Bruins Sweep at NHL Awards

Congratulations to Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara and Claude Julien who all captured awards at last night's NHL ceremony in Las Vegas. Claude Julien won the Jack Adams award for "head coach who has contributed the most to his team's success". I wonder how the New Jersey Devils, who recently dumped Julien as their head coach just before the playoffs began, felt after watching him propel the B's to the #1 seed in the East this year.

Zdeno Chara won the Norris Trophy for top defenseman in the NHL, breaking Nicklas Lidstrom's 6 year streak and joining Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque as the only Bruins to be recognized as the league's top blue-liner.

Finally, Tim Thomas took home the Vezina as the league's top goaltender. I don't think this was a big surprise, as Thomas led the league in Goals Against Average and Save Percentage. The only major knock against him was that Manny Fernandez made a good deal of starts, but Thomas still played 54 games which is plenty in my mind. It was great to see a stand-up guy like Thomas, who has struggled to stay in the league consistently and even played over in Finland for a while, take home the hardware.

Since I usually feel obligated to include at least one scan in every post, here's a Milan Lucic jersey card that just arrived from Captain Canuck. We made a bet a couple of months back on the Montreal Canadiens/Boston Bruins first round playoff series, and thanks to the sweep by the Bruins this Lucic card is now a welcome part of my collection. Best of all, Brian had already added a good scan to Zistle, saving me the trouble!

I also received some junk wax which I will be showcasing soon. I sent him a few packs in return and right now you can vote on which you'd like to see him open first. Thanks for the great cards Brian and here's hoping the Ghostbusters pack wins out!