With a couple of days still to go before the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Seattle Thunderbirds battle for the WHL Championship the league took care of some business on Wednesday with the annual WHL Awards Ceremony in Calgary, where there was plenty of hardware to hand out. We’ve got a rundown on all the big winners for you.
Of course, a couple of the awards were already decided. The Scotty Munro Trophy for the league’s best record went to the Victoria Royals whose spectacular season came up just short in the playoffs. The 120 points put up by Regina Pats forward Adam Brooks led the league which won him the Bob Clarke Trophy.
Here are the rest of the winners:
Four Broncos Memorial Trophy — WHL Player of the Year
Dryden Hunt, Moose Jaw Warriors
Hunt lost out on the scoring race to Brooks by four points, but blew away the competition when it came to scoring goals. He netted 58 of them and scored in bunches with six hat tricks on the season. That included a remarkable stretch in February with four three-goal efforts in a five-game span. Hunt teamed with Brayden Point to form one of the top lines in the WHL and was a key player in their upset of Prince Albert in the first round of the playoffs.
Runner up
Defenceman Joe Hicketts of Victoria Royals ended his junior career by leading his team to its first ever Munro Trophy. The Detroit Red Wings prospect put up 61 points from the blueline to end his WHL career with 173 overall.
Del Wilson Memorial Trophy — Top Goaltender
Carter Hart, Everett Silvertips
It’s hard to argue with this selection because no team relied on its goalie more than Everett. The Silvertips only managed 2.5 goals-per-game—second lowest in the league—and yet Hart got them to a second-place finish and into the second round of the playoffs. His 2.14 GAA was best among starters and he was second in the league with six shutouts. The next question for Hart is where he’ll end up in June’s NHL Draft.
WATCH: Ladies and gentlemen, @TheWHL Goalie of the Year.
We're just gonna leave this here. #CongratsCarter pic.twitter.com/WyZAn0wXMN
— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) May 4, 2016
Runner up
Moose Jaw’s Zach Sawchenko set career bests in goals-against, save percentage and wins for the Warriors this season. He faced a lot of rubber but gave Moose Jaw a chance most nights.
Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy — Top Defenceman
Ivan Provorov, Brandon Wheat Kings
Provorov had a stellar year with 21 goals and 73 points to lead all blueliners in scoring. The Flyers prospect jump-started the Wheat Kings league leading offence and is one of the main reasons they’re in the finals now. There was thought that he might stick with Philadelphia as an 18-year-old but he was returned and Brandon reaped the benefits. They won’t be able to do that next season.
At No. 8, Provorov was the second D-man drafted last year after Carolina’s Noah Hanifin. (Marissa Baecker/Getty)
Runner up
Joe Hicketts, Victoria Royals
Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy — Rookie of the Year
Matthew Phillips, Victoria Royals
The speedy forward burst onto the scene with 37 goals and 76 points to lead all rookies in scoring. Phillips only stands at 5-foot-6, but he proved without a doubt that he can play in the league. He spent his 16-year-old season in midget and that delay seems to have paid off. Despite the season he turned in he didn’t show up on a lot of draft lists but it seems unlikely that NHL scouts can ignore the talent this coming June.
Runner up
Noah Gregor trailed Phillips by three points in the rookie scoring race with 73 and is one of the reasons that there is optimism for the Moose Jaw Warriors in the coming years.
Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy — Coach of the Year
Dave Lowry, Victoria Royals
Lowry took a squad that most pundits picked to be a fringe playoff team to the league’s best record. While he probably wishes to forget the last seconds of the Royals Game-7 loss to Kelowna, Lowry did a masterful job this season. Out was the big bruising team that he had in the past and in was a smaller but faster club that scored a ton of goals and had outstanding goaltending. This was Lowry’s second McCallum Trophy win after he won it in 2014.
Runner up
Brent Kisio helped bring the Lethbridge Hurricanes back to form this past season. Leading them to a Central Division regular season win with a 46-24-1-1 mark.
Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy — Executive of the year
Peter Anholt, Lethbridge Hurricanes
Anholt took over the Hurricanes last season and in just one year led them to a remarkable turnaround. The club nearly doubled its point total and ended a six-year playoff drought. In many ways, junior hockey becoming relevant in Lethbridge again was the story of the season.
Runner up
Cameron Hope took a Victoria Royals team that wasn’t expected to do much and won the Scotty Munro Trophy. He gets credit here for assembling a roster full of speedy players that caused fits for the competition all season long.
For a complete list of the all the WHL Awards, check out the league’s web site.