I am in Las Vegas for the NHL Awards Ceremony with the Buffalo Sabres and Ryan Miller’s charity, The Steadfast Foundation.  I coordinate the foundations main fundraising event, Catwalk for Charity scheduled this year sometime in November.( I am meeting with Ryan today to discuss the date and will announce it asap)

Ryan is up for three awards and Tyler Myers, defensemen for the Sabres, is up for Rookie of the Year.Ryan is up for the prestigious Vezina for the best goaltender and his competition is Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur. Ryan went 41-18-8 with a 2.22 goals-against average and .929 save percentage, while his main competitor, Bryzgalov, was 42-20-6 with 2.29 and .920.

The second award he is up for is The Messier Leadership Award, given to the player who exemplifies leadership on and off the ice.  The winner is selected by Mark Messier, with the other two contenders being Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Phoenix’s Shane Doan.

The third award is the NHL Foundation Award given to the player who applies the core values of hockey — commitment, perseverance and teamwork — to enrich the lives of people in his community.  Ryan’s competition for this award are Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown and Washington’s Mike Green.

The Hotel is buzzing with all sorts of NHL players and fans.  I actually ran into and briefly chatted with Pat Kane last night on my way out to dinner with my cousin Ray Forton and his wife Amy.

Stay Tuned…for a report from The Palms in Las Vegas and plenty of red carpet photos!

Part II -  See more photos of the NHL Awards Ceremony and a few more stories…

Funny story…I walked in solo on the red carpet to the ceremony….A lot of cameras were in front of me and I knew “someone” was behind me.  It turned out to be Brett Hull. Security thought I was with him so they ushered me in with him on an elevator into a VIP area…very funny…I told him I planned Jim Kelly’s and Ryan Millers events so he did think I was a crazy person… I also told him I met him 20 years ago at Jim Kelly’s house after a football game. He remembered and also said it was the greatest comeback game that day and reminded me the Stars beat the Sabres that night too! I had to go to my seat and thanked him for the 5 minute date!

The Award Ceremony was spectacular!  Ryan took the Venzina (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw0LJHgW9aQ ) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIaVwMtA7Mg)  but also received the NHL Foundation Award! Everyone involved with the Foundation and Catwalk  for Charity should get a pat on their back!  See article http://sabres.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=532547 and video http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=72766

I met up with Ryan and his girlfriend,  Noureen DeWulf,  after the ceremony as seen in one photo. They both looked so great on the red carpet together… see video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTrM_WuJscs … I would also  like to mention the fabulous dress Noureen was wearing….  designed by Herve Ledger!  They had a hard time even getting into the party as the requests for photos  and autographs were endless.   After a few hours of down time in their room, we met up later for some celebratory champagne!   Congrats Ryan!