The BCHL announced its major award nominees Thursday afternoon, with no Chilliwack Chiefs up for honours.
Despite holding the league’s second best record at 40-10-6-0, no Chief was named in the five categories that were voted on by the league’s coaches.
Each division got one nominee, and with Chilliwack being in the same division as top-ranked Wenatchee helps explain why they were shut out.
Wild forward Brendan Harris is one of three finalists for the Vern Dye Memorial trophy as league MVP along with Victoria Grizzlies goalie Matthew Galajda and Penticton Vees stopper Mat Robson.
The finalists for the Top Defenceman trophy are Jake Stevens from Victoria, Tyler Anderson from Prince George and Michael Ufberg from Vernon.
The finalists for the Bruce Allison Memorial trophy as rookie of the year are Powell River Kings forward Cam Donaldson, Langley Rivermen forward Brendan Budy and Merritt Centennials forward Zach Risteau. This is one category where a Chief might have a beef. Will Calverley’s numbers are almost identical to Budy’s, in fact a tick or two better and Calverley plays a solid 200 foot game. But Budy is two years younger, which probably made the difference.
The other contentious category is the Coach of the Year, where Chilliwack bench boss Jason Tatarnic takes a back seat to Wenatchee’s Bliss Littler. You couldn’t go wrong picking either man, but Tatarnic deserves credit for getting his team to where they are in a year when they were supposed to be building toward 2017-18 and the Royal Bank Cup.
Other nominees for the Joe Tennant Memorial trophy are Grizzlies bench boss Craig Didmon and 2016 winner Fred Harbinson from the Vees.
The nominees for the Bob Fenton trophy as most sportsmanlike player are Harris, Donaldson and Vees forward Grant Cruikshank.
A second round of coaches voting will decide the winner for each trophy and the results will be announced next week before the playoffs begin.
Awards for goaltenders are not voted on. The Goaltending Award goes to the goalie with lowest goals-against average and at least 1,000 minutes played. That’s probably going to be a little unjust this year. It’ll go to Vernon keeper Darion Hanson who comes into the final weekend with 21 appearances and a 1.84 GAA.
Penticton’s Robson sports a 1.99 GAA in 47 appearances.
The Wally Forslund Award for best goalie tandem goes to the teammates with the lowest combined GAA.
Other league awards that are not voted on are the Brett Hull award for top scorer, which will go to Harris, and the Ron Boileau Memorial trophy for the team with the best regular-season record, Wenatchee.
