The NHL Awards show was held in Las Vegas last night and there was a freak dust storm on stage that caused thousands of hockey fans to erupt into tears. This is one of the most heartfelt moments I’ve ever seen in hockey.
This all began in February when Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price met 11-year-old fan Anderson Whitehead. Anderson lost his mother to cancer last November, a burden that no 11-year-old should ever have to go through. He’s from Ontario (Leafs country) but he’s a diehard Montreal Canadiens fan and Carey Price is his favorite player, his idol, his superhero.
Before Anderson Whitehead’s mom passed away she promised her son that she would do everything possible to sure he’d be able to meet his favorite player and that first interaction happened at a practice session back in February:
This is everything — this young fan, Anderson, met his idol @CP0031, after his mother passed away due to cancer. She had promised him that she would do everything in her power to help the two meet and it happened. This right here is hockey. #OurGreatGame
(🎥 FB/ Tammy Whitehead) pic.twitter.com/ww6jLM2yoF
— NHL (@NHL) March 1, 2019
Flash forward to last night’s 2018/2019 NHL Awards where Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov cleaned up on individual hardware, and Anderson Whitehead was in attendance. It’s about to get dusty up in here my dudes but I can assure you this clip is amazing.
The clip begins with Carey Price delivering what’s supposed to be a pre-recorded message for Anderson but he then stops talking and surprises the 11-year-old on stage by greeting him with an autographed jersey.
A standing ovation from the crowd. A kid who’s lost his everything, his mom, getting to meet his superhero on stage and Carey Price handles it perfectly. He helps the kid handle that moment and he even invites him to the NHL All-Star Game next year as a cherry on top.
I have no love for the Montreal Canadiens but I just became a Carey Price fan for life. That was one heck of a moment.
As for who took home some hardware at the 2018/2019 NHL Awards, here’s a list of the awards recipients:
Hart Trophy: Nikita Kucherov
Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award: Rico Phillips
Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award: Wayne Simmonds
Vezina Trophy: Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jack Adams Award: Barry Trotz
Frank J. Selke Trophy: Ryan O’Reilly
Bill Masterton Trophy: Robin Lehner
James Norris Trophy: Mark Giordano
Ted Lindsay Award: Nikita Kucherov
King Clancy Trophy: Jason Zucker
General Manager of the Year: Don Sweeney
Lady Byng Trophy: Aleksander Barkov
Calder Trophy: Elias Pettersson
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov cleaned up with the Ted Lindsay Award and the Hart Trophy and their goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy took home the Vezina Trophy which makes Tampa’s first-round sweep in the NHL Playoffs sting even more. It’s still inexplicable how they could tie the NHL record for most wins in a season, not lose 3 games in a row all season long, and then get to the playoffs and lose 4 in a row.