2020 NHL Fan Choice Awards nominees feature doggos

The 2020 NHL Fan Choice Awards nominees feature plenty of good hockey dogs.

The 2020 NHL Fan Choice Awards nominees feature plenty of very good hockey dogs.

Voting runs until June 1 on the NHL website.

Though unfortunately fan dogs are still not a category, Best Team Dog still is, with a lot of 12/10 good candidates, almost all of whom are Labrador Retrievers, incidentally. Instagram handles, when available, will be provided in parentheses.

These include the New York Islanders‘ Tori (@NYIslesPup), the San Jose Sharks‘ Finn (@SharksPup; he recently celebrated his first birthday), the St Louis Blues‘ Barclay (@STLBluesPup), Luna from the Arizona Coyotes, Rookie the Sens Pup from the Ottawa Senators (@RookieTheSensPup), the Montreal Canadiens‘ Flambo (@ChiotCanadiensMTL), Captain the Caps Pup from the Washington Capitals (@CapsPup), the Tampa Bay Lightning‘s Bolt (Twitter: @BoltsPup), the Nashville Predators‘ Smash (@PredsPup) and the Minnesota Wild‘s Breezer (Twitter: @MNWildPup).

Best Dog goes to the best dog belonging to a player, and this year’s candidates include the following (Instagram handles are in parentheses): Arizona left wing Lawson Crouse’s Butter the Pug (@ButterpigCrouse), Colorado defenseman Sam Girard’s Tornado the Doodle (@TornadoTheDoodle), the Detroit Red Wings‘ Tyler Bertuzzi’s Aspen the Australian Shepherd (@TheAussie_Aspen), and Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid’s Lenny the Bernese Mountain Dog/Poodle mix (@LenardTheBernedoodle).

Dogs and cats are also represented as 2020 NHL Fan Choice Awards nominees in the Best Mascot category, as Bernie the St Bernard from the Colorado Avalanche, the Calgary Flames‘ Harvey, the LA Kings‘ lion Bailey, the Senators’ SpartaCat and the Predators’ sabertooth tiger Gnash are all up for the award.

Other categories include Best Beard, Best Bromance, Best Building, Best Cellys (celebrations), Best Dressed, Best Feel-Good Moment, Best Follow, Best Halloween Costume, Best Hockey Smile, Best Pregame Ritual, Best TikTok, Fan of the Year, Funniest Player, GIF of the Year, Goal of the Year, Save of the Year and Top Team Video.

We here at Dog O’Day would nominate the Vancouver Canucks Top Dog Races and the Stadium Series puck drop for Best Moments, if we had a say, and nominate Toronto winger Mitch Marner’s dog as well for his defensive skills.

Stay tuned for later coverage of who among the 2020 NHL Fan Choice Awards nominees will triumph in their categories, and be sure to check out our FanSided Network sister sites for more thorough coverage of every NHL team.