The season may not be over for the Melfort Mustangs, but they celebrated the year so far with their annual awards banquet.
This year the team handed out 19 awards at the March 5 event, with 12 different Mustangs taking home awards.
Braxx George was the big winner of the evening as he took home four awards.
“You don’t expect to get rewarded, but it does make you feel rewarded and cherished for how hard you worked. Especially being here three years, it means a lot.”
George is a 20-year-old defenseman for the Mustangs and is in the home stretch of his Mustangs career, so topping off his career with four awards was a nice feeling, he said.
The biggest award of the evening for George was the Most Popular Player Award, which was voted on by the fans. George admits that one was special.
Another member of the Mustangs’ defensive core, Tyler Heidt, was named Rookie of the Year, which he admitted was a huge honour.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaches for sure and I think it’s something that’s going to help me with confidence a little bit... but there’s definitely a lot of guys on this team that could have deserved it. They’re all a bunch of good guys on and off the ice.”
The rookie recognition was the second of the week for Heidt, who was also named to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s All-Rookie Team earlier in the week.
“[There were] a lot of other good guys in the league too, for sure, that could have had it and I know thatAdam Dawe sure is a pretty good hockey player and it was pretty cool to be in that same category as him.”
Being a rookie can be a challenge in the SJHL, but Heidt pointed to his veteran teammates Sam Houston, Miles Warkentine and George as a huge help.
“They’ve shown us a lot over these last months. Especially in the dressing room; how to be a good rookie and how to be a good person.”
Aside from George, another big winner of the evening was forward Dakota Boutin, who took home three awards including MVP honours.
“It’s nice to be acknowledged for that. It’s always nice to be able to lead your team and do all the little things.”
Boutin also finished the season as the leading scorer and was quick to credit his line mates Andrew Thompson and Rock Ruschkowski.
“We just have a lot of chemistry on the ice.”
With the awards banquet in the books, the Mustangs turn their attention back to the ice with an extremely important game this week. They need a point or a Melville loss to earn the tenth and final spot in the playoffs.
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