Shantz, Craig Anderson named to All-Star Team

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

Two High Prairie Regals were named to the North Peace Hockey League's East Division All-Star Team Feb. 19.

Right winger Tyler Shantz, who was the only unanimous selection in all voting categories, and left winger Craig Anderson were selected to the club. Jay Anderson, their Triple Crown linemate, placed third to Grimshaw's Sheldon Szmata in voting.

Completing the team were Chris Schwindt of the Manning Comets in goal and Russell Sharp of the Peace River Stampeders and Shaun Hicks of the Lakeland Eagles on defence.

The most honoured player was Horse Lake Thunder defenceman Kip Noble. He won most valuable player, best defenceman and most gentlemanly player honors.

Jason Roche of the Grande Prairie Athletics won top rookie while the coach of the year went to Bob Kalb of the Fort St. John Flyers. Best goaltender went to Spirit River Rangers' player Darin Allen as the West Division swept all six major awards.

The West Division All-Star Team is as follows: Allen in goal, Noble and Jay Dobresku of the Flyers on defence and Clint Atkinson of the Athletics on right win.

Centre was a tie between Travis Cunningham of the Thunder and Rod Bowers of the Athletics. Left wing was also a tie between Allan "Junior" Anderson of the Thunder and Dustin Kersey of the Dawson Creek Canucks.

Each all-star team was represented by five teams.

Noble defeated Shantz in the MVP voting as he received six first place votes and 37 points compared to Shantz's four first place votes and 29 points. Goaltender Lee Wiebe of the Thunder was third and Stampeders' leading scorer John Heinen fourth.

Rookie voting was close with Roche receiving three first place votes and 20 points. Aaron Franklin of the Huskies and Brad Kerr of the Comets tied for second with 17 points.

Best coach was the closest of all major award voting. Kalb received four first place votes and 23 points. Manning's Randy Proskurniak had three first place votes and 22 points. Kalb won despite being named on five ballots to Proskurniak's six.

Noble, who had only a single minor penalty all year, won gentlemanly player by a wide margin over Grimshaw's Terry Houlder. The pair garnered 11 of 12 first place votes overall with Noble getting seven. He outdistanced Houlder 38-23 in the voting.

Noble won in a laugher in best defenceman cateogry. He received 10 of a possible 11 first place votes and won 52-12 over Devon Wardley of Spirit River, who placed a distant second.

In a surprise to some, Allen won best goaltender with 27 points compared to Lee Wiebe's 24 points. Wiebe won 22 of 23 starts and tied the other game in going undefeated but the strong Thunder roster obviously had some teams leery of voting for him.

In East Division voting for the All-Star team Schwindt defeated Darren Flynn of Peace River 21-19 points. Each were named on five ballots -- each received three first place votes - but Schwindt received an additional second place vote putting him over the top.

Shantz was the easy choice as his unanimous selection to right wing indicated. Peace River's Heinen was second with 10 points.

Craig Anderson won the left wing position 20-13 points over Aaron Parenteau of Peace River. Anderson received three first place votes and two second place votes from the other teams.

The other two voting categories had to be a disappointment for the Regals. On defence, Rocky Sawchyn placed fourth in voting as Sharpe and Hicks were first and second. Ron Cottrell of Peace River was third. Sawchyn received one first place vote and one third but three other teams refused to vote for him. Craig Van de Ligt and Travis Chalifoux received little consideration.

Jay Anderson did not make the voting a Triple Crown sweep as Szmata placed first and Brett Sharp of Manning second. Anderson was named on all five ballots but received only one first place vote despite placing second in league scoring.

Each team was allowed to vote for the major overall awards. For all-star teams, teams were allowed to vote only in their own division. Five points were awarded for a first place vote, three for second and one for third or fourth. A voting team was not allowed to vote for any player on their own team.