John Scott was the king of hockey this weekend. You bet it was.
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Journeyman enforcer John Scott was named the Most Valuable Player of the NHL’s latest rendition of an all-star event Sunday in – where else? The crowd booed and Twitter revolted, only tweeting #VoteMVPScott for the vote (even team NHL Twitter accounts were showing their support).
Scott scored the Pacific’s first goal on a tip-in just 47 seconds into the second mini-game during a tournament featuring the league’s four divisions. “You can’t make this stuff up”, he said. But to see it happen is something those who were there as well as those watching on NBC Spots Network will remember forever. Scott was later traded to the Montreal Canadiens and promptly sent down to their minor league team.
National Hockey League players may not admit it publicly, but they don’t always love going to All-Star weekends and missing the chance for several days of rest and relaxation before the looming sprint to the playoffs.
Yet after Sunday, Scott is a cult hero. The wide-open style forced players to skate hard.
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images John Scott celebrates his goal which ties the Pacific’s first game with Central at 1. That showed a lot of people he has got great skill.
Scott only got nervous when Sharks defenseman Brent Burns, a former teammate and friend, caught him off guard and helped hoist the reluctant fighter into the air. “He’s a amusing guy, an intellectual guy”.
“I jumped up when he scored his second goal, holding my two kids, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. That was an unbelievable goal”. But it grew more serious when Scott was traded, and deepened further when he published an essay last Thursday in which he said the National Hockey League had tried to convince him not to go to the All-Star game in Nashville, telling him, “This is not a game for you, John”. “He played well. He earned it”. “#NHLAllStar”, speaking both to Scott’s offensive output and Bergeron’s inability to stop playing defense, even in an All-Star Game. But he quickly found out he was one of the boys.
“You can’t put it into words”, Scott said. And that means a lot to me.
Originally, he wasn’t a candidate for MVP honors as the National Hockey League had not made him one of the three finalists.
The NHL, which once again found itself in an awkward position, had no option but to accept him as MVP. Scott’s teammates lifted him on their shoulders just before he was named MVP and then banged their sticks on the ice in approval as the audience roared. “You guys have blown me away”, Scott said to the fans. “Burnsie (Burns) is such a spaz”.
Goalies also got into the offensive action, taking advantage of more room on the ice. Many are citing the 2016 game in Nashville as the best they’ve ever seen. He said the nerve would have only been worse for Scott, who had never played a minute of 3-on-3 in his career.
Well, not a real fight anyway. His wife even said, she was anxious if she cheered too much she would go into labour. Eriksson was clearly dazed on the hit and was eventually diagnosed with a concussion; one that took him the better part of two seasons to fully come back from.
He hoped his unlikely all-star experience might open a few doors, and it appears it has.
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“I think probably Mike Milbury, right?”
