We are going to paraphrase Coach Wagner’s quotes here, so remember that and they are in no particular order due to someones ADD.
The MVP was Brendan Nemes
Coach Jeff Wagner had lots to say about assistant captain Brendan Nemes including how he got himself in better shape this season thus allowing him to play all 49 games (29 in 2017-18) his physical presence and how he led the team in goal scoring with 25 goals..
RN/ I don’t know any fan who wouldn’t agree with that. We loved his big hits and compete level.
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Riley Fonger was named as the Playoff MVP. Riley had 2 shutouts and a 93.8 save percentage in the playoffs. Wagner says Riley played through some injuries in the second round but battled through and gave us a chance to win every night.
RN/ No controversy with that award just ask any fan, he was even in the running for the regular season MVP with 4 shutouts and a 91.9 save % in the regular season.
He wasn’t an MVP but Justin Faiella posted a very good 11-5 record and a 90.9 save % then played game four of the Rockies series and got the win and game four vs Kimberley when Fonger went down. Both guys could be #1’s next season.
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The Top Defenceman was Greg Susinski who led the D in scoring this year with 27 points and 84 PIM in 37 games. Wagner says Susinski was good right out of the gate and says it was a product of all the work he put in last summer.
RN/ When you are as hard to play against as GS was you miss games, Greg was the main hitter back there followed closely by a fitter Derek Green who also reinvented himself this year and made em pay. Susinski you may remember was a forward last year, a remarkable career change.
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Line-mates for much of the year Kyle Ford and Niki Sombrowski were the Most Exciting and the Rookie of the Year winners.
Wagner, they could have been either but Niki at 17 was younger and also played a few Jr A games so was the rookie. Ford scored 17 goals and made lots of big hits so was the most exciting.
RN/ both these two have a shot at Jr A next season and both were fun to watch this year
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Tristan Downe was named as the Most Inspirational Player
Wagner says his assistant captain bought in to the style he asked him to play, liked his approach to the game and how he was a standup guy...he was more mature than me.
RN/ I will attest to the maturity part, the times that I talked to Tristan over the years he was like talking to a man not a teenager. His game this year was defence first and that was the style the Riders played this season.
Some other inspirational players were captain Keelan Saworski, David Lenzin, Josh Dalquist and Greg Susinski who stuck with it and battled back from fairly serious long injuries. Hard to come back from those when you have to take the hits and attempts to re injure... it’s not like the work place where they look after you.
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Kyle Klein was named as the Most Improved Player.
Wagner, Kyle took big steps this year and went from a 7 or 8 guy to a regular as a 16 year old and he played physical. He will be a top pairing guy next year.
RN/ Kyle turned 16 last September so was in camp as a 15 year old. He had some shoulder problems earlier in his career but you wouldn’t know it and he has the hate to lose attitude that he showed us in the third period in the final game...it was heartwarming.
Some other candidates would have been the aforementioned Ford and Sombrowski, smooth Sawan Gill who will be a #1 D next season but is 2 years older than Klein, Sebastian Iannuzzi, Aidan Gleisner, Josh Dalquist and Johnny Elias. They would be a nice group to start from in September.
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RN/ Defosse was teamed up with Gavin Lawrie and Tyler Witzke and they shut down the other team’s top lines and I know Wagner really liked that line. All three will be 20 next season.
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Another new award was the Top two way Forward Two way D-Man and that was Owen Titus. This guy fits in at any position and doesn’t look out of place wherever he plays. His excellent first few steps let him compete anywhere.
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Overall it was a pretty good season for the coaches and players finishing second and almost doubling their points totals.
Unfortunately they ran into a bigger faster stronger team to end their season. That point was not lost on HC and GM Wagner who knows how far he has to go to get there.
The players acquired in season were Simon Bergsagel (2 goals vs the KD and an OT winner vs the Rockies in the playoffs, Gavin Lawrie, David Lenzin, Aiden Gleisner Johnny Elias, Tyler Witzke and Braeden Day they were all nice pickups by first year coach Wagner.
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All the best in the future to the Twenty Year Olds -Keelan Saworski, Tristan Downe, Brendan Nemes and David Lenzin
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