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Tim Thomas completes an unbelievable year, wins Vezina Trophy

NHL Awards Portraits

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 22: Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins poses for a portrait during the 2011 NHL Awards at the Palms Casino Resort June 22, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

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Tim Thomas’ dream season in Boston got the cherry on top of the sundae tonight as Thomas took home the Vezina Trophy for the second time in his career. Thomas adds that to the Conn Smythe Trophy he won in helping the Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup and becomes the first goalie to win all three awards in the same season since Flyers legend Bernie Parent did it in 1975.

Thomas beat out Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne and Stanley Cup finals opponent Roberto Luongo for the award and Rinne gave Thomas a run for his money in the voting. Thomas finished with 104 points in the vote while Rinne was second with 84. Thomas took home 17 of 30 first place votes as NHL general managers handled the vote on this award. Rinne finished with six first place votes and 17 second place votes. Luongo, who had a rough go of things in the finals, finished with three first place votes and 33 points.

For Thomas, the Vezina win was about as close to automatic as it gets as he finished the year tops in the NHL in goals against average and save percentage including setting a new NHL record for save percentage breaking a mark held by Dominik Hasek. About the only thing Thomas could do to top this season would be to win all these awards again and add the Hart Trophy on top of it all. With all that Thomas has overcome to this point in his career, you might not want to put that past him.

Thomas reflects on winning the Vezina

As we’ve discussed in detail in previous posts, Thomas took a long journey to the NHL. Thomas reflected upon his second career Vezina Trophy victory - and how it compared to the first - shortly after he found out he won the award.

“The first time was pretty special because of how far I’d come and that it looked like was an unattainable award,” Thomas said. “Having said that, this one is just as special; it’s just special in a different way. I think because of all I’ve been through, I could win this six times and it would be special every time.”


Thomas says it is too soon to think about his legacy

Even though he didn’t become a regular NHL starter until he was 31, Thomas has been one of the best goalies in the game for years now. His two Vezina Trophy-winning seasons were so outstanding that it’s tough not to wonder if he might have a case for a quality-over-quantity Hall of Fame argument.

“I hear the discussion around me but I don’t spend anytime focusing on that myself,” Thomas said. “I don’t think that’s productive as a player. That’s something you do when your career is over.”


Tim Thomas: the redneck of goaltending?

Shortly after he allowed a painful Alex Burrows overtime game-winning goal in Game 2 of the 2011 Stanley Cup finals, people were wondering if Thomas should tone down his aggressive style. Yet with this flood of individual awards - not to mention that Stanley Cup victory - it seems like his critics are eating some crow.

Then again, eating crow might not be that out of place for “the redneck of goaltending.”

“I think every goalie has to find their own style,” Thomas said. “I don’t think that my style is the perfect style, that’s for sure. But it works for me. And you gotta take the tools that you have and make it work.

I’m kind of like the redneck of goaltending that duct tapes everything together to fix it. You give a redneck a job, they’re going to use whatever tools they have on hand and they’re going to get the job done. That’s the way I approach goaltending.”


It doesn’t take a redneck (or an expert) to know that his approach is working.