Vezina Trophy

As expected, Flyers coach Bill Barber is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, given to the NHL coach of the year, and Roman Cechmanek is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, given to the league's top goalie. Barber is competing with Ottawa's Jacques Martin and Detroit's Scotty Bowman, the league announced yesterday. Cechmanek is up against New Jersey's Martin Brodeur and Buffalo's Dominik Hasek. Bowman and Martin are previous Adams winners; Hasek has won five of the previous seven Vezinas.

Flyers head coach Bill Barber and goalie Roman Cechmanek are finalists for NHL awards for the 2000-01 season. In the voting announced yesterday by the league, Barber is one of three finalists for the Jack Adams Award, given annually by club broadcasters to the NHL's top coach. Detroit's Scotty Bowman and Ottawa's Jacques Martin are the other two finalists. Cechmanek is among three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, given annually by the league's general managers to the league's top goalie.

He was not so presumptuous as to be certain he was going to win, but Bob Froese knew exactly what he was going to say if he did. "I remember Pelle thanking Bernie Parent when he won the Vezina a year ago," Froese said. "I was going to thank Pelle Lindbergh for setting a standard for me. " Despite the blindness of five National Hockey League general managers, Froese lived up to that standard this season, too. Though he tied for the league lead in victories (31) and recorded far and away the league's best goals against average (2.55)

OVER THE NEXT 2 days, the NHL will hand out its regular-season award winners for this season. Flyers beat writer Frank Seravalli, as a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, votes on all of the top awards. Here are his nominees and who he picked, in order: HART MEMORIAL TROPHY (Most valuable player to his team) 1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh 2. John Tavares, N.Y. Islanders 3. Jonathan Toews, Chicago The reason: By the letter of the award, it should probably go to Tavares, since the Islanders didn't have a prayer for the playoffs without him. But the Hart has always been about the league's top player, and it is tough to argue that anyone other than Crosby should win it. He played 12 fewer games than everyone else and finished just four points back of the scoring lead.

Joel Ward slammed home a rebound at the 2 minutes, 57 seconds of overtime to give the Capitals a 2-1 victory over the host Boston Bruins on Wednesday night as Washington advanced to the second round of the playoffs and ended the defending Stanley Cup champions' hopes of a repeat. Rookie Braden Holtby stopped 31 shots for Washington in Game 7 - the seventh one-goal game of the series. It was the first time in NHL history that a playoff series had seven games determined by one goal.

The nominees for various NHL awards, announced yesterday, leave little doubt about what kind of season the Flyers had. Eric Lindros was nominated for the league MVP award, the Hart Trophy, and coach Terry Murray is up for the Adams Trophy, which goes to the NHL's top coach. Lindros's competition will be Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr, the league's top scorer, and Buffalo goaltender Dominik Hasek. Murray, in his first year as Flyers coach, has some stiff competition: Detroit's Scotty Bowman and Quebec's Marc Crawford.

Nobody has ever denied that Flyers goalie Bob Froese has great statistics, but people handing out awards don't always base their votes on statistics. So Froese, despite having the best goals-against average in the NHL this season, may not win the Vezina Trophy, which will be awarded June 10 to the league's top goalie, as voted by the 21 general managers. However, there are some awards that are based on the unbiased statistics, and that is why there was no question that Froese would be here yesterday to receive the Jennings Trophy, which is awarded to the goalies on the NHL club finishing the regular season with the best goals-against average.

The NHL will hold a hearing next week to decide whether to take disciplinary action against Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall, a league spokeswoman said yesterday. Hextall left his goal crease in the Flyers' game against Montreal Thursday night and attacked Canadiens defenseman Chris Chelios, sparking a brawl in the closing minutes of the Wales Conference final game. Hextall was given a major and a match penalty by referee Don Koharski. NHL vice-president Brian O'Neill discussed the incident yesterday with officials and was waiting to receive videotape of the game, the spokeswoman said.

Flyers captain Mike Richards will be in Las Vegas tonight for the NHL awards ceremony. Richards is a finalist for the Selke Trophy, given to the top defensive forward. Richards was a plus-22 this season and led the league with seven shorthanded goals. The other finalists are Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, who was last year's winner, and Vancouver's Ryan Kesler. Datsyuk is also a finalist for the Hart Trophy, given to the NHL's most valuable player. Washington's Alexander Ovechkin is attempting to become the first repeat MVP since Dominik Hasek in 1997-98.

Dusting off my crystal ball to help give the NHL season some perspective, here are some predictions: Champions Atlantic Division: Pittsburgh (Even if Sidney Crosby is in and out of the lineup.) Northeast: Buffalo (Even though it grossly overpaid for talented forward Ville Leino.) Southeast: Washington (Even though Tampa Bay is formidable.) Central: Chicago (Even though Detroit is, well, Detroit.) Northwest: Vancouver (Even the, um, worst prognosticators would get this one right.)

OVER THE NEXT 2 days, the NHL will hand out its regular-season award winners for this season. Flyers beat writer Frank Seravalli, as a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, votes on all of the top awards. Here are his nominees and who he picked, in order: HART MEMORIAL TROPHY (Most valuable player to his team) 1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh 2. John Tavares, N.Y. Islanders 3. Jonathan Toews, Chicago The reason: By the letter of the award, it should probably go to Tavares, since the Islanders didn't have a prayer for the playoffs without him. But the Hart has always been about the league's top player, and it is tough to argue that anyone other than Crosby should win it. He played 12 fewer games than everyone else and finished just four points back of the scoring lead.

HENRIK LUNDQVIST slammed his stick in disgust when an overtime loss in Washington put the New York Rangers on the brink of elimination. Two days later, the star goalie pumped his arm and let out an emphatic yell when his shutout kept the Rangers alive and set up a Game 7 in the nation's capital. Lundqvist was the difference yesterday in stopping 27 shots for his seventh NHL playoff shutout. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner was perfect in making Derick Brassard's second-period goal stand up in a 1-0 victory over the visiting Capitals that forced a deciding game tonight in the first-round, Eastern Conference series.

CLAUDE GIROUX is a cover boy. Electronic Arts Inc. and NHL.com announced Wednesday that the Flyers forward has been selected by fans as the EA Sports NHL 13 cover athlete. Giroux, who had 28 goals and 65 assists for 93 poiunts this past season, beat Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne in the final of the first-ever EA Sports NHL Cover Vote campaign by less than a 1 percent margin, in what was the closest matchup of the entire campaign. "The support fans have given me throughout the campaign has been unbelievable," Giroux said.

LAS VEGAS - Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin won the Hart Trophy on Wednesday night as the NHL's most valuable player. The Russian superstar and NHL scoring champion won the Hart for the first time at the NHL awards ceremony at the Wynn Las Vegas casino. Malkin also collected the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer and the Ted Lindsay Award from his fellow NHLPA members as the NHL's best player. "It's the best day of my life," Malkin said. "It's very exciting.

Another day, another Flyer bypassed in the voting for an NHL award. Center Claude Giroux was not named one of the three finalists for the Hart Trophy, awarded to the league's MVP. After kidding that he didn't know what the Hart Trophy represented, Giroux said. "At the end of the day, that's not the trophy I want. " The finalists: Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos, and the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist. The voting was conducted by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Joel Ward slammed home a rebound at the 2 minutes, 57 seconds of overtime to give the Capitals a 2-1 victory over the host Boston Bruins on Wednesday night as Washington advanced to the second round of the playoffs and ended the defending Stanley Cup champions' hopes of a repeat. Rookie Braden Holtby stopped 31 shots for Washington in Game 7 - the seventh one-goal game of the series. It was the first time in NHL history that a playoff series had seven games determined by one goal.

Dusting off my crystal ball to help give the NHL season some perspective, here are some predictions: Champions Atlantic Division: Pittsburgh (Even if Sidney Crosby is in and out of the lineup.) Northeast: Buffalo (Even though it grossly overpaid for talented forward Ville Leino.) Southeast: Washington (Even though Tampa Bay is formidable.) Central: Chicago (Even though Detroit is, well, Detroit.) Northwest: Vancouver (Even the, um, worst prognosticators would get this one right.)

The Flyers' Ian Laperriere won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy at the 2011 NHL Awards ceremony Wednesday in Las Vegas. The award is given "to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. " Laperriere, 37, suffered a concussion and broken orbital bone during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs when he blocked a shot with his face against New Jersey. Although he returned a little more than a month later to finish the Flyers' playoff run, Laperriere was unable to fully return for the 2010-11 season and was placed on the long-term injury list.

Rookie's big debut Rangers forward Derek Stepan became the fourth NHL player to score three goals in a debut. Stepan, a second-round draft pick in 2008, scored once in the first period and twice in the second on Saturday night against Buffalo's Ryan Miller - last season's winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie - in New York's 6-3 victory. He scored 10 minutes, 53 seconds into the game, then added a pair of goals 3:12 apart in the second. The hat trick was completed with 1:40 remaining in the period.

The most physically demanding tournament in professional team sports begins Wednesday with the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's a time of the year when injuries become closely guarded secrets, coaches can't be taken at their word, nerves become frayed, and razors and shaving cream are set aside as players carry on the tradition of growing playoff beards. Eight weeks from now, a grubby-looking captain of one of the 16 clubs involved in the playoffs will hoist the Stanley Cup. It's likely his face will reveal the pain and sacrifice it took, but his smile will light up the arena or, in the game's vernacular, the building.