He came to the Vernon Vipers looking to be the team’s No. 1 goalie.
Andrew Shortridge ended up being the club’s best player.
The 20-year-old native of Eagle River, Alaska was named the Vipers’ most valuable player as the club handed out its year-end awards on the ice following Friday’s final regular season home game at Kal Tire Place.
“The term MVP encompasses a number of elements to any team and this player embodies them all,” said Vipers’ play-by-play voice Graham Turnbull, emcee for the presentation.
“He is a great leader and teammate on and off the ice. He was, without question, the most consistent player on the ice giving his team a chance to win every night.”
Going into Friday’s game, Shortridge had a record of 18-24, a 3.08 goals against average and stopped 1,422 of 1,551 shots for a .917 save percentage.
The humble netminder, who had never won a team MVP award before, deflected praise toward his teammates.
“I can’t win it without a team, it’s a team sport first,” said Shortridge. “I can’t win games alone. I can’t tell you how many times there have been game-saving blocks from d-men, forwards, anyone on the team. I was surprised to hear my name called.”
Jagger Williamson and Odeen Tufto were double award winners.
Williamson won the Rienie Holland Community Service Award and the Wayne Buck Memorial Award, which is given to the player honouring hard work and unselfish play.
Tufto won the top scorer and rookie of the year honours. Liam Finlay was named most sportsmanlike player, Christian Cakebreak was the unsung hero, Brett Stapley took the Bill Brown Award for academic excellence and Riley Brandt was named the most popular player. The Sun Valley Source For Sports most improved player was Jimmy Lambert and Mac Ferner won the Blue Liners Academic Scholarship.
The BCHL announced its league winners with Penticton forward Tyson Jost named winner of the Vern Dye Memorial Award as MVP. Teammate Dante Fabbro was top defenceman and Vees bench boss Fred Harbinson was coach of the year.
Chilliwack’s Vimal Sukumaran beat out Tufto for rookie of the year and Coquitlam’s Colton Kerfoot was named most sportsmanlike.
