Lamb and Desjardins up for WHL awards

A pair of Southwest hockey products are among the finalists for a pair of Western Hockey League awards this season.

Willie Desjardins, the General Manager and Head Coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers, is the Central Division nominee for the Dunc Mccallum Memorial Trophy. The Tigers made the playoffs this season with a 19-win improvement from last season with a 30-29-8-1 record.

Desjardins has a 429-323-68 record as a WHL head coach over 13 seasons. He coached the Vancouver Canucks for three seasons and also had a stint with the Los Angeles Kings in 2018-19. The Climax product previously won the Dunc Mccallum Memorial Trophy in 2006.

Desjardins is also the Central Division nominee for the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy for the WHL Executive of the Year after the team improved by 43 points while stockpiling young talent such as Cayden Lindstrom and Gavin Mckenna.

Swift Current’s Mark Lamb is the B.C. Division nominee for the Coach of the Year Award. The Prince George Cougars Head Coach and General

Manager helped the team place second in the B.C. Division with a 37-24-6-1 record.

Lamb spent seven seasons as the Head Coach and GM of the Swift Current Broncos from 200916. He previously was an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars.

He was named the Head Coach of the Cougars in July, 2019 after serving the previous year as General Manager.

The Cougars defeated the Tri-city Americans 4-2 in the opening round of the playoffs. They will face the Seattle Thunderbirds in the second round.

WHL Coach of the Year Nominees

B.C. Division – Mark Lamb, Prince George Cougars

Central Division – Willie Desjardins, Medicine Hat Tigers

East Division – Brennan Sonne, Saskatoon Blades U.S. Division – Stu Barnes, Tri-city Americans

WHL Executive of the Year Nominees

B.C. Division – Shaun Clouston, Kamloops Blazers

Central Division – Willie Desjardins, Medicine Hat Tigers

East Division – Matt Cockell, Winnipeg ICE

U.S. Division – Bil La Forge, Seattle Thunderbirds