By: Daniel Vazzoler
The Carleton Place Canadians officially wrapped up their 2017-18 season with their Awards Banquet held at the Carleton Place Arena on Wednesday.
Members of all three teams – the Jr. A, Tier 2 and Under-18 teams – were present as they were honoured for their performances during the year. Along with the players and staffs, some of the players families were in attendance for the banquet, as were some billet families and Canadians fans.
After those at the ceremony were treated to a meal provided by Waterfall Catering and Dave Kleiboer – who has been a sponsor of the team for 10 seasons now – Jr. A coach Jason Clarke got the awards part of the night started.
Clarke began with the U-18 group, thanking the staff of his brother Todd Clarke, Darren Graff and Terry Hill for the work they did with the team. Clarke also applauded the efforts of the players who dealt with a lot of adversity throughout the season that started from the very beginning with six U-18-eligible players being moved up to the Tier 2 team.
He then moved on to the Tier 2 team who finished second in the regular season and was runner-up for the Barkley Cup.
The Carleton Place Tier 2 team was essentially an expansion team as the roster was cleared after purchasing the former Clarence Creek Beavers and moving the team to Carleton Place. Despite that, the group of Gary McGee, John Ollson, Ryan Jardine, Trevor Peters and Derek Lister got the team to a 37-13-2 record with a team that featured one 20-year-old in a league that is typically dominated by older players.
The youth on the team helped lead the Jr. Canadians to their successful season. Two rookies in Ryland Mosley and Reece Bolton led the team in points with 88 and 76 points respectively. For that, both were named First-Team All-Stars in the CCHL2 and Mosley also was named Rookie of the Year and Most Outstanding Prospect in the CCHL2.
The night ended with the Jr. A awards being distributed, starting with the league awards before handing out the Canadians team awards. Tim Theocharidis and Sam Knoblauch were named First-Team All-Stars and Theocharidis also received the Best Defenceman in the League award in the CCHL. Travis Broughman received Second-Team All-Star honours, and Jeremie Forget, Aidan Girduckis and Geoff Kitt were named Third-Team All-Stars.
Kitt, Forget and Knoblauch were also named to the All-Scholastic team in the league and was also got the Scholastic and Ability award for the league and also got named to the Top Graduating Player team.
Theocharidis and Kitt dominated the team awards with the two combining for seven of the 13 awards. Theocharidis took home the Best Defenceman, Fan Favourite, Most Valuable Player and Coaches’ awards. Kit received the Scholastic Ability award, the Top Graduating Player and the Anthony McVeigh Award.
Here is the list of the other team award winners:
Volunteer of the Year – Helen Campbell and Bob Campbell
Most Underrated Player – Ben Tupker
Most Gentlemanly – Aidan Girduckis
Rookie of the Year – Sam Allison
Leading Goal Scorer – Sam Knoblauch
Molson Cup 3 Star – Travis Broughman
Most Improved – Zach Tupker
When the Canadians return to the ice in September, it will be the 10th season for the Jr. A franchise and, to honour that, the Canadians will be sporting the Town of Carleton Place stag logo on their jerseys as it was approved by Town Council this week.
