Anze Kopitar's wife Ines drops 4-word reaction to LA Kings' captain winning his third Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

LA Kings captain Anze Kopitar has won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for the third time in his career. It is a special NHL award that honors players who show great sportsmanship and skill throughout the season.

On Thursday, Kopitar’s wife Ines shared a special post from the NHL’s official Instagram account featuring his Lady Byng win on her stories. In the caption, she wrote:

“So proud of you,” followed by a red heart emoji.

What made this win extra special was how his family surprised him. Kopitar was back home in Slovenia enjoying a golf day with his wife Ines, their kids Neza and Jakob, and his parents at the Royal Bled golf course.

But after nine holes, his children walked up to him on the green holding hand-drawn pictures of the Lady Byng Trophy. The kids then delivered the actual trophy to their dad together and his daughter Neza sweetly told him:

“You won the award for the nicest NHL player.”

Kopitar had previously won the award back in 2016 and 2023, and this year, at 37 years old, he joined a rare group of only ten players in NHL history who have won the Lady Byng Trophy at least three times.

Anze Kopitar believes there is always room to be a ‘good guy’

After receiving the surprise, Anze Kopitar explained that he thought it was just going to be a fun family day out. He claimed that the moment caught him off guard and it felt really special.

“Well, I thought it was just going to be a friendly 10 holes of golf with, I guess, family golf and then a little bit of lunch. So this was a very, obviously very pleasant surprise when I guess the kids brought it out on the ninth green,” he said.

Kopitar also mentioned that he believes even though hockey is a rough, physical sport, players can still carry themselves with respect and dignity.

“I mean, to me, it means it's just being, I guess, so-called a gentleman. You know, hockey is a physical sport, but within those parameters, I think there's obviously room, I guess, a gentleman, a good guy, you know.”

“I guess, having respect towards your peers, towards the officials, just carry yourself in a way to where kids look at you, young kids look at you, what you do on the ice. I guess this exemplifies that it's doable. And I'm honored to have won it three times now. And it means a great deal to me,” he added.

This season, Kopitar scored 67 points (21 goals and 46 assists) in 81 regular-season games and took only two minor penalties all year. He also added nine points in six playoff games for the Kings.

About the author

Anjum is an NHL reporter at Sportskeeda with over five years of professional experience in the spectator sports industry. Raised in Bahrain, Anjum grew up close to the Formula 1 and GP2 scene, but it was ice-sports that she truly had a chance to play at school.

Anjum prioritizes thorough research, fact-checking and verification of sources when reporting, and has worked for Oil on Whyte, Leafs Herald, the Nation of Blaugrana, Barca International Cules, FromTheBend, Last Word On Sports and NASA.

She got interested in ice hockey after watching the “MVP” trilogy as a second grader and has not gotten over the sport yet. Her favorite player is Alex Ovechkin, whose legendary one-timers live rent free in her heart. The iconic moment when Ovechkin reached 800 career goals with a hat trick in Chicago as the away crowd chanted “Ovi, Ovi” is probably her happiest memory from an ice-rink.

When not enjoying the game, Anjum can be found sailing, star-mapping or collaborating with fellow citizen scientists at NASA.

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Edited by Anjum Rajonno