Bruins Center Patrice Bergeron Captures Third Selke Trophy
Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron captured the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the second time in as many years Wednesday night at the NHL Awards ceremony in Las Vegas. The win marked the third time in the last four years in which he’s received the honor.
Bergeron beat out Jonathan Toews of the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks and Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings.
“It’s definitely, you look at the names that have won it three times, it’s pretty special to be now part of it and humbling at the same time. Winning the awards or not, I wouldn’t change the way I play the game,” Bergeron said after winning the award.
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The award, which is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association, is presented annually to the forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game.
Bergeron was an easy choice for the award this season and the 75 first-place votes he received was indeed indicative of that. Toews received 51 first-place votes and Kopitar got five. His defensive statistics stood off the charts, solidifying him as the best two-way forward in the world.
Among all NHL forwards, Bergeron was the most impressive player in the face-off dot. He led the league in face-offs taken and face-offs won, winning 1,175 face-offs in 1,951 attempts at the circle. His 60.2 winning percentage was good for tops in the game.
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Bergeron was also the best offensive player on the Bruins this past season. He led the team with 55 points and earned his first career All-Star nod.
Pavel Datsyuk, of the Detroit Red Wings, is the only other active three-time winner. Guy Carbonneau, Bob Gainey and Jere Lehtinen are the only others in the history of the sport to win the award on three different occasions.
Bergeron previously won it following the 2011-2012 and 2013-2014 seasons. He was narrowly beaten by Jonathan Toews in 2012-2013, despite earning more first-place votes.