The worst thing about the NHL awards show is the league's refusal to accept the fact you cannot turn hockey players (and announcers for that matter) into comedians, especially when you make them read a script. While it has not been as bad in the last few years, for many, many years this show committed many, many sins against comedy.
There were the usual painful moments on Thursday night. Host Ron MacLean, for example, is addicted to inside jokes and had a lot of people scratching their heads when he tried to draw a comedy line between Stompin' Tom Connors, who sang, or rather growled, The Hockey Song and Calgary Flames co-owner Harley Hotchkiss, who was sitting near the front. It was all to do with another Stompin' Tom song, Tillsonburg.
Oh, didn't you know that Hotchkiss is from Tillsonburg? Join the club.
Once again, the best lines were off the cuff. The best one came from Detroit Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk, who won the Frank Selke Trophy for the first time and the Lady Byng for the third year in a row.
Datsyuk, who hails from Sverdlovsk in Russia, was struggling through his acceptance speech for the Selke and then stopped.
“I want to make speech longer but my English short,” he said, drawing a big laugh.
In his news conference later, Datsyuk had a couple more zingers when he was asked how he enjoyed the Wings' Stanley Cup party.
"I remember going to the party but I don't remember coming home," he said. "I have to ask my wife because I don't remember."
