2011 NHL Awards: Tampa Bay Lightning’s Martin St. Louis wins Lady Byng Trophy Back-to-Back
There was no surprise in Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning’s forward, winning his second Lady Byng Trophy in two straight seasons and maintaining himself as the classiest player in the league at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on
Wednesday.
The Lady Byng Trophy is one of the most prestigious awards in the league, since it does not only look at a player’s performance, but also judges him on his conduct with other players and sportsmanship.
These are the few attributes that makes a player great, not only on the ice but off of it as well, and St. Louis has demonstrated these qualities more than anyone else.
"This is a great honor to be here", St. Louis said to the audience after being called up on stage. "Thanks to the organization and everybody that has supported me all the way through this".
St. Louis was against two other candidates that put up a great fight for the award.
He was chosen by the Hockey Writers Association over Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings and Loui Eriksson of the Dallas Stars, who both without a doubt, were very deserving of the award as well, but the better man won in the end.
Martin St. Louis was also up for the Hart Memorial Trophy which he did not win and was instead awarded to Corey Perry.
He played all 82 games in the past season and ranked second in points and assist in the league overall with 99 and 68, respectively.
The 36-year-old had nearly half the goals (31) compared to assists, which just goes to show his sportsmanship qualities are not doubtful at all.
The right wingers’ contribution in the playoffs was enough to almost take Tampa Bay into its second playoff final since 2004 as he put up 20 points in 18 games, including 10 goals and 10 assists.
Tampa Bay Lightning was eventually defeated by the now Stanley Cup Winners, Boston Bruins, in the Eastern Conference Finals.
St. Louis is certainly a well rounded player but is still short of beating Pavel Datsyuk’s record, who has been awarded the Lady Byng Trophy four consecutive times, from 2006 to 2009 and Frank Boucher who was awarded the Trophy seven times.
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