ESTEVAN - The Estevan Bruins placed the finishing touches on their season Thursday by having an awards ceremony as part of their Sportsman’s Dinner at the Power Dodge Curling Centre.
Forward Eric Pearce won the Tower Café regular season MVP Award. He joined the team partway through the season, but still recorded 20 goals and 28 assists in 40 games, while providing strong defensive play and taking many of the key faceoffs.
Goaltender Boston Bilous was announced as the team’s playoff MVP. He had a 12-4 record in the playoffs, with a 2.0 goals against average, a .928 save percentage and two shutouts.
Graduating defenceman Dayton Deics was also a big winner. He won the A&W Defencemen of the Year Award, with 10 goals and 25 assists, while logging big minutes for the team. Deics was the only one of the graduating players to spend three full seasons with the Bruins
He also won the RBC Community Involvement Award, and shared the Encompass Fitness Ironman Award with Caelan Fitzpatrick. Deics and Fitzpatrick appeared in all 58 of the club’s regular season games.
Fitzpatrick also won the Spectra Financial Top Rookie Honour, as he had 28 goals and 20 assists this season.
Mark Rumsey won the top scorer award with 76 points, including a league-high 39 goals. He also shared the KSM Trucking Rocky Award with local product Alex Von Sprecken.
The other big winner of the night was Keagon Little, who won the Pierson-Shinske Memorial Scholarship and the Mark Cross Memorial Ethics Award. The Ethics Award, which used to be the Bill Shinske Memorial Ethics Award, is now named in honour of Cross, who played for the Bruins from 2008-2011. Cross was one of 16 people who died in the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy in April 2018.
Cross is the only player in the past 20 years to have won the Ethics Award twice.
Other award winners were:
- Eric Houk won the Ab Berday Scholastic Player of the Year Award;
- Mikol Sartor won the Rocket Sales Most Popular Player Award;
- Olivier Pouliot captured the Rock 106 Most Sportsmanlike Player Award;
- Cam Hrdlicka won the TEML Most Improved Player Award;
- Nolan Jones won the JL’s Bike and Skate Most Underrated Player Award;
- Cody Davis won the Crown Advertising Mr. Hustle Award; and
- Brandon Ambrozik won the team’s Heart Award for his dedication and work ethic.
The Power Dodge Volunteer of the Year Award went to Mandee Park. Midway through the season, she took over the Bruins’ merchandise program, and her new and unique ideas resulted in a sellout more than once.
The Bruins also recognized the eight graduating players: Bilous, Deics, Jones, Pearce, Rumsey, Pouliot, Houk and Sartor. Bilous thanked all those who were involved with the team this past season, including his teammates, the board of directors, the coaches, trainers, front office staff, billets, alumni and fans.
“We can’t thank you enough. You guys have made this season so special. This trophy [the SJHL championship trophy] wasn’t for us. This trophy was for Estevan and we’re so happy to bring it back to you guys,” Bilous told the supporters who gathered at the banquet.
