Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Five Sea Dogs earn Golden Puck nods

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced the nominees for this year’s Golden Puck Awards today. Included among the nominees are five Saint John Sea Dogs.

Nathan Beaulieu was nominated for the Émile “Butch” Bouchard Trophy, awarded to the league’s top defenseman. Jérôme Gauthier-Leduc of Rimouski and Blainville-Boisbriand’s Xavier Ouellet are the other nominees. Beaulieu will hope to keep it in the club, as Simon Després won the award last season.

Meanwhile, Pierre Durepos has gotten a nod for the Kevin Lowe Trophy as best defensive defenseman, along with Shawinigan’s Morgan Ellis and Martin Lefebvre of the Quebec Remparts.

Stephen MacAulay is up for the Guy Carbonneau Trophy as best defensive forward alongside Max LeSieur of the Cataractes and the Remparts’ Frédérick Roy, and Jonathan Huberdeau is nominated for the Paul Dumont Trophy as Personality of the Year. Rookies Mikhail Grigorenko of the Remparts and Nathan MacKinnon of Halifax are the other nominees.

Gerard Gallant will be looking to three-peat as coach of the year. He’s nominated for the Ron Lapointe Trophy, as are Jean-François Houle of the Armada, and the ever-colorful Patrick Roy of the Remparts. Gallant won the award in 2010 and 2011. He’s also the two-time defending CHL Coach of the Year.

The Sea Dogs had three winners last year; Després, Gallant, and Mike Kelly as General Manager of the Year. Jacob DeSerres also collected the Jacques Plante Trophy for having the league’s lowest goals against average, a trophy that Mathieu Corbeil will receive this year.

The nominees for the Michel-Brière Trophy for league MVP are the QMJHL’s top two scorers, Yanni Gourde of Victoriaville and Zach O’Brien of Bathurst, as well as Grigorenko. The full list of nominees is available here.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

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