Stamps earn all-star nods

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League is in a giving mood these days.
They recently announced their major award winners: Dauphin’s Shane Luke (MVP, Hockey Ability and Sportsmanship); Dauphin’s Bryn Chyzyk (rookie of the year); OCN’s Matt Krahn; Swan Valley’s Clark Bzczynski (top defenceman); and OCN’s Scott McMillan (coach of the year).
The honours continued this week as the league announced their all-star teams.
The Sher-Wood Division dominated this year, taking five of six spots in both the first all-star team and the all-rookie team.
The forwards for the first all-star team are Luke, Swan Valley’s Shelby Gray and Waywayseecappo’s Paul Vandevelde.
The defence features Bzczynski and Selkirk’s Chris Delalande. Krahn is the team’s goaltender.
The second all-star team features forwards Brett Chartier from the Winnipeg Saints, as well as both Joel Ridgeway and Colan Jackson from the Selkirk Steelers.
On the blueline are Dale Warkentin from the OCN Blizzard, and Paul Bonar from the Winnipeg Blues.
The netminder is Jason Kasdorf from the Portage Terriers.
The all-rookie team features forwards Bryn Chyzyk from the Dauphin Kings, Brent Wold from the Portage Terriers, and Brett Pinkerton from the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.
On the blueline are Yvan Pattyn from the Portage Terriers and Landon Peel from the Swan Valley Stampeders.
The top rookie netminder is Reed Peters from the Winkler Flyers.
• Speaking of Peters, the Morden native was also recognized as the MJHL Player of the Week.
The rookie puck stopper kicked out 103 of 110 shots he faced, leading his team to three victories, including a key first-place showdown win against the Selkirk Steelers. That victory gives the Flyers the advantage as they try to secure top spot in the division for the first time in recent memory.
Also considered for this award was 17-year-old forward Brent Wold of the Portage Terriers and 19-year-old forward Jesse Hall of the Winnipeg Saints.
• There will be more awards handed out in the coming days and weeks. One of those races is to see who will be the league’s top scorer.
Unless Dauphin opts to rest Luke before the playoffs, he should win the scoring title. The league MVP had 86 points heading into the final week of the regular season, eight more than Selkirk’s Jackson.
Jackson is going to win the goal-scoring title, though. He has 44 entering action this week.
He leads Michael Wilgosh from the Winkler Flyers (36) and Gray from the Stampeders (35) in this category.
Who will be the penalty minutes leader this year?
Winnipeg Saints’ forward Tim Hayduk is a surprising leader with 118 PIMs heading into action this week. He’s two ahead of OCN’s Denis Restoule and four ahead of Neepawa’s Nate Thompson.
It’s interesting to note how small the PIM leader totals are this year. With players limited to five fighting majors this year, the days of 200 or even 300 penalty minutes could be gone for good.
Jordan Davies from the Winnipeg Saints leads all defenceman in scoring, heading into action this week with 11 goals and 33 assists for 44 points.
Right behind him is Kyle Rous from the Steinbach Pistons (13 goals, 30 assists), and Dylan Heide from the Winkler Flyers (eight goals, 32 assists).
In goal, Krahn’s GAA of 2.20 will likely hold up as the best in the MJHL, barring a terrible week for the league’s top netminder. He leads Ryan Benitez (who only has 18 starts since coming to the MJHL), who sports a 2.42 GAA.
Some consider the save percentage a more important statistic, and here too Krahn leads the way with a sizzling .927 save percentage. He leads Joey Rewucki from the Selkirk Steelers, who sports a .919 save percentage.
It wasn’t a great year for shutouts, as five puck stoppers are tied for top spot with two. They include Krahn, Kasdorf and his Portage teammate Kirk Coswell, Jayson Argue from the Swan Valley Stampeders, and Rewucki.