The Prince Albert Raiders will have to wait a little bit longer for one of their players to win the Brad Hornung Trophy.
The Western Hockey League announced on Thursday morning that Portland Winterhawks forward Seth Jarvis beat out forward Aliaksei Protas for the circuit’s most sportsmanlike player award, which was voted on by the league’s coaches and general managers.
Jarvis, who is expected to be a first round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, was second in WHL scoring this season with 98 points in 58 games and had 24 penalty minutes.
Protas had eight penalty minutes in 58 games during his sophomore campaign on his way to leading the Raiders in scoring with 80 points.
The Washington Capitals prospect was looking to become just the second import player to receive the Brad Hornung Trophy, with the Swift Current Broncos’ Aleksi Heponiemi previously accomplishing that feat in 2018.
Jarvis, who is the first Winterhawk to win the award since Lonny Bohonos in 1994, is now nominated for the CHL’s Sportsman of the Year award.
Nick Robertson of the OHL’s Peterborough Petes and Jakob Pelletier of the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats are the other the finalists for the honour.
Year-End Awards
The WHL also handed three more accolades this week.
The Kamloops Blazers took home the Jim Donlevy Memorial Trophy for scholastic team of the year and Blazers netminder Dylan Garand received the Doc Seaman Memorial Trophy for scholastic player of the year over former Raider and current Regina Pats forward Jakob Brook.
Meanwhile, Riley Fiddler-Schultz of the Calgary Hitmen topped Jake Gricius of the Portland Winterhawks for the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy that goes to the league’s humanitarian of the year.
The Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year will be awarded to either Dylan Guenther of the Edmonton Oil Kings or Logan Stankoven of the Kamloops Blazers on Friday.
News and Notes
Thursday’s award announcement was the first positive news for the Winterhawks in almost a week after it was revealed that the franchise was looking for a new owner.
The Oregonian reported last Saturday that Bill Gallacher, who had owned the team since 2008, had a number of his companies file for bankruptcy last week.
The WHL announced in a statement on Sunday that they are working closely with the team to ensure the smooth transition to new ownership in short order.
The owners of the Portland Pickles baseball team, which includes current Saskatchewan Roughriders punter Jon Ryan, are reportedly interested in purchasing the team.
On the player signing front, all 22 first round picks in April’s Bantam Draft have inked standard player agreements with the teams that selected them.
Forward Andrew Cristall, who was the eighth overall pick last month, was the final player to sign a deal on Thursday as he came to terms with the Kelowna Rockets.
Meanwhile, the Calgary Hitmen were able to land 16-year-old forward Tristan Zandee on Wednesday.
Zandee, who was a second round pick in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft, had 25 points in 46 games this past season for the AJHL’s Canmore Eagles and had been committed to the NCAA’s Colorado College Tigers before signing with the Hitmen.
