06 awards

[scamperdog]

BLAZERS HAND OUT 2006 AWARDS

KAMLOOPS, BC – The Kamloops Blazers handed out the hardware at their annual Awards Banquet held Wednesday night at the Thompson Rivers University Grand Hall.

Below are the winners of this year’s awards:

Radio NL 3 Star Award: Devan Dubnyk

Vern Seaman Memorial Trophy - Top Scorer: Ashton Rome

Kamloops Blazers Booster Club - Community Involvement: Brock Nixon / Terrance Delaronde

George Stewart Sr. Award - Excellence in Hockey & Education: Matt Kassian

Mair, Jensen, Blair - Most Improved Player: Brock Nixon / Michael Maniago

Williams Moving & Storage - Most Dedicated: Victor Bartley

Rick Anderson Memorial Trophy - Unsung Hero: TJ Mulock

Great Growlies - Grinder of the Year: Brady Mason

Jonathan Buchner Gems & Jewellery - Diamond in the Rough: Ashton Rome ?

Annually donated by Andy & Molly Clovechok - Rookie of the Year: CJ Stretch

The Dever Family - Best Defenceman: Victor Bartley

Dean Evason Award - Donated by the Washington Capitals - Inspirational Leadership Ability: Reid Jorgensen

C.H. Day Memorial Trophy - Ability, Leadership & Sportsmanship: Devan Dubnyk

- 06 -

[Redwic]

I don't recall hearing much about him, when the Silvertips played the Blazers this season.

I see that he was Kamloops' "Rookie of the Year". Could someone tell me a little about this guy, and what we should expect to see from him in the future?

[scamperdog]

I don't recall hearing much about him, when the Silvertips played the Blazers this season.

I see that he was Kamloops' "Rookie of the Year". Could someone tell me a little about this guy, and what we should expect to see from him in the future?
He is from the California Wave, small player but plays with heart and never quits, he could turn out to be a decend player

[Redwic]

The Everett Silvertips have two of them this season, one of which scored a goal against Tri-City last night. They are also rookies for us, so the 'California Wave' must have have a good class for talent in the past few years!

[rinkrat]

The Everett Silvertips have two of them this season, one of which scored a goal against Tri-City last night. They are also rookies for us, so the 'California Wave' must have have a good class for talent in the past few years!
The Giants have three Californians on the team.Jon Blum is from the California Wave,Tommy Tartaglione played for the LA Jr. Kings and Tim Kraus is from California.Not sure which team.These are the kids that grew up playing hockey when Gretzky was in LA.good stuff. :thumb:

[Beaner]

The Everett Silvertips have two of them this season, one of which scored a goal against Tri-City last night. They are also rookies for us, so the 'California Wave' must have have a good class for talent in the past few years!

The California Wave is the dominate force in their League down south and California is easily becoming one of the biggest hockey hotbeds in the States.

They have just won their 3rd straight Midget AAA championship, going undefeated in the playoffs, and are once again off to the national championship.

Hay and Bonner have said amazing things about the Wave program in the states, and I remember an interview with their head coach on the local radio station here in Vancouver at the start of the year. It is one of the best hockey development teams in the entire states.

Here is the list of Wave players drafted by the WHL.....

WAVE PLAYER BIRTHYEAR ORGANIZATION LOCATION

Jonathan Blum 1989 WHL, Vancouver Giants Vancouver, BC
Shane Harper 1989 WHL, Everett Silvertips Everett, WA
Ryan Letts 1989 WHL, Calgary Hitmen Calgary, Alb
Colin Long 1989 WHL, Kelowna Rockets Kelowna, BC
Tommy Tartaglione 1988 WHL, Vancouver Giants Vancouver, BC
Matt Sokol 1989 WHL, Medicine Hat Tigers Medicine Hat, Alb
CJ Stretch 1989 WHL, Kamloops Blazers Kamloops, BC
Joey Perricone 1987 WHL, Moose Jaw Warriors Moose Jaw
Cameron Cepek 1988 WHL, Portland Winterhawks Portland, Oregon

When you look at the entire list of players and those that went to college and other teams it is even more amazing.

http://www.californiawave.org/alumni.htm

[Big Daddy]

The Giants have three Californians on the team.Jon Blum is from the California Wave,Tommy Tartaglione played for the LA Jr. Kings and Tim Kraus is from California.Not sure which team.These are the kids that grew up playing hockey when Gretzky was in LA.good stuff. :thumb:

Tim Kraus came up in the LA Jr. Kings system. Kids on Tim's Kings team: Ray Macius, Bobby Ryan (before Detroit Honeybaked), and a few others playing Jr A or college. They also won 3 National titles.

[Big Daddy]

Nice post Beaner. After the 90 birth year the Wave will struggle a bit for a year or so. Most of the 90's have moved on to prep school and their 16U Midget AAA team is an 89-90 mixed birth year.

The LA Hockey/LA Selects club ran by James Gassau will be strong with their 91's, 92's and 93's. This club has solid coaching (James Gassau, Sandy Gassau, Jeff Turcotte (scout for the Giants) and more. I would expect to see kids from this club making their way into the WHL.

The other main club is the LA Jr. Kings ran by Nelson Emerson. This club is hit and miss and has produced solid teams in the past but are struggling a bit with some of their birth years.

There are several other clubs that have great players but are not as deep. Most of these kids will never get exposed to the WHL as they don't travel to Western Canada much. Maybe this will change with the recent influx of kids in the WHL.

Here are some links:

LA Hockey/LA Selects Club: http://laselects.com/indexM.php

LA Jr. Kings: http://lajrkings.com/

For a complete So Cal team listing: http://www.scaha.com/

[Beaner]

It's amazing what has happened to California hockey wise, and it all comes down to thats when Gretzky came to town and the sport exploded.

It's too bad that USA Hockey still only think of their traditional areas for hockey players, they are really missing the boat on a tonne of home grown talent.