The local chapter of the PHWA has selected Erik Cole as the Hurricane's nominee for the NHL's Masterton Trophy.
"The award is given annually to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The winner is selected in a poll of all chapters of the PHWA at the end of the regular season."
Each team will have one player nominated and the national Professional Hockey Writers Association will then select the eventual winner from those 30 nominees. Three finalists will attend the NHL Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas in June where the winner will be announced.
To see who else has been named for the remaining teams in the League, see this story from the Globe and Mail. All nominees will be named by the end of Sunday evening. The voting for the winner and runners up will be completed before the first playoff game Wednesday, April 13.
Last year the Washington Capital's goaltender Jose Theodore was honored with this award.
We'll have more on Erik Cole's remarkable season and how it fits into his up-and-down career later. The full announcement from team is after the jump.
Press Release:
Forward missed more than half of 2009-10 with injuries, but has netted 26 goals this season
RALEIGH, NC - The Carolina chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) today announced that Hurricanes right wing Erik Cole has been selected as Carolina's nominee for the 2010-11 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The award is given annually to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The winner is selected in a poll of all chapters of the PHWA at the end of the regular season.
Cole, 32 has scored 26 goals and added 26 assists (52 points) this season for the Hurricanes, ranking third on the team in goals and fourth in points. The Oswego, NY, native is tied for fourth among all NHL skaters with nine game-winning goals, and 14 of his 26 goals this season have come in the third period or overtime. If Cole skates in the Hurricanes' regular-season finale tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, it will mark the first time in his nine-year NHL career that he has skated in all 82 games of the season.
Originally selected by the Hurricanes in the third round, 71st overall, in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Cole has totaled 184 goals, 206 assists (390 points) and 557 penalty minutes in 619 career NHL games with Carolina and Edmonton. He ranks eighth in franchise history in games played (556), ninth in points (363), 10th in goals (168) and 11th in assists (195).