Former Capitals defenseman Nate Schmidt has yet to hoist the Stanley Cup in his career but on Wednesday he accomplished basically the next best thing.
Schmidt’s TRIA team was crowned champion of the 2022 Da Beauty League. Schmidt hoisted the distinguished John Scott Cup, which is a beer keg spraypainted as a trophy.
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TRIA took home the win over TRADITION 8-5 in the thrilling final, bolstered by two goals apiece from Schmidt and veteran forward Eric Staal. Staal capped the game off by sinking a “hot puck” empty netter that counted for two.
Recent Hershey Bears signee, Aaron Ness, was also a part of Team TRIA. Ness got on the scoresheet with an assist.
A @nateschmidt29 blast ties it up just before the half 💥
🎥: @FloHockey 📺: https://t.co/mqzJALTjYa#GoJetsGo | @TRIAOrthopedics pic.twitter.com/jwhBsyc3I8
— Da Beauty League (@DaBeautyLeague) August 25, 2022
Da Beauty League was founded in 2015 and is a very popular summer league hosted in Edina, Minnesota. The league showcases NHL and NCAA players preparing for their upcoming seasons. Each game is played at Braemar Arena and money earned from the action is donated to hockey non-profits.
The championship keg trophy is named after 2016 NHL All-Star forward John Scott. The league’s website describes Scott as their “quasi commissioner”, “full-time buzzer”, and “the definition of a beauty”. Scott played the first two seasons of his NHL career with the Minnesota Wild.
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This summer’s version of the tournament featured a whole bunch of guys with current or past ties to the Capitals organization. The long list includes Schmidt, Ness, Nic Dowd, Nick Jensen, Paul Ladue, Travis Boyd, Adam Carlson, Dennis Cholowski, and Shane Gersich.
Even the coaching staffs featured some DC connections with Ben Clymer heading up Element and Taylor Chorney behind the bench of the eventual winners in TRIA.
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In 2022-23, Schmidt will head into his second season with the Winnipeg Jets after being dealt there last summer by the Vancouver Canucks for a third-round draft selection. In 77 games last season with the Jets, he recorded 32 points. That was good for the second-highest single-season total of his career.
Headline photo: TeMo Photo at TeMoPhoto.com
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