Broncos, Silvertips face off at WHL awards
Off-ice competition sets stage for final
The Swift Current Broncos and Everett Silvertips started early.
Two days before they’re slated to open the WHL final in Swift Current, the Eastern and Western Conference champions went head to head at the WHL’s annual awards luncheon on Wednesday in Red Deer.
Broncos head coach Manny Viveiros beat out Everett bench boss Dennis Williams for the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as WHL coach of the year. Viveiros guided Swift Current to the second-best record in the league (48-17-5-2), finishing four points ahead of the third-place Silvertips (47-20-2-3).
Everett GM Garry Davidson won the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as WHL executive of the year, beating out Alan Millar of the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The big winner on the players’ side was Everett’s Carter Hart, who received the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL player of the year as well as the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as goaltender of the year. He led all goalies in almost every major statistical category, finishing the regular season with a 31-6-1-3 record, 1.60 GAA, .947 save percentage and seven shutouts.
The runner-up for player-of-theyear honours was Moose Jaw forward Jayden Halbgewachs, a native of Emerald Park. He won the Bob Clarke Trophy as the league’s top scorer with 70 goals and 129 points in 72 games.
The Eastern Conference nominee for goalie of the year was Regina product Logan Flodell, who split this season between the Broncos and Lethbridge Hurricanes. He went 38-18-4-0 with a 3.13 GAA, .909 SP and three shutouts.
Broncos forward Aleksi Heponiemi won the Brad Horning Trophy as most sportsmanlike player, beating out Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks.
Ty Ronning of the Vancouver Giants received the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as humanitarian of the year over Matt Bradley of the Regina Pats.
The other winners were Dylan Cozens of the Hurricanes (Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year), Kale Clague of the Warriors (Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as defenceman of the year) and Ty Smith of the Spokane Chiefs (Doc Seaman Memorial Trophy as top scholastic player).
The Edmonton Oil Kings received the business award while the Saskatoon Blades were named the scholastic team on the year. Referee Brett Iverson received the Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy as the top official.