Utah’s Connor Ingram wins main NHL perseverance award

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah goaltender Connor Ingram is being honored by the Nationwide Hockey League for his perseverance via psychological well being struggles.

The league introduced Wednesday that Ingram is that this 12 months’s Invoice Masterton Memorial Trophy recipient, which honors a participant who “finest exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” He’ll be formally acknowledged on the 2024 NHL Awards subsequent month.

Ingram overcame obsessive-compulsive dysfunction that had gone undiagnosed and “lingering despair” that just about ended his profession early. The 27-year-old opened up about his battle earlier this 12 months in an interview with NHL.com, saying that his psychological well being struggles led to alcoholism earlier than he sought assist from the league’s participant help program in 2021.

He additionally sought in-patient remedy and now commonly meets with a therapist as part of his restoration.

“It is like a nagging damage. Should you do not handle it, it’ll worsen,” he instructed the outlet in January. “For the remainder of my life, I am going to sit in a stranger’s chair and inform them my issues as soon as every week. It is only a truth of my life.”

Ingram bounced across the league earlier than and through all of this, however discovered a house with the Arizona Coyotes. This previous season — the staff’s final in Arizona earlier than it relocated to Utah — he posted career-best numbers in begins, wins, saves and targets allowed in a breakout season.

In all, he gained 23 of the 48 video games he began and allowed 2.91 targets per recreation. He additionally posted six shutouts, placing him in a four-way tie for essentially the most within the league this previous season.

Invoice Armstrong, Utah’s basic supervisor, was thrilled with Wednesday’s announcement. He mentioned his story “actually embodies” the spirit of the Invoice Masterton Memorial Trophy, which was created after Masterton’s loss of life after an in-game incident in 1968.

“Since his return, Connor has not solely excelled on the ice however has emerged as an inspiration to hockey gamers throughout the globe as he continues to inform his story and emphasize the significance of looking for assist throughout life’s darkest moments,” Armstrong mentioned. “We’re immensely pleased with Connor and honored to have him symbolize our staff as this 12 months’s winner.”

The 2024 NHL Awards might be held on June 27 (5 p.m. MDT, ESPN) in Las Vegas.