Wheat Kings end 30th season with Awards Evening

The Killam Wheat Kings Jr. B hockey team wrapped up their 2011-12 season with an awards banquet and dance last Friday, Apr. 27 at the Killam Legion which was followed by a dance in the Killam Agriplex.

Team General Man-ager Murray Gaume, along with Head Coach Lloyd Cox and Assistant Coach Bryce Cox, thanked the parents, volunteers, fans, sponsors, and players for a great season.
The evening started with a supper for the invited guests and players. The players thanked everyone who has given their time to the team throughout the season, from the ladies that sell 50/50 tickets to the parents, board members, coaches, and trainers; to Dorothy Gaume for washing the uniforms – in the words of Kurtis Clarkson ”we are stinky boys” – and manager Murray Gaume.
Cory Martz gave a special thanks to the guys that work the penalty box, “I made pretty good friends with them throughout the season.”

The awards for the season were presented as follows: Most Popular Player Award to James Newby; Jason Yuha was awarded Most Sports-manlike for the second consecutive year; Most Improved Player Award went to Josh Walsh; Mike McTavish was awarded the Most Underrated Player; Most Dedicated went to Richard Lansing and Justin Ness; Top Defenseman honours went to Graham Zimmer for the second consecutive year; Austin Wilson picked up the Top Scorer award along with the Brent Danylyshen Memorial Award for Season MVP; Lois Prichard handed out the Merlin Prichard Memorial Award for the most aggressive player to James Newby for the second year in a row; the Russell Grant Memorial Award for Playoff MVP went to goalie Damien Mackinnon; Jordan Sand earned the Stephan Hebert Memorial Award for Rookie of the Year; Graham Zimmer was the winner of the Laurent Basterash Memorial Award for leadership.

There were some light moments during the presentations and some heartfelt ones, for instance when goalie Mackinnon went to pick up his award one team member was heard saying, “Please don’t leave us next year!” which was seconded by all present.
The team presented two retiring players, Graham Zimmer and Cory Martz, each with a framed sketched picture of themselves, done by Dan Fee.
The evening’s awards concluded with closing remarks by the coaching staff. Head Coach Cox was a little short of words letting Bryce do most of the talking.
The windup continued with a dance in the arena.
This was one of the best seasons ever in Wheat King history, with the team finishing the season in the final round of playoffs and making their first trip ever to Provincials.
That concludes the 30th season for the Killam Jr. B hockey team.
The team says the fans can look forward to the 31st season to be bigger and better with this young team that has learned valuable lessons from this season.

Jae Robbins – Staff Reporter

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