2010 NHL Awards – Day 1
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It’s 2:30 in the morning on the day of the NHL Awards and I’m sitting in the Mad Onion restaurant of the Hooters Hotel and Casino chowing down on a really good $10 Prime Rib dinner. While eating this tasty meal I find myself reflecting on the events of the past 24 hours.
From the moment I arrived at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas at fifteen minutes to noon (Pacific Time), I was immediately setting up shop in a remote corner of the terminal getting ready for a Hockey Hall of Fame press conference to announce the Class of 2010. The media got a heads up before the conference call took place on who was going to be enshrined this year in the Hockey Hall of Fame. From the list I saw, it seemed that the Hockey Hall of Fame finally raised the bar in the criteria needed to be accepted as a member.
However, one thing I totally spaced on (little sleep tends to do that) was the omission of former NHL Coach and three time Jack Adams trophy winner Pat Burns into the Hockey Hall of Fame. (Pat Burns has cancer for the third time and has given up his battle against it. There has been a movement by media and fans alike to put him into the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2010). As the news spread among the media and fans, there was a tremendous condemnation of the omission of Pat Burns into this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame Class…myself included.
I left the airport, arrived at the hotel and dropped off my luggage very quickly as I needed to head out to the Palms Hotel. I thought it was a good idea to walk to the Palms Hotel from where I was at (approx 2.2 miles) as I wanted to swing by the New York, New York Casino and check out the now closed ESPNZone.
ESPN recently closed the majority of their ESPNZone Chain. More details about my findings can be found here:
As I continued my journey past the point of no return and eventually onto the Palms Hotel and Casino, I started to recall all the times I made fun of hikers who go out in the hot Phoenix sun with little or no water. They’re the ones who think they can handle the beat down the 100+ degree sun can dish out. I swore to myself, as I passed the Rio Casino and Hotel, that I would never make fun of them again as I was struggling during the last 1/2 mile of my walk.
I arrived at the Palms hotel just as the media availability began and missed the opportunity to interview Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.
I should note that there was a large Coyotes contingent at the NHL Media Awards including Coyotes CEO Doug Moss.
I compiled a separate post of interviews from the 2010 NHL Awards media availability here:
http://coyotes.azvibe.com/2010/06/22/2476/
Following the media availability, players, media and NHL front office reps all gathered for a social hour at another place on the Palms resort property. Everything that went on here was off the books and I met some great people in the NHL and media in the process. However, I will say only the following about this event…don’t ever get in a discussion with Canadian media types about the Coyotes ownership prior to 2006. It’s worse than getting into a religion or politics discussion at a bar. Trust me on that.
As I was walking back to my hotel with sore feet in a Las Vegas evening that was below 200 degrees, I reflected on the day’s events. One common theme kept coming up all the time. How the nominees all are more than worthy of their accolades even if they win or not. Just to be in the NHL is a tremendous accomplishment in itself. However, to be recognized as the top three for various on and off the ice awards is even more of a tremendous feat.
Many fans (and media types) may and have blown off the awards as a insignificant event that isn’t worthy of being an all out event in Las Vegas. I disagree and offer this, how else do you propose to award these players and coaches for their tremendous feats this season? I say Las Vegas is the perfect place to hold these awards AND I think the NHL should seriously consider moving the NHL Draft permanently to Las Vegas as well. (I’ll write more on this later).
Once I got back to my hotel, I crashed out quickly and slept until around 1:30-2:00 AM and was extremely hungry.
Hmmm Prime Rib sounds good about now.
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