TORONTO -- Martin St. Louis had all the reasons in the world to be smug, but that's not his style.
The guy who was told he was too small to play in the NHL and that he wasn't going to make it even if a team went out on a limb and took a flyer on him capped a season to remember Thursday night by winning the Hart Trophy as the League's Most Valuable Player.
St. Louis joined a club that includes the greats of the game less than a handful of days after he hoisted the Stanley Cup over his head when the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Calgary Flames 2-1 in a thrilling Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals on Monday night.
The pint-sized St. Louis started the day by winning the Lester B. Pearson Award on Thursday as the League's MVP as voted on by his peers in the NHL Players' Association. He was also presented with the Art Ross Trophy for winning the regular-season scoring title.
He had 94 points, including 38 goals this season. His plus-35 was tied for first in the NHL and helped lead the Lightning to the Eastern Conference title. It's little wonder he was named to the First All-Star Team.
They say you are humble when you lose and humble when you win and St. Louis was graceful in accepting the accolades.
"I don't know if this means I am the best player in the NHL," he said. "There are a lot of good players. Nothing happens unless an organization believes in you and that is what happened in Tampa Bay. They believed in me."
The remarkable thing about St. Louis was he signed his first NHL contract as a free agent five years after he was passed over in his draft year. He's also the guy who cleared waivers a couple of times before he joined the Lightning as a free agent in July, 2000, when his career took off.
"It feels great, but I do not worry about people's opinion," continued St. Louis, who will play for Canada in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey this August and September. "They are allowed to have an opinion and it doesn't feel better now because they didn't think I could (play) then. It still feels as good."
When it came time to be presented the Art Ross, St. Louis was hooked up via satellite with his childhood hero, Mats Naslund. St. Louis wears No. 26, which was the number the Swede wore when he played with the Montreal Canadiens.
St. Louis recalled how lost a stick Naslund gave him when he was playing youth hockey in Montreal and how he'd like to add a new Naslund stick to his collection.
"No problem," said Naslund to the chuckles of a packed crowd at a downtown convention center.
"It (the Jack Adams Award) is not about one guy. It is about an organization." - John Tortorella
All in all, it was quite a night for the Lightning.
John Tortorella was named winner of the Jack Adams Trophy as the top coach and Brad Richards won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct. Richards earlier won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP and he was caught off guard when Academy Award winner Russell Crowe took a break from filming in Toronto to present Richards latest award.
Tortorella, meanwhile, credited his players as the reason he was named the top coach.
"It (the Jack Adams Award) is not about one guy," he said. "It is about an organization."
Scott Niedermayer of the New Jersey Devils won the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman. Niedermayer was long overshadowed by teammate Scott Stevens and the consensus was the honor was long past due.
"This is new to me," said Niedermayer about being called the best at his trade. "It is a different feeling.
Martin Brodeur of the Devils won his second-straight Vezina Trophy as the best goalie and he was shocked he was able to make it two straight.
"There are a lot of good goalies out there and the competition is strong," he said.
Kris Draper of the Detroit Red Wings won the Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward.
"It is a huge thrill. One of my biggest thrills is to know Steve Yzerman has his name on this trophy," said Draper. "This means a lot to be signaled out as a Selke Trophy winner. It is very special."
The vote on the Hart Trophy wasn't even close. St. Louis polled 1,016 votes. He got 97 of 105 first-place votes.
St. Louis joined an elite club in scoring a rare triple in hockey history. The last player to win the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion, earn a Stanley Cup ring and get the Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP was Wayne Gretzky in 1987. The Great One also did it in 1985 and 1984. Guy Lafleur accomplished the triple in 1978 and 1977. The only others who did it were Bobby Orr (1979), Jean Beliveau (1956), Gordie Howe (1952), Bill Cowley (1941) and Howie Morenz (1931).
And to make his first week as a Stanley Cup champion more complete, his son, Ryan, turns one Sunday.
"You could not write it better," said St. Louis about becoming a father and collecting enough hardware to fill a shelf in his basement all in less than 12 months.
"He had an unbelievable year," said Calgary's Jarome Iginla, who won the King Clancy award. "He is very very deserving of it. He is a great choice, the season he had."
The next thing on St. Louis's agenda is to pause and let this week set in; a week in which he won the Stanley Cup and won the Hart Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Trophy.
"Every now and then I catch myself saying, 'We won the Stanley Cup.' It will hit me more when I go home and get to relax.
St. Louis deserves that after the week he has had.
|
