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Anze Kopitar Finishes Third in Lady Byng Voting, Somehow

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is awarded to the “player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” It’s apparently been twenty years since a player in the Pacific Time Zone (Paul Kariya) was the most sportsmanlike player in the NHL.

That’ll continue for another year, as Anze Kopitar lost the Lady Byng to Jiri Hudler of the Calgary Flames. The vote totals:

byng voting

If you want statistical analysis, Kopitar had a career-low 10 penalty minutes this year. But this award isn’t really quantifiable, so I’m not sure why I’m so annoyed with this result. Maybe I’m just upset that Anze Kopitar still hasn’t won an individual award in the National Hockey League. Aren’t you?

Congratulations to Hudler (whose speech was pretty great) and all of tonight’s winners. As for the Kings: all the more reason to root for them to have a strong regular season for once in 2015-16!

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