Top 10 Worst Moments of the 2015 NHL Awards
This year’s NHL Awards were disappointing, per usual. Lucky for everyone, we’ve compiled a list of the night’s worst moments, to save people the two-plus-hours of time.
- The Awards Show House Band – Ray Chew and the Hat Tricks
You might recognize the name Ray Chew, as he has joined both American Idol and Dancing with the Stars in recent years. His appearance at the NHL Awards made everything look like a really bad late night talk show. And come on, there are already plenty of really bad late night talk shows to choose from.
- More Vegas Gimmicks
Rob Riggle, the show’s host, was escorted onto the stage by some Vegas showgirls holding hockey sticks and singing “Viva Rob Riggle.” We get it, you’re in Vegas. We don’t need the showgirls, skydiving Elvises, etc…Rob did poke fun at the scene by referring to the showgirls as “The Columbus No Jackets.”
- When Kathryn Tappen Called the Hockey Writers Lazy
While announcing the finalists for the Selke Trophy, and suddenly realizing that the nominees were identical to last years’, NHL Network and NBC Sports host Kathryn Tappen claimed that either these actually are the best defensive forwards in the game today or the hockey writers (who vote on the award) were “super lazy.” Even though it was said in jest and was scripted, it wasn’t the least bit funny. Hockey writers are some of the most dedicated sports journalists, and to imply that they may have taken the easy route and copied last year’s voting? Come on K.T.
https://youtu.be/hRysNwlPgWU?t=1m52s
- The Social Media Wheel
The NHL has taken one of the positives in P.K. Subban and added a counteracting negative in a gimmicky social media wheel. The idea behind the wheel is that select winners will issue their social media response to whichever app it lands on. For instance, Carey Price landed on Periscope, which is a Twitter-based app where he can communicate with fans via a short live video. After that, the wheel was never really given any time, thankfully. But it begs the question, why was it there in the first place? P.K. has so much personality and he wasn’t able to show it this time.
- Even More History Lessons
For those of you who watched last year’s Awards, you may remember (or were able to erase said memories) the history lessons for each award, narrated by celebrities such as Susan Sarandon. Any true hockey fan would be insulted by this clear iteration of known fact. This year, the same droll lessons returned, but this time with NHL players. Better? Not much.
- Excessive Video Montages with Exuberant Special Effects
I know this isn’t anything new, but it certainly bears repeating. Once again, it looked like the NHL hired a special effects novice who just learned how to edit videos, and threw in one of every single feature. No one liked the FoxTrax puck, stop with the subliminal messaging.
- Unnecessary Musical Performance
The NHL Awards do NOT need musical guests. It still is not a talk show, or the Grammy Awards. We don’t need live music. Maybe the whole thing could have fit into the two hour time frame if not for Daughtry appearing. Hey, at least it wasn’t Nickelback, or Matisyahu. You can just feel the collective facepalm. It made everyone in attendance visibly uncomfortable once Daughtry commanded the audience to stand up, and soon after, demanded that they sing as well.
- Sexist Stevie Y
During Steve Yzerman’s deserved win of the GM of the Year Award, his acceptance speech went a little bit awry when he mentioned that his “wife would be watching [the Awards] as long as the Kardashians aren’t on.” Seriously? Even if she does watch the Kardashians, I doubt she wanted the whole world to know that. Why would you embarrass your own wife on national television, regardless of the amount of people that were actually watching the event. Not a good move Yzerman.
https://youtu.be/DVhL7pJ9P0w?t=2m3s
- When the Band Interrupted Benn’s Speech
When Art Ross winner Jamie Benn was presented with said trophy, he was interrupted right when he was about to begin thanking. If the winners aren’t all allotted the same amount of time to appreciate the people whom have helped get them to this spot, then why have them come up on stage to accept it in the first place?
https://youtu.be/uUTD9vjwnEg?t=1m49s
- The Vegas Scavenger Hunt
And last but not least, the worst moment of the night came in the most gimmicky of gimmicks, a selfie scavenger hunt around various Vegas “landmarks.” I use the term landmark very loosely in this case. Did it have anything to do with hockey? Of course not. The guy who won did not even appear to be that enthused. And yet they still think this is a viable spot for an NHL franchise?
Follow me on Twitter @KevinSporkaHOHM
Kevin Sporka
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