Florida Panthers' Brian Campbell sportsmanship lands him Lady Byng Trophy -NHL Update
Patience and sportsmanship are some of the hardest things to achieve when playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) since each and every move could trigger a violent rampage by even the most subtle of players, but for Brian Campbell, it did not come hard
and ultimately gave him the Lady Byng Trophy at the NHL Awards ceremony on Wednesday, June 20, 2012.
Being a defenseman requires a player to give it his all physically and emotionally but still managing to display gentleman qualities is something only Brian Campbell could have done, making him the first d-man to win the trophy since 1954.
Campbell had just three minor penalties throughout a full NHL regular season in which he played all 82 games and put up an even better 53 points (4 goals, 49 assists), which definitely contributed in Florida Panthers turnaround year.
"Skating is one of my stronger points and I think I have gotten better over the years with my positioning," Campbell said after winning the trophy. "I find I don't need to take those penalties.
When it comes to the NHL Awards, there is always fierce competition and going up against Edmonton Oilers’ Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders’ Matt Moulson and previous two-time winner, Tampa Bay Lightning’s Martin St. Louis, was definitely tough in all regards.
"It definitely is a great honour. There's a lot of people that I looked up to and there's elite, elite level players that could have had a chance and maybe at some point should have won the award, but I'm glad that we broke the trend as a defenseman and
we'll see where it goes from here," he added.
The Professional Hockey Writers Association was the body which would ultimately decide the outcome, gave 89 of 147 ballots to Campbell.
This was also the first time any Florida Panthers player won an award in which voting was the way to decide, otherwise players in the past would win directly with most goals scored or in other non-vote categories.
It was his first season with the Panthers and seeing his level of success, seeing Brian Campbell on the squad for years will not be a surprising thing.
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