Montreal Gazette, CJAD

Mathieu Darche has been named the Canadiens' nominee for the Bill Masterton Trophy. The 34-year-old St-Laurent native got the nod from the Montreal chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association for his perseverance, dedication to hockey and sportsmanship.

A journeyman forward, Darche is an extremely worthy nominee, who never gave up on his NHL dream after yoyoing up-and-down from the minors for 10 years. Darche, a McGill Redmen product and graduate, has a career-high 25 points, including a dozen goals, in 58 games this season. He leads all Montreal forwards with a +7 plus/minus rating.