The Fernie Ghostriders held their Annual End of the Year Awards Banquet Saturday March 18th at the Fernie Golf and Country Club. The dinner was catered by The Cast Iron Grilland it was great.
Team President Barb Anderson thanked all the volunteers billets, sponsors and board members for the time and work they put in this year “Without them we would have a tough time existing”. “Also thank you to the parents for trusting us with your kids”.
GM Ty Valin and Captain Scott Sinclair gave their opening remarks to start the ceremonies. Both stressed how the players became a team after the deadline once the new new players got acclimated.
It was the tightest team I’ve ever played with.
On to the Awards presented by GM Ty Valin and Assistant Coach Mike Anderson
It was no surprise to anyone who followed the Riders this year who the big award winner would be. Ethan MacDuff was the MVP, Top Scorer and Top Forward
The Top Defenseman was another easy pick,Team Captain Scott Sinclair.
No one got the puck out of trouble in Fernie’s end better, and he finished 4th overall in KIJHL scoring for D men
The Rookie of the Year was Taylor Haggerty with 41 points in 43 games, a nice first year.
Honourable mention to the other rookies who didn’t play like rookies once they figured out the pace of the league. Andrew Kennedy, Aiden Kruhlak, Liam Fitzgerald, Jack Lambert, Eli Neilsen, Gaege Johnson, Malachai Peigan, and Lucas Desjarlais.
The Top Defensive Forward was Gaege Johnson. He always worked hard and was a big part of the penalty kill. Could work on looking a little meaner though…
The Most Inspirational Player was Malachai Peigan.
When Malachai scored his first goal in January the whole bench erupted, his team mates obviously loved him. Honourable mention to Ethan MacDuff who played on a bad leg in the post season, Cole Fournier who came back from a broken arm just before the playoffs and Cole Fisher and Liam Samycia who suffered broken hands. Samycia’s took months to completely heal.
The Most Exciting Player was Liam Fitzgerald who scored some important goals and was always buzzing. He was a fan favourite.
The Playoff MVP was goalie Aiden Kruhlak who really got his game together in January in time for the playoffs. He always gave his team a chance to win.
The Community Award went to Lucas Desjarlais
Ty Valin “Lucas was always the first to step up for anything the team was asked to do”
The Most Improved Player
Kaden Slobodian.
Kaden worked hard on strength and conditioning during the season and the change was noticeable. Unfortunately he broke his finger in the Rockies series and was really missed in the Kimberley series.
Fernie
