I asked the 10-team journey-defenseman who retired in 2010, "so, you gonna make it out to Vegas for the Awards this year?" Mathieu grins and says, "yeah, I should make it out there...better give Marty (McSorley) a call! It should be a good time..."

Schneider, four months later on Wednesday night, surely made it to the "Desert of Excess" and helped NHLPA co-founder "Terrible" Ted Lindsay award his player-voted MVP trophy to the Vancouver Canucks' Daniel Sedin. This nod for the Stanley Cup runner-ups was the 6th of the night- the most of any NHL team at the 2011 Awards Show with the largest contingent of fans in attendance as well. “I think we should be happy, we should be proud of the team and our players,” the Sedin brother said. "We're going to have a lot of years going forward and we're going to be a good team. We should be excited and I know our team is."

"The Scoring Sedin", who also won the NHL point leader's Art Ross Trophy, was surprisingly upset for League MVP choice. In the final NHL Award given on the night, the Anaheim Duck's Corey Perry beat out Daniel by a close 83 voting points to capture the 1st Hart Trophy for a member of a SoCal team since Wayne Gretzky in 1989. "It surprised me," Perry reflected. "I have to give credit to my teammates; I got a lot of family and friends here so it's special. My grandma is here and my brother and all our buddies I played with. It's fun to share this with them." It was quite a week for the New Liskeard, Ontario native- as he began his Las Vegas stay with a Palms Place photo shoot for the NHL Network and celebrated his wins (also with the "Rocket" Richard Trophy) after the Show at the 4th Period Party inside Moon Nightclub.

This was the third year in a row the NHL Awards took place at the Pearl Concert Theater inside the Palms Casino Resort. The standing temperature was 110F (43C) outside on the Awards Red Carpet, and sports misting fans were in full force for a large Detroit fan base chanting "one more year!" as defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom passed by early. The 41 year-old Redwings blueliner edged out Nashville's Shea Weber by only 9 voting points to capture his 7th Norris Trophy, tying him for second place all time behind the great Bobby Orr. "I thought both Chara and Weber had great seasons- I thought either one of them was going to win, so I think that's why it's more special," said Lidstrom, who announced the day before he would be returning to Hockeytown for his 20th season next year.

The sly sports agent from "Jerry McGuire", Jay Mohr, was the Awards host for the second straight year. With a great opening montage parody of HBO's "24-7" sports series and great extended comedy sets, the Jersey comedian seemed a little frustrated by the formal crowd's reaction- jawing the host city as the "Great Hockey Capital of Las Vegas." His material was better this year, as he recapped the year's retired players- including the whole active roster of the Florida Panthers, and stated the Vancouver rioters' punishment should be to attend Islanders games at Nassau Coliseum!

Mohr also roasted Boston Bruins netminder Tim Thomas, saying he was so old that he needed tennis balls on the bottom of his skates instead of a walker. The Stanley Cup MVP and winner (almost) had the last laugh as "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm presented him with the top goalie Vezina Trophy. "Coming out of the hip surgery (last year) I wasn't sure how it was going to be," conceded Thomas."It's been a long journey, it's over a year long in a certain way, this chapter, anyway, but it's obviously been rewarding." This was the first time a player has won the Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe, and Vezina Trophies all in one year since the Flyers' Bernie Parent did it for the second year in a row in 1975.

Other great moments from my mid-week at the 2011 NHL Awards were (in random Vegas order): Far East Movement's performance of their hit single "OMG" surprisingly without hockey fan Snoop Dogg, seeing Calder Trophy winning youngster Jeff Skinner sweat it out on stage through cat calls from various women in the audience, hanging with "Cup Keeper" Phil Pritchard up at the after-party, and getting to meet classy but accommodating NHL Network analyst and former pro goalie Kevin Weekes, who ditched his tux for a white t-shirt to party it up before leaving on a well deserved Caribbean vacation.

As I flew into the Mojave Desert from Northwest Washington last Tuesday, the plane was filled with British Columbians headed to the NHL Awards Show- seemingly the largest volume in attendance at the Palms from any province in Canada. Sitting across the aisle from me was a father traveling with his daughter who just graduated high school. "This is her graduation present," Scott Shoemaker said, nodding to his daughter Madison next to the airplane window. She beamed and had no hesitation in answering my question of who she wanted to see. "Luongo!" she playfully agonized. This young woman has a full scholarship to Seton Hall as a tennis player for the fall, and conceded her elite athlete status for a moment Wednesday when I helped Madison Shoemaker meet her Canucks Idol Roberto Luongo on the Red Carpet. -JSW

Check out the photos we took at the NHL Awards here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sportsology/sets/72157626943786795/

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Other accolades from the 2011 NHL Awards:

President's Trophy (best record)
Vancouver Canucks

Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship & skill)
Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis with a runaway repeat victory- amassing only 12 penalty minutes last season.

Frank J. Selke Trophy (best defensive forward)
Vancouver's Ryan Kesler who denied Pavel Datsyuk a 4th consecutive win.

NHL's General Manager of the Year
Vancouver's Mike Gillis

William M. Jennings Trophy (least goals against)
Vancouver's Roberto Luongo & Corey Schneider

Jack Adams Award (coach of the year)
Pittsburgh's Dan Bylsma

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (perseverance & dedication)
Philadelphia's Ian Laperriere

NHL Foundation Award (community service)
Los Angeles' Dustin Brown

Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award (top captain)
Boston's Zdeno Chara

King Clancy Memorial Trophy (leadership)
New York Islanders' Doug Weight

EA Sports NHL '12 Cover Athlete
Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos

2010-2011 All-NHL 1st Team
G Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins
D Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
D Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
C Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
RW Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks
LW Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks

2010-2011 All-NHL 2nd Team
G Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
D Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
D Lubomir Visnovsky, Anaheim Ducks
C Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
RW Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
LW Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

2010-2011 NHL All-Rookie Team
G Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks
D John Carlson, Washington Capitals
D P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens
F Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks
F Michael Grabner, New York Islanders
F Jeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes