiving the Selke. “It’s pretty special to be now part of it and humbling at the same time. Winning the awards or not, I wouldn’t change the way I play the game.”
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Bergeron now joins a very exclusive club with his third Selke win. In the history of the award, only four other players have been declared the league’s best two-way forward in hockey as many times as Bergeron. He joins Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, Jere Lehtinen, and Pavel Datsyuk as a three-time winner.
After winning the award, Bergeron thanked the fans and told them he was going to get ready for next season. We call him ‘Rafters’ for a reason, and he keeps validating our faith in him. Congratulations on this well deserved honor, and we’ll see you in September.