TRENTON – This week the NSJHL announced their annual awards with the Glace Bay Miners and Pictou County Scotians claiming all the awards.
Brandon Verge was named the most valuable player and won the top scorer award. Brad MacEachern was named the rookie of the year, while Lucas Eshleman was the most gentlemanly player.
“It felt great and privileged to be noticed for the hard work put in this year,” said Verge. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates because they helped a lot this year and the coaching staff gave me the opportunity to play. There’s just a lot of excitement because there’s a lot of guys in the league that could’ve won this, so it’s definitely special.”
Verge said he didn’t expect to win it at the beginning of the season because of a poor start, but as the team started to win and improve as a whole he felt he had a better chance. Although he did end up winning it he said he wants to improve his all-around game next year.
“Next year I’m going to work on my defence more than this year because this year my plus-minus was criticized by people,” said Verge. “Next year I want my plus-minus to be a lot better and I plan on working hard throughout the summer to hopefully top my points output from this year.”
Eshleman said he didn’t know the most gentlemanly player award existed but, once he did, that it was something he felt he would be eligible for.
“The definition of the award is along the lines of someone who demonstrates good conduct while maintaining a high level of play throughout the season,” he said. “I only had 10 PIMs over the season, while playing well offensively, which gave me a chance at the award.”
“I’m a small guy so I typically focus on what I can do with the puck instead of getting into fights or rough play, it’s definitely an honour to win it though.”
Awards won by Glace Bay included best defenceman (Brett Simmons), coach of the year (Kent Verbeski), top goaltender (Jake McKendry) and executive of the year.
christopher.cameron@ngnews.ca
On Twitter: @NGNewsChris
