Each year, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League presents seven awards for on-ice excellence: Most Valuable Player, Top Scorer, Top Defenceman, Top Goaltender, Rookie of the Year, Most Sportsmanlike Player and Coach of the Year. Winners are named from the four divisions prior to the start of KIJHL Playoffs, with overall league award winners named prior to the Teck Cup Finals.
Monday, February 19 – Eddie Mountain Division
Tuesday, February 20 – Bill Ohlhausen Division
Wednesday, February 21 – Neil Murdoch Division
Thursday, February 22 – Doug Birks Division
Today, we recognize the achievements of Bill Ohlhausen Division players and coach.
| Most Valuable Player &
Top Goaltender |
Hager set a new career high in wins with seven, surpassing the six he earned in 16 games as a rookie with the Knights and Princeton Posse last season. The 20-year-old went 7-7-2 in 19 games for the Knights earning one shutout, while posting a 2.58 goals against average with a .932 save percentage in 1,116 minutes of action. His .932 SP ranks fourth in the KIJHL, while his 2.58 GAA is 12th.
The Calgary product saved 87 per cent of scoring area shots, and 75 per cent on breakaways. He made 2.6 brilliant saves per game, according to Hudl Instat data. In a KIJHL Notebook, Knights head coach-GM Liam McOnie praised how good Hager was performing. “We feel that he has improved in a lot of areas and brings confidence. We like his compete level and ability to make timely saves and keep the ship level while under duress.” |
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| Top Scorer Anmol Garcha Princeton Posse |
Injuries in his previous two seasons prevented Garcha, 20, from putting up the offensive numbers he’s capable of. Coming into the season, he scored 14 goals twice, and collected 28 assists in his rookie season.
This year the Sherwood Park, Alta., product broke past both with 22 goals and 35 assists for 57 points in 38 games, which ranked fifth in the KIJHL. Garcha did so while playing 19:53 a game, including 5:06 on the power-play and finished plus-21. He scored six game-winners and had 20 power-play points. He also played 62 percent of the time in the offensive zone and was selected as Top Forward in the Hudl Instat KIJHL 3 Stars of the Week twice. |
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| Top Defenceman Lucas Sadownyk Princeton Posse |
Sadownyk, 20, led the Posse blueline with 31 points in 39 games, which ranked him sixth amongst all KIJHL defencemen and second in the Bill Ohlhausen division. His 31 points broke his career high of 18, which he posted each of the last two seasons. His 25 assists topped the 24 he earned the last two seasons combined and finished a plus-28 while averaging 21:14 a game, including 4:42 on the power-play. He played 59 per cent of the time in the defensive zone and won 57 per cent of puck battles. |  |
| Rookie of the Year Vinay Junek Princeton Posse |
Junek, a Yorkton, Sask., product had 15 goals and 49 points in 44 games, while averaging 17:07 of playing time, including 5:17 on special teams. He was second on the Posse in points and ranked fifth among KIJHL rookies. Junek had two game-winners and 13 power-play points. He spent 52 per cent of the time playing in the offensive zone. The 18-year-old was a Young Guns selection in December. |  |
| Most Sportsmanlike Player Tyson Horiachka Princeton Posse |
Horiachka, 19, is highly effective playing a two-way game, earning a plus-28 rating, and possessing the ability to win puck battles without taking many penalties – he spent 16 minutes in the box – playing an average of 16:58. He finished third on the Posse with 45 points in 41 games. |  |
| Coach of the Year Mark Readman Princeton Posse |
Readman is the Coach of the Year for the second straight season. In his third full season as the Posse’s head coach, Readman guided the organization to their second straight President’s Cup title with a record of 35-8-0-1. The Posse scored a league high 208 goals, while allowing 96 for a league-best differential of 112.
When the Posse scored first, they won 29 of 32 games, and were nearly unbeatable when leading after two – 30-1. On special teams, the Posse ranked seventh on the power-play at 20.4 per cent, while the penalty-kill was third best at 86.3 per cent. In 131 KIJHL regular season games as head coach, Readman, 28, is 80-39-6-4. |
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