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How I voted for the 2017 SJHL awards

A couple of weeks ago, members of the media around the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League were given ballots to vote for this year’s award winners.

A couple of weeks ago, members of the media around the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League were given ballots to vote for this year’s award winners.

Now that the league has announced the results, I figured it would be a good opportunity to discuss how I picked the people that I voted for.

For those who aren’t familiar with how the process works, the coaches in each of the three divisions in the league vote for a nominee for each category, which is how the three (or four in the case of the defenceman of the year) finalists the media vote on are determined.

Also, there’s a coach of the year award, but that’s voted on by each of the 12 bench bosses in the SJHL.

 

Player of the Year – Shared by Ben Duperreault (Notre Dame) and Greyson Reitmeier (Flin Flon)

 

This marked the first time that a major award in the SJHL has been split between two players since 2012, when Flin Flon’s Devin Buffalo and Notre Dame’s Brandon Millin shared Rookie of the Year honours.

The one player per division rule gets a little bit tough in this category, as you could make a serious case for Battlefords’ Coby Downs and Layne Young, Humboldt’s Chris Van Os-Shaw and Nipawin’s Josh Bly to be among the finalists.

Of the three players on the ballot, which also included Estevan’s Josh Rieger, I ended up going with Duperreaultmainly on how important he’s been to the Hounds.

With 79 points in 57 games, the top scorer in the SJHL this season was involved in nearly half of his team’s goals this season.

Had Duperreault not been on the Hounds’ roster, who knows where they would be in the playoff picture right now.

 

Most Valuable Player – Won by Kristian Stead (Nipawin)

 

While Duperreault’s contributions to Notre Dame were huge, along with fellow nominee Rieger, it was a no-brainer for me to go with the Hawks netminder for this award.

Now granted, it may not feel this way now given the Hawks improved offensive output over the last couple months of the regular season, but Stead played a huge part in helping his team stay in the hunt.

After helping the Hawks reach the league semifinal last year, Stead was even better this season with a 29-11-1 record, a 1.92 goals against average, a .938 save percentage and seven shutouts ahead of his team’s regular season finale against the Flin Flon Bombers Tuesday night.

Those numbers, along with a commitment to play for the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves in the NCAA ranks next season, has made this a campaign to remember for the Merritt, B.C. native.

 

Defenceman of the Year – Won by Eric Sinclair (Flin Flon)

 

The Kenora, Ont. product has been impressive over the last two seasons in the SJHL, as he also won this award last year as a member of the Melfort Mustangs.

Sinclair, who is also expected to play for Alaska-Anchorage next year, led all blueliners in scoring with 51 points in 45 games after he was dealt to the Bombers early in the campaign.

So why then did I vote for Battlefords North Stars captain Kendall Fransoo for this award instead of Sinclair?

There are two reasons for that.

Firstly, and this comes with a little bit of bias since I watch the North Stars on a nightly basis, but Fransoo’s play on the back end has been a huge part of why the North Stars set a SJHL record for the fewest goals allowed during a regular season campaign with 103.

Secondly, since I was going to make my ballot public knowledge, I had to vote for a North Stars player otherwise I don’t think I would be allowed back in the Civic Centre.

An honourable mention for this award goes to Weyburn’s Mike Eskra, who was a finalist along with Rieger, as he was probably the best blueliner from a visiting team that I saw all season at the Civic Centre.

Also, it would have been interesting to see what former Notre Dame blueliner Tyler Podgorenko could have done in a full season in the league, as he had 36 points in 36 games prior to being traded to the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs at the trade deadline.

 

Goalie of the Year – Won by Kristian Stead (Nipawin)

 

We’ve talked about Stead’s season already, so let’s take this time to praise the awesome seasons of North Stars netminders Joel Grzybowski and Taryn Kotchorek.

Kotchorek, who was the nominee from the newly-rebranded Olympic Buildings Division, led the SJHL with a staggering 1.61 goals against average and had 27-3-0 record this year.

Not to be outdone, Grzybowski had a 1.66 goals against average and a 21-4-1 mark in his first year in the Junior A ranks.

They also combined for 11 shutouts during the 2016-17 season, with Grzybowski holding a 6-5 advantage in that department.

The other finalist for this award was Melville’s Colby Entz, who is someone I got to cover in Moose Jaw when he played for the Midget AAA Generals.

Although his 13-12-1 record and 3.02 goals against average aren’t as crazy as the other top netminders in the league, his name is one to watch for in the future, as he’s very good between the pipes.

 

Rookie of the Year – Won by Adam Dawe (Notre Dame)

 

This is another award where the one nominee per division rule causes a bit of chaos, as Grzybowski probably should have been a finalist.

Fellow netminders Entz and Justen Close of Kindersley, who probably would have garnered a lot more attention had it not been for Grzybowski’s incredible season, are two other freshman that found themselves on the outside looking in.

Offensively, North Stars forward Ben Allen capitalized on his opportunities with linemates Downs and Young, as he put up 45 points in 44 games, but wasn’t included among the finalists.

However, with all respect to finalists Michael McChesney of Estevan and Tyler Heidt of Melfort, this was Dawe’s award to lose.

Personally, I was expecting a lot from the future Maine Black Bear forward this season, and he didn’t disappoint with 64 points in 54 games.

While I don’t think he’ll get much of a look by NHL teams during the draft in June, Dawe is certainly a name to watch for in the future.

Another rookie who could have been a finalist for this award was Erik Gardiner, as he had 22 points in 25 games for Humboldt before he moved up to the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets around Christmas.  

 

Coach of the Year – Won by Doug Johnston (Nipawin)

 

As I mentioned earlier, this is the one award that the media didn’t vote on, but Johnston is who I would have picked if I were able to select someone for this award.

When it comes to picking a coaching award, I take the approach of picking the bench boss for the team that surprised me the most from where I had expected them to finish at the start of the season.

At the start of the season, I wrote a blog with some pre-season SJHL power rankings and had the Hawks in 11th place.

“Kristian Stead is back in goal, which is a huge help,” I penned at the time. “However, he might have to stand on his head to help his team have another long playoff run.”

That statement proved to be incorrect by a huge margin.

Yes Stead was good, but Johnson helped to mould a squad that had a lot of turnover from a season ago, and he made some shrewd moves to make the Hawks an impressive force.

Another coach that did a great job in proving me wrong was Chris Lewgood in Estevan.

I thought that the Bruins would struggle a bit after hosting the Western Canada Cup, but they ended up having one of the most impressive offences all season and captured a division title in the process.

Then of course, there’s Nate Bedford here with the North Stars, who did a heck of a job taking over last year’s regular season champions and made them even better.