Kariya, Selanne Will Be Proud to Escort Lady Byng Home

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is one of the quaintest awards in sports--a trophy given for “gentlemanly conduct” in a sport many people assume is devoid of it.

And yet the Lady Byng is considered one of hockey’s major awards, one that has been claimed by Wayne Gretzky four times and by such NHL greats as Mike Bossy, Marcel Dionne, Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull--whose son, Brett, won the award 25 years after his father did.

The Mighty Ducks apparently distinguished themselves as the most gentlemanly team in hockey this season with two of the three finalists for the award, which will be presented tonight in Toronto along with the NHL’s other major awards.

The Ducks’ Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne are vying with Boston’s Adam Oates for the Lady Byng, given every year since 1925 to the player “adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”

What that turns out to mean is a player with low penalty minutes, high scoring totals and a reservoir of goodwill among the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Assn., which picks the winner.

“I think it does go to high-scoring players, and the description does ask for high standards in addition to gentlemanly play,’ said Buffalo News sportswriter Jim Kelley, the PHWA president. “In the past, I think, unfortunately, at times it has been like a consolation prize. If you didn’t win the Hart and you didn’t win the Norris but you had a spectacular season, people wanted to recognize that. So if you had low penalty minutes, you’d get picked for the Lady Byng. I think that happened with Mike Bossy.

“At other times it has very much been for sportsmanlike, gentlemanly play. You look at the list of winners, it’s fairly accurate. Often times it does go to an outstanding player who plays a clean, penalty-free game, and often it’s a player who objects to some of the thuggery in the game.”

Kariya, 21, is the favorite to win the award after scoring 50 goals and 108 points with only 20 penalty minutes in his second NHL season.

Selanne, 25, had 40 goals and 108 points along with 22 penalty minutes. Oates, 33, runner-up for the Lady Byng the last three seasons, had 25 goals, 92 points and 18 penalty minutes.

Named after its original presenter, the wife of Canada’s governor-general, the Lady Byng was won by the same player seven times in the first 11 years it was awarded. Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers won it so often--every year but once between 1928 and 1935--that the original trophy was given to him and a new one was donated in 1936.

The winner gets $10,000, and the runners-up $6,000 and $4,000.

“Certainly the guys who have won it and have their names on the trophy shows the magnitude of the award,” Kariya said. “Guys like Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Ron Francis, those are very good players, and Adam Oates has been the runner-up three years in a row. Just to be nominated, I’m very pleased.”

Selanne is in his native Finland and won’t attend the awards ceremony, but Kariya spoke with him after both were named finalists.

“We think it’s great that we’re both nominated,” Kariya said. “If one of us happens to win, we’ll be very happy.”

Kariya didn’t see the inside of the penalty box until Dec. 2 last season, the Ducks’ 27th game. He was whistled for delay of game after accidentally shooting the puck over the glass with the Ducks holding a three-goal third-period lead over Toronto. The game ended in a 4-4 tie.

“It cost us a game,” Kariya said. “We were up, 4-1, and I know they scored on that power play and got rolling. It cost us, and you could say it cost us making the playoffs in the end. It goes to show you, stay out of the box.”

Kariya believes most of his penalties come on power plays when he is called for hooking or holding when he has to haul down a player to prevent a scoring chance after turning the puck over on his attempt to score.

“All the penalties I could have avoided if I played defense better,” he said.

“It’s impossible to go all year without any penalties, but I try to keep it to a minimum. I don’t know whether it was Gretzky or one of his coaches who said it, it just made sense to me: You can’t score goals from the penalty box.”