1 week Ago By Seth Rorabaugh
The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is often misconstrued as a “comeback award.” And sure enough, the three Pittsburgh Penguins players who have won it all came back from some matter of personal hardship. Lowell MacDonald (1973) overcame severe knee injuries while Mario Lemieux (1993) rebounded from Hodgkin’s disease, a form of cancer.
Recently, Kris Letang (2023) battled through the trials of a stroke as well as the death of his father within a matter of weeks. Thankfully, Boko Imama has never encountered any kind of strife that severe. Simply getting to the NHL is his resounding triumph.
And that is why he is the team’s nominee for the award, which recognizes “perseverance, sportsmanship, dedication to hockey” this season. His nomination for the honor was announced Wednesday along with other players from all 32 NHL teams. Before a bicep injury that required surgery ended his season March 29, the 28-year-old established a modest career high this season with 16 games played.
Playing in the NHL this much has not been taken for granted by Imama, who has only 31 career games over eight professional seasons. “It means everything,” Imama said. “I’ve worked so hard.
So many years that I’ve been at it. To be able to have another opportunity like this, and get to live my dream, I’m just very grateful for it, and I tried to do everything I could every day.” Members of local chapters of the Professional Hockey Writers Association identify individual nominations for each team and ultimately vote on a winner that will be recognized along with the NHL’s other award recipients.
Established in 1968, the trophy is named after a Minnesota North Stars forward who died that year as a result of a head injury suffered during a game. Reaction to Imama’s nomination by teammates was seemingly universal. “Sometimes, you have to grind out in the minors,” Letang said.
“Sometimes, you’re not in the lineup, but you have to stay ready. You have to stay focused on getting better and keeping a positive attitude, and that’s what he does. Any path he’s going to take, he’s going to take it the same way.
He’s going to come to the rink with the right frame of mind. When he’s going to have his chance, like he did with us, he’s going to take it.” The Penguins signed Imama (6-foot-1, 221 pounds) to a one-year, two-way contract during the 2024 offseason in hopes he would provide some toughness and he did just that, first at the American Hockey League level with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins then with the Pittsburgh Penguins once he was recalled to the NHL roster Jan.
25. As a fourth-liner, Imama takes on the punishing duties of a forechecker as well as an enforcer. “For me, you pretty much sacrifice yourself for the benefit of the team,” Imama said.
“You’re not just looking at what benefits you. You sacrifice a little bit more. Put the team in the best position.
That’s pretty much how I see it.” His teammates see someone special. “He’s the ultimate teammate,” forward Bryan Rust said.
“He knows what he brings. He knows how well he does it. He does his job.
He comes in with a smile on his face every day. Works as hard as he can. Tries to get better.
Everything he does. He’s a guy who has had to work and fight for everything he’s had, and I say that both literally and figuratively. “He’s a guy we love having in this room.
” Simply being in an NHL dressing room is profound for Imama. So is having his name — his family’s name — on an NHL jersey. While he was born in Montreal, his parents — father Bokondji Sr.
and mother Kumbia — each immigrated there from the Democratic Republic of Congo. There aren’t many people with Imama’s heritage in the NHL or other ranks of professional hockey. “I was born in Montreal, in Canada, in a big hockey town,” Imama said.
“For me, it just came normal. That is what I was born into. It was easy for me to just jump in and play the sport that I love.
I think it was more for my family, they had to adapt. Every experience was new to them. They enjoyed it.
They found it very interesting. “To me, it feels like I was born to do it.” Imama faces another challenge as his recovery following his surgery is slated to last four to six months (and, by the way, he is a pending unrestricted free agent).
But there’s only one way he’ll go about trying to come back from this impediment. “I just feel like there’s always blocks on the road and you’ve just got to find a way to keep pushing through them,” Imama said. “I just feel like that’s been my motto since I started playing pro and that’s how I’ve been finding my success.
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