A pair of Chilliwack Chiefs have won major BCHL awards.
The league announced the winners of its year-end hardware Tuesday morning.
A survey of BCHL coaches names Chilliwack goaltender Mitch Gillam the winner of the Vern Dye Memorial trophy as the most valuable player in the Coastal conference, with Trail’s Brent Baltus earning the Interior conference honour.
Luke Esposito wins the Bruce Allison Memorial trophy as the Coastal conference rookie of the year, with Penticton’s Ryan Gropp getting the Interior conference nod.
The Best Defenceman award in the Coastal conference goes to Surrey’s Devon Toews (Coastal) and Penticton’s Troy Stecher (Interior).
The Bob Fenton trophy for most sportsmanlike player goes to Alberni Valley’s Ryan Lough (Coastal) and Salmon Arm’s Brad Mistal (Interior).
The Joe Tennant Memorial trophy for coach of the year goes to Victoria’s Bill Bestwick (Coastal) and Merritt’s Luke Pierce (Interior).
Langley’s Mario Puskarich becomes the first Coastal conference player to win the Brett Hull trophy as BCHL scoring leader since 2009, when Powell River’s D’Arcy Oaks won it.
Puskarich’s 16-point margin over Chilliwack’s Austin Plevy is the largest since 2006, when Merritt’s Brandon Wong won the trophy with a 116-point season, 15 points better than Chilliwack’s Matt Butcher.
This year’s goaltending award to the netminder with the lowest goals against average in at least 1000 minutes played goes to Surrey’s Michael Santaguida, who posted a 2.28 GAA in 2,582 minutes played.
The Wally Forslund award for the top goaltending tandem (best combined GAA) goes to Penticton’s Chad Katunar and Nic Renyard.
