This week the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) will announce its Overall Award winners for on-ice excellence: Most Valuable Player, Top Scorer, Top Defenceman, Top Goaltender, Rookie of the Year, Most Sportsmanlike Player, Coach of the Year and the newly added General Manager of the Year.
Today the KIJHL is pleased to announce that Brad Anstey of the Merritt Centennials is the first ever winner of the Wayne March GM of the Year.
“Brad and his staff did a tremendous job building their roster within a tight timeframe and putting a hard-working, entertaining team on the ice,” says KIJHL commissioner Jeff Dubois. “His leadership and decision-making during the Centennials’ inaugural KIJHL season has the team positioned for consistent, long-term success.”
Anstey constructed an expansion team with input from head coach and assistant general manager Wes McLeod that finished seventh overall with a 26-13-3-2 and qualified for the KIJHL Teck Cup playoffs in its first season. They went 15-5-1-2 in the final half. The Centennials improved their depth by signing Cohen Poulin from the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, and days before the trade deadline added forward Dane Dietz from Quesnel. They also added Grady Sluggett and Dylan Kruchten from the SJHL. They received solid goaltending from Andrew Krakora and Mathis Perron, who combined for a 2.68 GAA and a .919 SP. Krakora finished second in the league in SP at .931.
This new league award is named in honour of longtime Sicamous Eagles’ GM Wayne March, who passed away on September 18, 2024.
