If you take a trip to the National Hockey League’s official website, you will notice that they are currently holding a ballot which asks fans to vote for the player they feel is most worthy of the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award.  The voting takes place in a bracket-style tournament where players go head-to-head with each other until only one is left standing.  The Anaheim Ducks’ Teemu Selanne was a part of this tournament, until he was eliminated in the first round by the Canucks’ Ryan Kessler.  Had that match-up taken place following last night’s game between the Ducks and the Colorado Avalanche, Selanne likely would have lived to see another round.

What would lead me to believe such a thing?  Anyone who watched the 40-year-old veteran defy Father Time with a five point effort during last night’s 5-4 victory knows exactly what I am talking about.  With the Ducks walking a fine line between the playoffs and the golf course at this point in the season, wins couldn’t be more important, but following a first period that saw they go down 2-0, it appeared as though they were about to let two crucial points slip from their grasp.  That was when Selanne came along and kick-started the comeback with a penalty shot goal early in the second, before completing the comeback, and his hat-trick, with a power-play goal late in the third.

With the win, the Ducks remain in seventh place, just one point behind the Nashville Predators for sixth, and four points clear of ninth-place Calgary.  As for Selanne, he continues to put together one of the most remarkable seasons by a 4o-year-old ever, as he now has 75 points to go along with his “Stat Line of the Night” for Monday, March 28, 2011.