A Chilliwack Chief has been nominated for two major BCHL awards.
The league announced nominees for five trophies Wednesday. The Mainland, Interior and Island divisions each supply one candidate.
BCHL coaches were asked to submit a ranked list of top picks for each award, and the weighted vote produced the nominees.
Kevin Wall is the Mainland division’s choice for the Vern Dye Memorial Trophy as league MVP, though he’s unlikely to win it. Wall will be the underdog going against BCHL scoring leader Alex Newhook of the Victoria Grizzlies. The other nominee is Penticton Vees defenceman James Miller.
Wall’s name comes up again for the Bruce Allison Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie.
Wall has a good case for this one.
With 31 goals and 64 points in 49 games, he’s produced more goals and points in less games than Victoria’s Alexander Campbell (51-21-42-63). The third nominee, Trail’s Kent Johnson, lags well behind with 45 points in 55 games, but his total is impressive as the highest of any 16 year old in the league.
Despite having the BCHL’s best record, no other Chief is nominated for an individual honour, though Brian Maloney is likely to be in the running for, and eventually win, the Joe Tennant Memorial Trophy as the league’s top coach.
The Top Defenceman Trophy will go to one of Miller, Victoria’s Carter Berger or Prince George’s Layton Ahac.
Chilliwack’s Mathieu Caron or Daniel Chenard might have been in the running for the Top Goaltender Trophy had one of them been healthy the entire season. But they weren’t, so that comes down to Victoria’s Kurtis Chapman, Penticton’s Jack LaFontaine or Prince George’s Logan Neaton.
The Bob Fenton Trophy for the most sportsmanlike player will go to one of Campbell, Langley’s Kalen Szeto or West Kelowna’s Mike Hardman.
BCHL coaches will determine the winners of these awards, with recipients announced before the start of the playoffs.
The Chiefs did win a prestigious team award, collecting the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy as the team with the best regular season record.
