The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

. It is named after

Bill Masterton William Masterton (August 13, 1938 – January 15, 1968) was a Canadian American professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Minnesota North Stars in 1967–68. He is the only player in NHL history to ...

, the only player in NHL history to die as a direct result of injuries suffered during a game. The winner is selected by a poll of the

Professional Hockey Writers' Association The Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) is a North American professional association for ice hockey journalists writing for newspapers, magazines and websites. The PHWA was founded in 1967 and has approximately 180 voting members. The a ...

after each team nominates one player in competition. It is often awarded to a player who has come back from career– or even life-threatening illness or injury.

History

The trophy is named in honor of the late

, a

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

player who died on January 15, 1968, after sustaining an injury during a hockey game.Dinger, p.201 During his playing career, Masterton exhibited "to a high degree the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey". A US college standout at

Denver University The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

, Masterton had briefly played in the Montreal Canadiens organization before giving up his professional dreams and taking a job as an engineer at Honeywell in Minneapolis. During his spare time, he played senior amateur hockey including for the United States men's national ice hockey team, US national team, where he was scouted by the expansion North Stars and became the club's first contracted player. It was first awarded following the 1967–68 regular season. As of the end of the 2018–19 NHL season, players for the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens have won the trophy five times; players for the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers have won the trophy four times; and players for the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Islanders have won the trophy three times. Players on Western Conference teams have won the award only 18 times since the award was first given in the 1960s.

Winners

References

* ;Notes

External links

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
at NHL.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Masterton, Bill Memorial Trophy National Hockey League trophies and awards Sportsmanship trophies and awards

History

Winners

See also

References

External links