Boston Bruins Shut Out At NHL Awards

Jun 22, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron walks the red carpet during the 2016 NHL Awards at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 22, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron walks the red carpet during the 2016 NHL Awards at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports

We should have known it was going to be a bad night for the Boston Bruins. It started out pretty bad for the hockey world in general. The hockey world collectively moaned as the NHL proudly announced that Las Vegas would officially be joining the NHL family with an expansion team. As Gary Bettman smiled and seemed to forget the $600 million dollar sinkhole from the NHL’s last foray into hockey into the desert caused.

But that’s another cup of vitriol to be spewed at Bettman and the Board of Governors for another time.

More from Bruins News

The Boston Bruins had a rough season last year, and it showed in the ballots. Not a single Bruins player received a single vote for the Norris, and for the first time in a long time, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was nowhere to be seen in the voting.  It looks like an end of an era has happened.

The Bruins had two players nominated for awards this year. Patrice Bergeron was up for his fourth Selke award this year.  The Selke is given to the best defensive forward in the game, and Bergy has been among the elite in the league for the better part of a decade. Bergeron had put up strong numbers this season, and seemed to be the odds on favorite to win again.

Then this happened.

https://twitter.com/tazman19/status/745774245108658176

Personally, I think Bergeron was robbed. So does the rest of the team at Causeway Crowd.  Still, Anze Kopitar had a solid season (although I had him as third behind Bergeron and Ryan Kesler), and congratulations to him on winning the Selke.

More from Causeway Crowd

Boston Bruins forward Loui Eriksson was a finalist for the Lady Byng Award. The Lady Byng is the NHL’s version of the Good Conduct Medal, and Eriksson is certainly one of the cleaner players in the game. He’s the kind of player who would put out a swear jar to keep Brad Marchand and Tuukka Rask in check during the season. Eriksson had great numbers, and very few penalty minutes so he had a good chance too.

Wrong again.

https://twitter.com/tazman19/status/745781088153272324

Wow. I guess it’s Anze Kopitar’s year. (I’m certainly tempted to find out who gave the #1 vote to Tyler Seguin though).  The newly minted captain for the Los Angeles Kings beat out the Bruins in both categories this year.  While the Eriksson snub was far more predictable than the Bergeron was, it’s still very disappointing to see no member of the Black and Gold up on the podium to accept an award.

I’ve got a plan to fix that problem in the future, now I just need a little help to get that to happen.