THE PRICE OF SUCCESS
Habs goalie picks up four awards, including the Hart Trophy.
All Carey Price wanted to do was escape.
The Montreal Canadiens had lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round of the playoffs — a loss for which Price foolishly blamed himself — and he did not want to sit around watching someone else lift the Stanley Cup again.
In the past, he would spend his summer drifting away the summer days on a fishing boat. This time, he and his wife headed to Italy for a belated honeymoon where he assumed he would go unnoticed.
“Once the off-season rolls around, you need to decompress,” he said. “It’s something that I’ve done before, but I did it a little more last summer. Sitting on a boat. I don’t really think about it that much.”
It seemed like a great plan. But while the world is huge, Price quickly realized the hockey world is very small.
“They’re everywhere,” he said of Canadiens fans. “They’re slowly expanding all over the world.”
In Europe, Price was recognized. Wednesday in Las Vegas, he was recognized some more.
The Canadiens’ goaltender won the triple crown of awards: the Vezina Trophy for top goaltender (as voted by team general managers), the Hart Trophy for league MVP (voted by the professional hockey writers association) and the Ted Lindsay Award (voted by the players for league MVP). He had also won the William M. Jennings Trophy (along with Chicago’s Corey Crawford) for allowing the fewest goals during the regular season.
It was the first time since Jose Theodore in 2001-02 a goaltender won the Hart Trophy and the first time since Dominik Hasek in 1997-98 a goaltender won the Hart, Ted Lindsay and Vezina.
“I’m very humbled by it. It’s something I’ll never forget, that’s for sure. Especially the players. No offence to everyone else, but I’m very humbled by that. I compete against these guys, we go to war out there, and for them to vote for me is very special.”
Price led the league with 44 wins, a 1.96 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage. And for a team that ranked near the bottom in goals scored and
I’m very humbled.... I compete against these guys, we go to war out there, and for them to vote for me is very special.
CAREY PRICE
CANADIENS GOALTENDER
shots against, he was a major reason the Habs finished second in the overall standings.
“He deserves everything he’s getting,” Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty said. “If it wasn’t for him (the Canadiens) wouldn’t have been where they were.”
“I think it speaks for itself the way that he played this year,” Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron added. “He came out and every night he was giving his team a chance to win — and a chance to win games a lot of times 1-0.”
Team success is often tied directly to a goaltender’s play. But Montreal took this to another level. The Canadiens won 14 games when they scored two goals or less. They had the 23rd-ranked power play and ranked 20th in goals scored.
Price, who had nine shutouts, simply did it all. Well, except score goals, part of the reason Montreal lost to Tampa Bay.
“What’s special about Carey is you don’t have to talk about it because his play did all the talking for him,” said Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban, a Norris Trophy finalist. “It’s about time now that he starts getting this type of recognition, in my opinion.”
It was sometime during the middle of the season when the MVP conversation began. Price jokingly blamed Subban for becoming his unofficial campaign manager and putting the idea out there.
What makes Price outstanding is his calm demeanour. He does not get too high and he does not get too low. So handling the nightly praise was just as difficult as handling the all the shots he was facing on a nightly basis.
Price, who escaped to Europe because he could not bear to watch other players competing for the Stanley Cup, said as good as he was this season (“Everything is just falling into place for some reason”), he needs to do more if the team is going to win a Stanley Cup.