nivek_wahs
05-02-2007, 04:11 AM
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sports/story.html?id=12e27c50-b749-435b-b044-bcb5db559205
Franson so near, yet ...
Giants' D expecting he'll bow to a Tiger
Steve Ewen, The Province
Published: Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Giants defenceman Cody Franson wasn't frantically checking his messages Tuesday, waiting to hear if he had to be in Calgary this morning for the WHL year-end awards.
Franson said right from the minute he was named the Western Conference nominee for the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy, which goes to the WHL's top rearguard, that he thought the Eastern representative, Medicine Hat Tigers blueliner Kris Russell, was going to win. He was keeping with that story about his Canadian world junior defence partner Tuesday, too.
"I haven't heard anything about Calgary and I don't expect to," Franson said, pointing to where the league hands out its hardware today. "It's just an honour to be nominated with him. He's had a great season and put up some unreal numbers. I thought he would get it right from the start."
Russell, oddly enough, beat Franson's defence partner with the Giants, the since-graduated Paul Albers, for the Hunter a campaign ago.
This time around, Russell finished second in the league in defenceman scoring, his 32 goals and 37 assists leaving him one point behind Ray Macias of the Kamloops Blazers, who played 11 more games.
Franson, who had a stellar first half but struggled with injuries and inconsistency after coming back from the world juniors, ended up sixth in D scoring with 17 goals and 34 assists in 59 games -- the same total Russell played.
The award and the world juniors does make for an interesting sidebar for the upcoming best-of-seven championship series between the Giants and Tigers, mind you.
"I know what kind of guy Russ is and we're going to have a lot of fun playing against each other in this series," said Franson.
Russell is also up for league player of the year. Seattle Thunderbirds centre Aaron Gagnon, whose 42 goals in just 59 games were second-best, is the Western nominee.
The Tigers' Matt Keetley is vying for the Del Wilson Trophy for top netminder. Carey Price of the Tri-City Americans is the other candidate.
Medicine Hat coach/GM Will Desjardins and Tri-City Americans GM Bob Tory are in the running for executive of the year.
- Giants winger Milan Lucic is the current WHL player of the week. He had one goal and four assists in three playoff games against the Prince George Cougars in the past seven-day period.
Vancouver beat the Cougars in the best-of-seven of WHL Western Conference final in five games.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
Franson so near, yet ...
Giants' D expecting he'll bow to a Tiger
Steve Ewen, The Province
Published: Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Giants defenceman Cody Franson wasn't frantically checking his messages Tuesday, waiting to hear if he had to be in Calgary this morning for the WHL year-end awards.
Franson said right from the minute he was named the Western Conference nominee for the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy, which goes to the WHL's top rearguard, that he thought the Eastern representative, Medicine Hat Tigers blueliner Kris Russell, was going to win. He was keeping with that story about his Canadian world junior defence partner Tuesday, too.
"I haven't heard anything about Calgary and I don't expect to," Franson said, pointing to where the league hands out its hardware today. "It's just an honour to be nominated with him. He's had a great season and put up some unreal numbers. I thought he would get it right from the start."
Russell, oddly enough, beat Franson's defence partner with the Giants, the since-graduated Paul Albers, for the Hunter a campaign ago.
This time around, Russell finished second in the league in defenceman scoring, his 32 goals and 37 assists leaving him one point behind Ray Macias of the Kamloops Blazers, who played 11 more games.
Franson, who had a stellar first half but struggled with injuries and inconsistency after coming back from the world juniors, ended up sixth in D scoring with 17 goals and 34 assists in 59 games -- the same total Russell played.
The award and the world juniors does make for an interesting sidebar for the upcoming best-of-seven championship series between the Giants and Tigers, mind you.
"I know what kind of guy Russ is and we're going to have a lot of fun playing against each other in this series," said Franson.
Russell is also up for league player of the year. Seattle Thunderbirds centre Aaron Gagnon, whose 42 goals in just 59 games were second-best, is the Western nominee.
The Tigers' Matt Keetley is vying for the Del Wilson Trophy for top netminder. Carey Price of the Tri-City Americans is the other candidate.
Medicine Hat coach/GM Will Desjardins and Tri-City Americans GM Bob Tory are in the running for executive of the year.
- Giants winger Milan Lucic is the current WHL player of the week. He had one goal and four assists in three playoff games against the Prince George Cougars in the past seven-day period.
Vancouver beat the Cougars in the best-of-seven of WHL Western Conference final in five games.
© The Vancouver Province 2007