Dundee Stars’ rich vein of form nets player awards:

Accolades for forwards just reward for Dundee side in rich vein of form

Dundee Stars’ forwards have been racking up the awards from both fans and officials on the back of the team’s impressive winning run.

Francois Bouchard picked up the EIHL Magazine’s Fans’ Player of the Week award after winning 31% of the vote. He beat Belfast Giants’ David Rutherford by 1%, with nearly 1,700 votes cast.

Also nominated were Cardiff Devils’ Gleason Fournier and Nottingham Panthers’ Alex Nikiforuk.

Bouchard also won the British Ice Hockey’s Player of the Week accolade but the BIH split the award between him and Rutherford after both players won 36% of the vote. The pair came out top against Fournier again and Manchester Storm’s goalie Matt Ginn.

The Canadian netted five times in Stars’ last three league games as Omar Pacha’s side won six straight league matches and equalled the club record for the longest winning streak.

Bouchard was delighted to be selected by the fans as the best player of the week.

He said: “It is great and it is from voting as well, so obviously I have to thank all the Dundee Stars fans who have been voting for me and it is always good to get those rewards. Hopefully we can keep winning and I can play some good hockey.”

After winning his second award of the week, the winger added: “It feels great obviously, it is always flattering when you get those kind of awards.

“It is good when you are scoring and winning, I have to thank my team-mates and we are doing well right now,

We are pretty happy about the run and hopefully we can keep the good form going

sometimes the goals are going in easier and sometimes it is harder. Right now, they are going in easy, so I am going to try and keep my confidence high, try to keep scoring like that and try to help the team win every game.”

Dundee defeated three of the top four sides in the Elite League and Bouchard believes that it was “deserved”.

He said: “It is great. It is unreal actually. I think we deserved those wins.

“We have played some really good hockey lately against some big teams like Cardiff and Belfast. We kept working hard during practice and now I think we are getting rewarded for all the hard work we are doing and it shows on the ice.

“We are pretty happy about the run and hopefully we can keep the good form going.”

The Quebec native leads his side in points with 27 in all competitions this year.

Reflecting on the first half of this season and how he has performed, Bouchard said: “I have been really happy.

“At the beginning of the year I think I was playing some good hockey as well but sometimes it just doesn’t go in.

“I still have to believe in myself and the way I am playing and obviously our line with Chucky (Charles Corcoran) and Biss (Matt Bissonnette), we are doing some good work and we have chances every game.

“As long as you have chances, the goals are going to come and when you have confidence from the coach too, it is always good.

“It has been a good run lately, I am pretty happy about the way I have been playing so far and about our line combination. I think we are really dangerous every game and that is what our coach is looking for from us.”

Getting into the play-offs has been the key focus since Omar Pacha arrived in Tayside two summers ago and Bouchard wants to earn a place for the fans.

He said: “That has been our goal from the beginning of the year. We want to be in the play-offs. The fans deserve to have their team in the play-offs.

“We play every game like it’s our last game and there is no easy game in this league. I have been saying that a lot and I think it is true that any team can beat anybody.

“So, you can’t take a day off, like this weekend – Nottingham, Milton Keynes and Coventry are going to be huge games.

“But it was hard to get into the play-off spots, so it is going to be harder to stay in there.

“We have to bring our A-game and keep working hard in practice.”

Stars centre Jordan Cownie was also rewarded for his fine form in November by picking up a hat-trick of awards.

He won the Elite League Player of the Week for November 25 and was also named Player of the Month by the EIHL.

Dundee-born Cownie was also chosen by the Stars’ official supporters club as their Player of the Month for November.

The Tayside team are finalising their preparations for a three-game road trip that sees them take on Nottingham Panthers, Milton Keynes Lightning and Coventry Blaze between Friday and Sunday.