The NHL had its annual awards Wednesday night in Las Vegas, where sleight-of-hand is pretty common.
And give the league credit for creativity.
We’ve all seen awards shows that are cookie-cutter in nature.
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Presenter gets up and makes lame joke, we see video of each finalist, and presenter announces the winner.
He/she makes her way to the stage, thanks the family and supporting cast (in this instance, the team), and it happens all over again, all night.
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So hockey brought in a magician to unveil the winner of the Selke Trophy, given to the league’s best defensive forward.
The idea of making the announcement through a card trick was great.
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The execution? Um, not so much.
Kopitar wins the Selke Trophy! #LAKings #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/icGPgbzs27
— Eric (@Kingsgifs) June 21, 2018
The magician was doing a fancy card trick, and when he was done, the backs of the cards were supposed to reveal the Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar.
As you can see, it didn’t work out that way.
That was hard to watch.
— Kellen (@ktb613) June 21, 2018
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Fortunately, Kopitar was next to the card table, and got up to accept his award.
If that didn’t make the magician feel bad enough, Kopitar clearly wanted nothing to do with him and walked right by his outstretched hand to the podium.
Another Selke Trophy for Anze Kopitar 🙌 Congrats, Captain! #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/aoKKGnvdPk
— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 21, 2018
This was the second Selke for the Kings’ star.
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We knew he can shut down high-scoring forwards, but now we also know he can do the same to magicians.
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