The postseason awards are starting to roll in for the Washington Stealth.
A day after team president David Takata took home the National Lacrosse League’s Executive of the Year award, head coach Chris Hall earned his first Les Bartley Award, given to the league’s coach of the year.
Hall, the bench boss for the Stealth since midway through the 2009 season, shared the award with Derek Keenan of Edmonton.
Hall and Keenan tied in the voting with 43 points. Each received seven first-place votes in balloting by the NLL’s head coaches, general managers and governors.
“It’s hard to say if there’s anyone more deserving of it than ‘CH,’” Stealth general manager Doug Locker said. “He’s a players’ coach who kind of takes that to a different level because he’s got the ability to hold guys to a high standard yet still be a mentor on the floor and off the floor. He’s the major reason we are where we are right now.”
The Stealth play Toronto on Saturday night in the NLL championship game.
Under Hall’s tutelage the Stealth compiled a league-best 11-5 record in the regular season and earned the top overall seed in the playoffs. Washington was the only team to score more than 200 goals in the regular season (211), while the special-teams units led the league in penalty kills (69.3 percent) and ranked third in power-play percentage (51 percent).
“It’s nice to receive an honor, but as I’ve always said, I never really have been all that big on individual awards in team games, but certainly it’s nice to be recognized by your peers,” Hall said. “And I get to share it with a great coach in Derek Keenan. I was pleased for him as well. He did a wonderful job in Edmonton.”
The award is Hall’s first as a head coach even though he won the Champion’s Cup in 2004 with a Calgary team playing as the third-seed in the West Division. Hall led the Roughnecks from 2002-2007.
“It truly has been a great team effort,” he said, mentioning that everyone from management to the promotions staff should feel like they’re part of any individual award.
Keenan led Edmonton to the most successful season in the franchise’s five-year existence. The Rush earned the No. 3 seed in the West Division after years of floundering in the division basement. Edmonton reached the West Division final where it was beaten by Hall’s Stealth squad last week, 12-11 in overtime.
“This season has been indicative of the type of success both Chris Hall and Derek Keenan have enjoyed throughout their careers,” NLL commissioner George Daniel said in a release from the league. “Both men are well deserving of the 2010 Les Bartley Award.”
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