Komisarek earns Masterton nomination

[Habsfan84]

MONTREAL - The Montreal chapter of the Professionnal Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) announced today the selection of Montreal Canadiens defenceman Mike Komisarek as the team’s candidate for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for the 2007-08 season.

Throughout the season, Komisarek was a true example of perseverance and determination. The West Islip, NY native played in the Canadiens’ 70 contests thus far this season and is the current iron man on the team with 191 consecutive games played. Komisarek, 26, ranks first in the NHL with 208 blocked shots and is second with 258 hits. He led Montreal in both categories in every month of the 2007-08 season. In his fifth NHL season with the Canadiens, Komisarek collected 17 points (4 goals, 13 assists), 99 penalty minutes and posted a plus-8 rating.

Komisarek succeeds defenceman Mark Streit, the Canadiens’ candidate for the 2006-07 season.
In 2001-02, Canadiens captain Saku Koivu became the fourth player in team history to be awarded the Masterton Trophy. The others were Serge Savard (1979), Henri Richard (1974) and Claude Provost (1968), the first ever recipient of the award.

The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The winner is selected by a poll among the 30 chapters of the PHWA. The trophy honors the memory of Bill Masterton, a former Minnesota North Stars player who lost his life following an injury suffered during an NHL game on January 15, 1968.