Fan favorite Scott gets shot to star, and does

In addition to Scott being named MVP, his team was awarded the US$1-million winner-take-all-prize.

John Scott went from being an Internet prank to Most Valuable Player at the National Hockey League All Star game in Nashville on Sunday. In it I said, “There’s no real significance to the NHL All-Star game, but that doesn’t mean the NHL and the fan base wouldn’t want the game to have some dignity attached to it, and having Scott be the captain of the Pacific Division certainly does away with any of that”. With time ticking down on the clock, the arena erupted into chanting for captain John Scott, “MVP, MVP, MVP!” Scott found himself hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates when he was announced as the MVP and he got a little nervous when they picked him up.

The NHL All-Star weekend provided plenty of fun, with Star Wars-themed fancy dress, a Jaromir Jagr impersonator, and John Scott proving to everyone just why he deserved to be an All-Star. Scott had five goals and six assists in 285 games with Arizona, the San Jose Sharks, Buffalo Sabres, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild. “I know a lot of people don’t think that, but I can bring something to the table”, said Scott.

We as fans seem to focus on the goal scorers, the great playmakers, the game breaking saves and overall unbelievable skills of these athletes.

“He’s out there for two reasons and that’s either to fight or hurt”, Claude Julien said about John Scott. After Montreal demoted him to the AHL, there is a good chance that he may never play another National Hockey League game. “He caught me off-guard pretty good there”. More importantly, the players were thrilled to have Scott there. Scott wrote in the Players Tribune magazine last week that the National Hockey League tried to dissuade him from participating in the All Star game. “It’s going to be so cool, ‘” Scott said in a phone conversation with Puck Daddy last week. “This isn’t going to change who he is, but it gave him a nice weekend”.

As though to remind everyone of his pedigree, the 6-foot-8, 260-pound Scott, he of the 542 penalty minutes, also playfully toppled Kane, prompting the league’s scoring leader to drop the gloves in a mock bout.

“I just kind of got sick and exhausted of reading articles that just portrayed me as a slow-footed goon who just can’t play and is here as a joke”, he said.

Scott’s wife is due with twins in the next few days, so he has that to look forward to and that new van he won will undoubtedly come in handy (he also has two daughters).

Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang blocked a shot, and Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban sprawled out on the ice to help protect a one-goal lead in the final seconds of the Atlantic Division’s 4-3 win over the Metropolitan.

“I jumped up when he scored his second goal, holding my two kids, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God”.

In danger of becoming a non-competitive snoozefest like the NFL’s Pro Bowl, the NHL All-Star Game needed a jolt of life. In the end, the Pacific won the tournament and Scott was named MVP and handed a one million dollar check by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: the ultimate victory in a fantastic weekend for Scott.