Salmon Arm, B.C. — Immediately following Sunday’s thrilling finish to the 2019-20 BCHL regular season, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks held their year-end awards presentation.
We’d like to take this opportunity to recognize all of our award winners and all of our graduating players.
We start with our Most Valuable Player winner, goaltender Ethan Langenegger, who played the third-most minutes of any goaltender this season, finished top-5 in saves and sixth in wins! Congrats Ethan!
Winning Top Defenceman was captain Akito Hirose, who led the entire BCHL in points among D-men with 51. He has been nominated for the league‘s Top Defenceman Award too! Hirose ranks eighth on the al-time franchise scoring list with 122 points. Congrats Akito on not just an incredible season, but also an incredible career!
Next we have Luke Mylymok, who won Most Dedicated Player! The Wilcox, Sask. native had 11 goals and 17 points in just 26 games for us, but it was his work ethic both on and off the ice that really stood out! Congrats Luke!
Winning our Top Scorer award was veteran Daniel Rybarik, who led our team with 31 goals, second overall in the BCHL! Twenty-three of his 31 goals were scored at even-strength. Congrats Daniel!
Taking home our Fan Favourite Award — which is of course voted on by the fans — was rookie Sam Schofield, and we hear he won by a landslide! Congrats Sam!
Drew Bennett was named our Rookie of the Year! He finished his first BCHL season with 28 points and had the primary assist in Sunday’s game-winning-goal, which was the biggest goal of the season! Congrats Drew!
Winning our Most Improved Player Award was Simon Tassy, who always brought the right attitude and finished the season with five goals and three assists in his final nine games! Congrats Simon!
Hunter Sansbury scared the living bananas out of the opposition all season long and was the only real choice for Hitman of the Year! He also finished eighth in the BCHL in rookie defencemen scoring with 24 points! Congrats Hunter!
William Poirier won the Academic Award this season and provided incredible leadership, plus countless clutch goals! He finished the year with 23 goals and 41 points, plus five game-winning-goals! Congrats Will!
Logan Shaw won our Wellness in Action Award, given to the Silverback who leads on and off the ice with empathy and respect, and provides a healthy environment for his teammates! On the ice, Shaw obliterated last year’s totals, scoring nine times in 2019-20.
Tony Andreozzi won this year’s Most Sportsmanlike Player Award, accumulating just seven minor penalties all season long, while logging significant minutes from the backend. Congrats Tony!
Noah Wakeford won our Unsung Hero Award, finishing second on the team in scoring with 50 points! Congrats Noah!
Forward Nick Unurh was awarded this year’s Score For School scholarship, presented by Arthur’s Gem Set Studio to the player who shows leadership and high academic standards. Unruh scored the game-winning-goal in our biggest game of the season Sunday and finished the year with 39 points! Congrats Nick!
SASCU’s Three Star Tracker winners were also announced, with first place going to Langenegger (170 points), second going to Poirier (110) and third going to Rybarik (90).
We’d also like to congratulate Bob and Kenny for their Volunteer of the Year awards! We truly appreciate everything they do at each and every home game for us. THANK YOU!
Lastly, we’d like to give a shout-out to all our graduating players. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us this season both on and off the ice. Now let’s go get them Grizzlies in round one of the playoffs!
All photos by Pure Life Photography.
