Canucks up for hardware at NHL Awards as Humboldt Broncos players are honoured

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (NEWS 1130) – There could finally be something to celebrate about for Vancouver Canucks fans.
The NHL awards will be handed out this evening, and winger Brock Boeser is up for Rookie of the Year.

James Cybulski from our sister station Sportsnet 650 says Boeser was one of the few bright spots in what turned out to be a bad season for the team.

“I think it’s a reminder to what a great he had based on flirting with 30 goals and missing, essentially, a quarter of the season and really giving Vancouver Canucks fans a reason to see hope in the future for this team as they go through this painful rebuild.”

Unfortunately for Boeser fans, Coquitlam native Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders is expected to win.

Henrik and Daniel Sedin are co-nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Award given to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice.

“This is essentially a tip of the cap for being amazing ambassadors for the hockey universe for the better part of the last 20 years. These guys have been Teflon when it comes to any sort of controversy and I think the NHL is going to be reflective of that tonight.”

There is a special aspect to tonight’s awards show. The league says first responders and survivors from last October’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, surviving members of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash and members of the Stoneman Douglas High School hockey team in Parkland, Florida will also be present.

The awards are the first time members of the Humboldt Broncos have reunited since the April crash that left 16 people dead and several others injured.