Bruins big winners in Vegas at NHL Awards

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jun 18, 2009 10:52 PM EDT

"Who's the big winner?"

The Bruins are the big winners!

The hometown team was well represented tonight at the NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas.

Tim Thomas was recognized as the league's top goaltender with the Vezina Trophy. Thomas had a career year and posted a record of 36-11-7 with a GAA of 2.10 and .933 save percentage. Thomas is the first Bruins goalie to win the award since Pete Peters took home the Vezina in the '82-'83 season.

"I've been more worried about getting my name on a roster than winning the Vezina trophy." - Tim Thomas

Zdeno Chara was awarded the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman. Chara finished the year with 19-31-50 totals and a +23. Big Z has established himself as one of the most dominant defensemen in the league. Chara is the first member of the Bruins to win the Norris since Ray Bourque in '93-'94. Chara is now in the exclusive club of Bruins Norris winners: Bobby Orr (8 times), Ray Bourque (5), and Zdeno Chara.

Trivia Question: 6 of the 22 players who have won the Norris Trophy played for the Bruins at some point in their career. Name them. I just told you three...but those were obvious.

Answer at the end of this post

Head Coach Claude Julien was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's coach of the year. Julien led the B's to a 53-19-10 regular season record. Fittingly, Julien was presented the award by Pat Burns, the last Bruins coach to win the Adams ('97-'98).

Bruins goaltenders Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez were awarded the Jennings Trophy, given annually to any goaltender that appears in 25 of more games for the team with the fewest goals against in the NHL. The Bruins allowed 196 goals this season. This is the second time that Manny Fernandez has won the award. He won the Jennings with the Minnesota Wild in 2006-2007 when he split time with Niklas Backstrom. The pair was presented with the award by an another duo that stopped pucks for the Boston Bruins: Andy Moog and Reggie Lemelin. Moog and Lemelin won the Jennings in '89-'90.

Answer: Tom Johnson, Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Brian Leetch, Zdeno Chara

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Comments

It’s great to see Boston do so well. Even though it is no Stanley Cup, it is great to see Boston getting the recognition it deserves.

What actually blows my mind is that Manny Fernandez (or ManFran as I call him) has won the Jennings Trophy twice, though it is pretty obvious he needs a stud goalie to help him do it.

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by Something's Bruin on Jun 19, 2009 12:55 PM EDT reply actions

Well, he did have a good start.

Might have a 16-8-3 record, but the big number of those loses came later in the year. I have no idea what happened to him, but for a bit, it almost seemed that Manny would be “home goalie” and Tim would be “away goalie.”

They each helped earn that trophy, won’t deny him that.

Him getting booted is of course the right call though.

by 13_Legion on Jun 19, 2009 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions

I completely agree. Manny definitely deserved to be recognized for his play. I am glad that he decided to show up and accept the award. I don’t think he ever fully recovered from the knee injury the year before and as the year wore on, it started to take its toll on him and he started to experience some back problems as well. All that combined with not playing on a regular basis.

I often wonder what would have happened if Manny didn’t get hurt last year.

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by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jun 19, 2009 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions

He also got a back injury this year, that’s why he was out for a month. He might be retiring this summer if it doesn’t get better.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 20, 2009 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Big Winners

I am so happy for our guys. I enjoyed watching everyone of them accept their award. I especially loved how touched Timmy was. Way to go guys. I can’t wait til next season.

by defenz77 on Jun 19, 2009 5:19 PM EDT reply actions