Saints big winners as BCIHL announces season awards
By The Nelson Daily Sports
There’s a pretty good reason why the Selkirk College Saints are in the BC Intercollegiate Hockey League Championship for the second consecutive year.
Part of the reason was unveiled Tuesday when the BCIHL announced its individual award winners for the 2013-14 season. And the Saints were well represented with no less than eight award winners, including team captain Logan Proulx was a co-winner of the BCIHL’s Most Valuable Player award.
Winners were selected in a vote conducted by the league’s coaches.
Proulx shared the honour with Trinity Western University forward J.P. Villeneuve.
Proulx led Selkirk to their second straight BCIHL regular season title, was the team’s points leader with 42, and set a new BCIHL league record with a 22-game point streak that stretched from October 4th to February 22nd.
Netminder Chris Hurry was also honoured for his strong play, earning the league’s Top Goaltender award. Hurry won a BCIHL-high 14 regular season games between the pipes and posted league-bests in goals-against average (1.87), save-percentage (.925) and shutouts (3).
Saints head coach Jeff Dubois was the team’s third award winner, splitting BCIHL Coach of the Year honours with Trinity Western University’s Barret Kropf. Under Dubois, Selkirk finished with a league-best 20-3-1 record that included a 12-0-1 record over the final 13 games of the regular season.
“Logan and Chris both had outstanding seasons and it’s very gratifying to see their accomplishments recognized by coaches around our league,” said Dubois.
“Logan has been a tremendous leader for our program and a driving force behind our on-ice success. When you combine those characteristics with his offensive output and his work on the penalty kill, it’s tough to identify anybody in our league who makes a more substantial impact in all facets of the game and plays at such a high level night in, night out.”
In addition to the Saints’ individual award winners, a total of six players were named to BCIHL All-Star teams. Proulx and Hurry were joined on the league’s First Team by defenceman Stefan Gonzales, who was a standout at both ends of the rink in his rookie season.
“For Chris, this honour really is a validation of just how far he’s come as an athlete since he joined our program two seasons ago. He’s shown an incredible commitment to developing his game and put in a tremendous amount of time with Alex Evin to work on his technique,” Dubois said.
“Chris was a rock for us all season and gave us huge games whenever we needed them. When you look at the statistics it really jumps out at you that there was a gigantic gap between him and every other goaltender in our league this season.”
Forwards Cody Fidgett and Connor McLaughlin, who tied for the BCIHL lead in goals with 22, were both named Second Team all-stars along with blueliner Tanner Lenting, who led the league in assists by a defenceman with 17.
“The fact that Stefan was recognized as a one of the league’s top defencemen despite modest offensive numbers shows you just how well-respected he is for his skating and strong two-way play,” says Dubois.
“Cody and Connor have very different styles but both of them were outstanding putting the puck in the net for us, and Tanner’s game improved steadily this season to the point where he was in the mix with the league’s top scorers as a defenceman while also logging tough minutes defensively.”
2013/14 BCIHL Award Winners:
Most Valuable Player – (Tie) Logan Proulx, Selkirk College & J.P. Villeneuve, Trinity Western University
Top Defenceman – Jared Eng, Simon Fraser University
Top Goaltender – Chris Hurry, Selkirk College
Rookie of the Year – J.P. Villeneuve, Trinity Western University
Most Sportsmanlike Player – Jono Ceci, Simon Fraser University
Coach of the Year – (Tie) Jeff Dubois, Selkirk College & Barret Kropf, Trinity Western University
2013/14 BCIHL First All-Star Team:
Forward: Jono Ceci, Simon Fraser University
Forward: Logan Proulx, Selkirk College
Forward: J.P. Villeneuve, Trinity Western University
Defence: Jared Eng, Simon Fraser University
Defence: Stefan Gonzales, Selkirk College
Goaltender: Chris Hurry, Selkirk College
2013/14 BCIHL Second All-Star Team:
Forward: Cody Fidgett, Selkirk College
Forward: Connor McLaughlin, Selkirk College
Forward: Nick Sandor, Simon Fraser University
Defence: Tanner Lenting, Selkirk College
Defence: Blair Murphy, Trinity Western University
Goaltender: Andrew Parent, Simon Fraser University
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