Tyler Seguin, Matt Duchene cheer on ex-Stars' teammate Joe Pavelski as he wins the American Century Championship for the first time

Former NHL forward Joe Pavelski won his first-ever title at the 2025 American Century Championship on Sunday. His former Dallas Stars teammates Tyler Seguin and Matt Duchene made sure to congratulate Pavelski as he became the third NHL star to win the tournament.

Tyler Seguin reposted a graphic from the Instagram account of Golf Channel on his stories, featuring Pavelski as the champion. In the caption, he wrote:

“Let’s go!!!” and added a trophy emoji while tagging him.

Duchene also reposted the same graphic on his own Instagram stories.

“ATTA BOY @jpav8,” Duchene captioned the story, followed by clapping and fire emojis.

Joe Pavelski delivered a wire-to-wire performance on the occasion and closed with an eagle on the 18th hole to secure a total of 73 points under the modified Stableford scoring system.

Pavelski finished nine points ahead of former MLB pitcher John Smoltz, earning $150,000 from the tournament’s $750,000 prize purse. It marked a breakthrough win in his ninth appearance at the celebrity golfing event.

Consistently among the top finishers of the tournament in recent years, he had placed second in 2024 and third in 2023 respectively. With this victory, Pavelski became just the third NHL player to win the tournament joining Dan Quinn and Mario Lemieux.

Leafs' Max Domi pens heartfelt congratulatory message for Joe Pavelski

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Max Domi had also tuned in to watch the American Century Championship this weekend and was quick to celebrate Joe Pavelski’s victory. Shortly after the win, Domi posted a clip filmed from his TV showing Pavelski’s winning moment.

He shared it on his Instagram story with a heartfelt message for the ex-NHLer.

“Clutch. Congrats! @jpav8” Domi wrote in the caption.

He also added a trophy sticker in the corner of the clip.

Max Domi and Joe Pavelski were briefly teammates on the Dallas Stars during the 2022-23 NHL season. Domi was traded to Dallas from the Chicago Blackhawks on March 2, 2023 and both finished that season with the team.

Meanwhile, the win capped off a memorable week for Pavelski who also celebrated his 41st birthday and 17th wedding anniversary. After lifting the win, he celebrated by hugging his family and taking a celebratory plunge into the lake.

The American Century Championship is held annually at Edgewood Tahoe Resort, which is located on the south shore of Lake Tahoe in Stateline, Nevada. The event ususally takes place on the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.

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