Overall Award Winners – Scorer, Most Sportsmanlike & Coach of the Year

The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League is pleased to announce its Overall Award Winners for the 2022-23 regular season.

Today and tomorrow, honours will be handed out in seven categories: Most Valuable Player, Top Scorer, Top Defenceman, Top Goaltender, Rookie of the Year, Most Sportsmanlike Player, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year. Today the Top Scorer, Most Sportsmanlike Player and Coach of the Year are announced. Winners were selected in a vote conducted by the league’s head coaches.

 

Top Scorer

Luke Chakrabarti

Creston Valley Thunder Cats

Chakrabarti claimed the league scoring title with 39 goals and 39 assists for 78 points in 41 games. He had 27 primary assists. Chakrabarti scored two game-winning goals, 10 on the power-play and had a total of 23 power-play points. After putting up 33 points with the Osoyoos Coyotes and Thunder Cats last season as a rookie, Chakrabarti more than doubled his offensive production this season. 

Finalists: Spencer Horning (Grand Forks Border Bruins), Jack Henderson (Osoyoos Coyotes) and Ryan Larsen (Kamloops Storm)

Most Sportsmanlike Player 

Matthew Johnston

North Okanagan Knights

It’s the second straight year the Knights forward earns this award. Johnston had 22 penalty minutes for the season. In 84 career KIJHL games, Johnston has 28 penalty minutes. The 5-11, 175-pound forward was second on the Knights with 45 points in 42 games playing an average of 20:45 per game. Of Johnston’s 45 points, 17 came on the power-play.

Finalists: Nick Morin (Golden Rockets), Chad Bates (Grand Forks Border Bruins) and Jack Mulder (100 Mile House Wranglers)

Coach of the Year

Mark Readman

Princeton Posse

Readman is in his second full season with the Posse after joining the organization from the Creston Valley Thunder Cats. Readman led the Posse to its first ever first-overall regular season (President’s Cup)  finish with a record of 31-7-3-3 in 44 games. Last season the Posse were 15-24-3-0 in 42 games. They went from 33 points in the standings to 68 this year. The Posse finished as the third highest scoring team in the league with 181 goals and allowed the fourth fewest with 110.

 

Finalists: Chuck Wight (Golden Rockets), Dave Hnatiuk (Grand Forks Border Bruins), Nick Deschenes (Sicamous Eagles)

Hanna Gould Photography