Wednesday, April 6, 2011

FOUR SEA DOGS WIN AWARDS


MONTREAL – Four members of the Saint John Sea Dogs were honoured Wednesday in Montreal as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League held their annual awards night.
Defenseman Simon Despres, goaltender Jacob DeSerres, head coach Gerard Gallant, and director of hockey operations Mike Kelly were all awarded trophies for their accomplishments during the regular season.

Despres was named the league’s best defenseman, picking up the Émile “Butch” Bouchard Trophy. Along with representing Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships this past holiday season, the ‘Big Horse’ enjoyed a solid regular season. In 47 games, Despres recorded 13 goals and 28 assists and was a plus-29.

DeSerres won the Jacques-Plante Trophy as the QMJHL goaltender with the best goals against average. Since arriving on the scene in Saint John in the fall, DeSerres registered a 2.22 GAA, a 0.916 save percentage, and had an impressive 27-3-0-0 record with the Dogs.

For the second year-in-a-row, Gallant was named the Coach of the Year, winning the Ron-Lapointe Trophy. ‘Turk’ led the Sea Dogs to an incredible 58-7-1-2 record in the regular season and guided the Dogs to a division and regular season title for the second straight season.

Gallant won this award and the Canadian Hockey League’s top coach honour last season.

Finally, associate coach and director of hockey operation Mike Kelly won the Maurice Filion Trophy as General Manager of the Year. Kelly made some solid moves this season to ensure the Sea Dogs would be a strong contender this year and next. His biggest moves this season saw the club pick up DeSerres, Alexandre Beauregard, and Eric Gelinas.

Sea Dogs leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau was nominated for three awards but will come empty handed. Zack Phillips and Nathan Beaulieu were also nominated for awards but were beat out by fellow Quebec Leaguers.

The full list of award winners can be found after the jump:

Jacques-Plante Trophy - Best Goals-Against-Average: Jacob DeSerres - Saint John Sea Dogs

Ron-Lapointe Trophy - Coach of the Year: Gérard Gallant - Saint John Sea Dogs

Émile "Butch" Bouchard Trophy - Defenseman of the Year: Simon Després - Saint John Sea Dogs

Maurice Filion Trophy - General Manager of the Year: Mike Kelly - Saint John Sea Dogs

RDS Cup - Rookie of the Year: Charles Hudon - Chicoutimi Saguenéens

Jean-Béliveau Trophy - Top scorer: Philip-Michaël Devos - Gatineau Olympiques / Victoriaville Tigres

Marcel-Robert Trophy - TELUS Scholastic player of the Year: Nicolas Therrien - Chicoutimi Saguenéens

Humanitarian Player Award: Gabriel Lemieux - Shawinigan Cataractes

Frank-J.-Selke Trophy - Most sportsmanlike player: Philip-Michaël Devos - Gatineau Olympiques / Victoriaville Tigres

Michael-Bossy Trophy - Best professional prospect: Sean Couturier - Drummondville Voltigeurs

Paul-Dumont Trophy - Personality of the Year: Louis Leblanc - Montreal Juniors

Michel-Brière Trophy - Most Valuable Player: Sean Couturier - Drummondville Voltigeurs

Photo Credit: QMJHL

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