Perseverance Personified: Celebrating What’s Bigger Than the Game

Always one of the awards that flies under the radar when the NHL’s best are celebrated at the year end awards ceremony is the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to the game of hockey. Thought of as the NHL’s “comeback player of the year” award—although it is much more than that—there have been dozens of very deserving recipients since the award’s inception in 1968—following the death of Bill Masterton as the result of an on-ice injury—such as Gary Roberts, Saku Koivu, Bryan Berard, Phil Kessel, and, last year’s winner, Ian Laperriere; and this year will be no different. Each season, every NHL team has the right to nominate a player from their roster they feel is deserving of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The potential thirty nominees are given to the Professional Hockey Writers Association, which votes within their association and determines the annual recipient.

This year there are a number of interesting stories that will captivate the voters. No matter who receives the Masterton Trophy, the finalists have all overcome adversity in one way or another to prolong their NHL careers. As most NHL teams have provided their nominee for the award, some of the most compelling stories include those of Montreal Canadiens’ forward Max Pacioretty, San Jose Sharks’ rookie Tommy Wingels, Toronto Maple Leafs’ winger Joffrey Lupul, and Jordin Tootoo of the Nashville Predators. Not to mention the unofficial nominees from the St. Louis Blues, goaltender Brian Elliot and David Perron (the Blues have yet to release their team’s nominee). Others include Jason Pominville, Tomas, Holmstrom, Matt Cooke, Daniel Alfredsson, Mikka Kiprusoff, Jaromir Jagr, and Tomas Fleischmann, to name a few.

I think the most obvious choice for fans would be Habs’ power forward Max Pacioretty. After missing the final 15 games and the playoffs of the 2010-2011 season with a concussion and neck injury as a result of a violent hit into the stanchion separating the benches from Zdeno Chara, Patches has come back this season and set career highs in games played, goals, assists, and, obviously, points. Certainly, he has shown he is worthy of a Masterton nomination.

Similar to Pacioretty, the Maple Leafs’ Joffrey Lupul, who played just 87 games over the previous two seasons due to two back surgeries and a blood infection, has overcome injury to have one of his best seasons of his career. With 67 points in 66 games and an All-Star game nod this year, Lupul has shown he is now the kind of player everyone hoped he would be and more.

The St. Louis Blues have yet to name their nomination for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, but they have two worthy candidates. First, Brian Elliot has gone from outcast backup to league leader. He only made the team out of camp because Ben Bishop had a two-way deal and made it easier to send him down than Elliot. Since then, however, Elliot has 8 shutouts in only 35 games—he splits netminding duties with Jaroslav Halak—to go along with a goals against average of 1.52 and save percentage of .941. Oh yeah, he leads the NHL in those three categories as well. The Blues have another Masterton candidate in forward David Perron, who returned this year after missing over a year with post-concussion syndrome. The Sherbrooke, Quebec native has accumulated 37 points in 51 games so far this season and has been a huge boost for the NHL’s best team.

Probably one of the most interesting nominations in this year’s Masterton class comes in the form of forward-thinking Tommy Wingels of the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks nominated Wingels for his support of the You Can Play project (youcanplayproject.org), which advocates for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender athletes. The project is spearheaded by Patrick Burke (son of Maple Leafs’ general manager Brian Burke), who founded the organization in memory of his brother Brendan; an openly gay man and student manager for Miami University of Ohio hockey team and died tragically in an auto accident. Wingels is one of several NHL players who supports the project, all of whom should be commended, and for the Sharks to recognize the work Wingels has done to support LGBT athletes is Masterton worthy in and of itself.

Jordin Tootoo might as well be a synonym for perseverance. The Nashville Predators’ sparkplug has overcome plenty just to get to the NHL. Not only is he undersized and prior to him there had never been an Inuk NHLer, but he had to deal with his brother’s suicide at the age 19 while playing in the Western Hockey League and chasing his NHL dream. Through it all, Tootoo realized his NHL dream in 2003 and has been a fan favourite in Nashville and a role model back home in Nunavut. However, over the years Tootoo’s battle with alcoholism crept up on him and came to a head last season when halfway through the year he left the Predators and enrolled in the NHL’s substance abuse program. This year, Tootoo is clean and back to being a productive member of the Preds and can proudly be a true role model for those who look up to him.

If I had a vote for this year’s Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, it would be for Nashville’s Jordin Tootoo. Not only has he overcome a great deal, but he has taken control of his life and made the changes necessary to his life to be a productive citizen and teammate.

Who would get your vote?