Beach the frontrunner
Published 9:00 pm Monday, April 30, 2007
The WHL hands out its annual awards tomorrow afternoon. Everett has three individuals up for awards: Left wing Kyle Beach for Rookie of the Year, center Damir Alic for Scholastic Player of the Year and Kevin Constantine for Coach of the Year.
Beach would appear to be Everett’s best bet. Beach had the type of season rarely seen out of 16-year-olds. Not only did he lead the league’s 16-year-olds with 61 points (29 goals, 32 assists) in 65 games — nearly identical numbers to what Vancouver’s Gilbert Brule did in 2003-04 as the best 16-year-old to enter the WHL since Everett joined the league — he also led the Tips in plus/minus (plus-27) and penalty minutes (196). His competition, Prince Albert center Matt Robertson, put up similar numbers with 64 points (37 goals, 27 assists) in 69 games. However, Robertson was an 18-year-old, making those numbers a little less impressive, so I expect Beach to win. The only way Beach doesn’t win is if those who voted were put off by Beach’s antics, which were responsible for his hefty penalty-minute total. The bigger surprise to me is that Robertson received the Eastern Conference nomination ahead of Regina center Jordan Eberle, who had nearly as many points (28 goals, 27 assists) while being two years younger.
The other two are toss-ups. There’s no telling where Alic stands, given I don’t know the credentials of Brandon’s Keith Aulie. But what Alic did, taking a full course load at the University of Washington during the season, was impressive. Constantine has the edge on Kootenay’s Cory Clouston in that the Tips finished with a better record than the Ice. But Kootenay also didn’t have the same preseason expectations as Everett, nor did Clouston accumulate anything close to Constantine’s fines.
In other categories, I like Medicine Hat’s Kris Russell’s chances for Player of the Year and Defenseman of the Year. He’s the WHL’s current golden boy. I also expect Tri-City’s Carey Price to win the Goaltender of the Year award. Not only did he have a strong season, he’ll also get the sentimental vote for leading Canada to the gold medal at the World Juniors. I also like Tri-City’s Bob Tory for Executive of the Year, considering his moves transformed the Americans from a potential disaster into the best team in Tri-City history.
