Several people--myself included--thought that Evgeni Nabokov deserved the Vezina Trophy for his play last season. The fact that he didn't win it, and that it went to Martin Brodeur (again) instead, led many--myself included--to wonder if there wasn't some kind of bias against West Coast teams.
Basically, I thought that Nabby was stripped of his belongings, stripped of his clothing, urinated upon and left to die on a desert highway at the awards ceremony last summer. Brodeur is undoubtedly the best goalie of his generation, but his peformance in 07-08 didn't compare to Nabokov's.
I suppose we'll see if there truly is an anti-West bias this season. Brodeur is out, and giving an absentee goalie the Vezina would sort of give the game away. Meanwhile, Roberto Luongo presently has 3 shut-outs. 3 shut-outs. But the fact that he plays in a city on the Pacific Ocean might count against him.
I know it's still early, but my candidates for the Vezina thus far are Luongo, Henrik Lundquist, and Ryan Miller. If Luongo doesn't at least get a huge degree of consideration we'll know the award folks are West Coast-hating frauds.
Puck Daddy, who has intellectual credibility on this issue because he's a New Jersey Devils fan, considers the case here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Tim Thomas isn't playing bad either, but there is just something about him I don't like.
True. Most of the media is in the east and don't bother to watch a lot of the west games. Really is a shame. The best hockey is played out west in my opinion.
It is true, but it's also kind of inevitable. Speaking for those of us over 25, 10pm games are LATE. But at least thanks to the NHL Network and NHL on the FLY, we all get to see the extended highlights with the great saves and not just the goals that SportsCenter would show us.
Post a Comment