As the Trail Smoke Eaters presented its annual awards at a banquet last week, the BCHL also announced the regular season award winners and all-star teams earlier this month.
The Penticton Vees picked up its share of hardware this season just missing a clean sweep in the Interior Conference voting.
Paul De Jersey got in the way of a Vees run, winning the Vern Dye Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Player in the Interior Conference.
De Jersey came into his own with the Prince George Spruce Kings this year, netting 81 more points than he did with Salmon Arm the previous season.
The Delta native also won the Brett Hull Trophy for leading scorer in the regular season. His 41 goals and 57 assists for 98 points was tops in the league.
Coquitlam’s Alex Petan won the MVP award for the Coastal Conference, leading his team into the playoffs and finishing sixth in league scoring with 88 points.
The Bruce Allison Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year in the Interior Conference went to the Vees Mario Lucia while Coquitlam’s Alex Kerfoot won it for the Coastal Conference finishing second behind Petan in team points.
Mike Reilly of the Penticton Vees won the Best Defenceman award in the Interior Conference and the Powell River Kings’ Craig Dalrymple was top d-man in the Coastal.
The Bob Fenton Trophy for Most Sportsmanlike Player went to Merritt’s Regan Soquila and to Kerfoot in the Coastal Conference.
Penticton coach Fred Harbinson led the team to a record-setting season finishing with the most wins in a row, 42, and an incredible 54 wins, 4 losses and 2 overtime loss record, to take the Joe Tennant Memorial Trophy for Coach of the Year in the Interior Conference.
Matt Erhart of the Surrey Eagles repeated his team’s second-place finish in the Coastal Conference and a berth in the conference final to win the Coach of the Year.
His seven-point improvement from last season beat out former-Smokie coach Jim Ingram’s 30-point turn around of the Cowichan Capitals.
The Goaltending Award for the lowest goals-against average went to Michael Garteig of the Vees. His 1.93 GAA, 2,578 minutes played was the best in the BCHL.
The Wally Forslund Award went to the Top Goaltending Tandem of Sean Maguire and Jonah Imoo, from the Powell River Kings with a 2.05 combined GAA.