Lady Byng Memorial Trophy Finalists Selected

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Sara Amaya
May 5, 2024 (8:46)

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Finalists for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy have been chosen. This year's nominees are Auston Matthews from the Toronto Maple Leaf's, Elias Pettersson from the Vancouver Canucks and Jaccob Slavin from the Carolina Hurricanes.

The award is given every year to the player who demonstrates the best sportsmanship, playing skills and gentlemanly conduct. I think that all three candidates have displayed these qualities throughout the season, making it difficult to make a decision, but I would say my vote is for Jaccob Slavin from the Carolina Hurricanes.

Fans on the other hand, have expressed that they don't think this is an award any player wants to deliberately receive and even taken to social media to expose a past winner of the award who stated that he hoped he would not get nominated for this award again and in turn changed his character for the worse.

I do agree in the fact that hockey is a rough sport.There are fights in this sport and it is also not the easiest sport to play either, leaving no room for as fans put it "soft play" in hockey. The high speeds and constant motion of the game makes it challenging to maintain dominance of the puck and stick.

There are less fans who think they should continue this award as it could motivate others to play "nicer" but all in all it looks like fans are silently hoping the award will be discontinued in the future. As another fan put it, no one wants to look like the weak link on a hockey team.

Nevertheless, I look forward to learning who the award is given to on May 5th.