Lou Marsh Trophy adds to Carey Price’s glittering year
Canadiens goaltender recognized as nation’s outstanding athlete
Carey Price might need to remodel his planned man-cave to expand a swollen trophy case he says he doesn’t yet have.
The Canadiens goaltender’s summer home in Kelowna, B.C., is already bulging with his sweep of the three 2014-15 NHL trophies for which he was a finalist, plus a share of a fourth.
On Tuesday, Price’s show-case-to-be added another beauty: the prestigious, historic Lou Marsh Trophy.
Since 1936, save the 1942-44 war years, the Marsh has been awarded to Canada’s outstanding athlete, professional or amateur, male or female, as voted by representatives of newspapers, television networks and, in recent years, websites.
So add the Marsh to the NHL baubles Price took home from the league’s Las Vegas awards gala last June — the Hart Memorial as the player most valuable to his team; the Vézina, as the league’s best goaltender; the Ted Lindsay Award as the NHL Players’ Association’s MVP, voted by the players themselves; and with Chicago’s Corey Crawford, a share of the William Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed by a netminder appearing in at least 25 games.
“It’s an honour to get the recognition from the sport of hockey,” Price told a 10-minute news conference Tuesday at the Bell Centre. “But this is another level for me. Being compared to so many great athletes in Canada is definitely humbling. There are so many athletes who had excellent years this year.”
The 2015 Lou Marsh, named after the former Toronto Star sports editor, goes for the first time to a goaltender. Nine hockey players have now won the award a total of 13 times.
Wayne Gretzky leads the entire pack, voted the Marsh recipient four times. Figure skater Barbara Ann Scott is the only other threetime winner. Sidney Crosby won in 2007 and 2009. Canadiens won twice before Price — Maurice Richard in 1957 and Guy Lafleur exactly 20 years later. Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux won it in 1993.
Bobby Orr (1970), Phil Esposito (1972) and Bobby Clarke (1975) round out the hockey recipients. Curiously, neither Jean Béliveau nor Gordie Howe, iconic stars with the Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings, were ever voted the Marsh winner.
Price’s reaction to his latest honour was true to his laid-back manner. He discovered he’d won Tuesday afternoon when he awoke from a nap to find a text message of congratulations on his phone from team media relations director Dominick Saillant.
“Typical Carey,” joked Price’s wife, Angela. “He told me he had to go to the game early (for the news conference). I asked why and he said he’d won the Marsh award.
“I said to him, ‘I saw that, congratulations!’ and he just went, ‘Thanks’ and sort of shrugged.”
The couple are expecting their first child, which Price called “a big life step we’re taking this year. That’s been a joy in its own to go with everything else. That’s one thing that’s kind of kept me grounded, realizing that life is so much bigger than just sports.”
The Marsh balloting, totals not divulged, was said to have been very close. As Price himself pointed out, Canadians shone internationally in 2015, sprinter Andre De Grasse, basketball’s Kia Nurse, soccer’s Kadeisha Buchanan and Shawn Barber and Derek Drouin of athletics among those who enjoyed career years.
“I’m very proud to be a part of the Canadian culture that is continuing to push boundaries and make major impacts on the world of sports,” Price said, lavishing praise on this country’s superb Olympians.
Of being only the third Canadiens recipient in the Marsh award’s eight decades, he added: “To be a part of those names, it’s definitely special to me. I’m going to be proud of that for the rest of my life.”
In Las Vegas last summer, beating an almost monotonous path to the NHL stage to accept his trophies, Price spoke of his First Nations roots, hoping he might inspire aboriginal youth to pursue their dreams.
“It just goes to show that no matter where you’re from or what your situation, it’s possible to attain your goals and your dream,” he said Tuesday. “(The Marsh) is something I hope for a lot of aboriginal communities will see and say that these types of things are attainable for their children. All it takes is a lot of dedication and hard work and luck.”
Price was sitting out his ninth game on Tuesday, rehabbing a lower-body injury he aggravated on Nov. 25 following his return for three games after he’d been sidelined for eight.
The only prognosis offered has been for him to miss roughly six weeks, putting him back in the lineup in mid-January.
“I’m feeling well, just to get rid of the elephant in the room,” Price said to laughter. “The progress is exactly how it should be going. I’ve been working hard to try to get back as soon as possible. The timeline hasn’t changed, we’ll just leave it at that.”
Despite his incredible, even unthinkable year, Price’s immediate goal simply remains to return to action as soon as he can, in complete health. Then his focus again will be sharpened on the Stanley Cup.
“Ultimately, that’s the goal of every kid,” he said.
Then, with an after-all grin: “Not too many kids, I don’t think, dream of being NHL MVP.”