GRAVENHURST — The nominations are in, but the jury is still out.
South Muskoka Shield players who have been nominated by the hockey club’s coaching staff and management for the Greater Metro Jr. A Hockey League’s (GMHL) 2010 awards will have to wait until May 1 to know the outcome of the nominations.
A member of the team has been nominated for each award and will compete against nominees from the league’s 10 other teams. Recipients are selected by team owners, who cannot vote for their own players.
Coach Dallyn Telford is among the nominees for the Ken Girard Award, presented to the GMHL coach that is considered to have contributed the most to his team’s success.
Captain Chad Meagher received two nods: for the Marshall Uretsky Award for most valuable player and for the Naz Marchese Award for best defensive forward, an award Meagher won in 2009.
Dylan Sontag also doubles up with two nominations.
A 2009 recipient of the Sportsmanship Award, Sontag has been nominated for the honour for the second time. The award is presented to the player who exhibited the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly-like conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.
Sontag is also in the running for the Norm Clark Award for the forward who demonstrates the greatest ability in their position through the season. Sontag led his bench with 85 regular season points and another 26 during playoffs.
The best rookie nominee is forward Trevor Smith. The Dan Garneau Award is presented to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the GMHL.
Shield goalie Rob Sutherland is up for the Gerry St. Onge Award, which goes to the goaltender determined to be the best at his position. Sutherland leads the league with a 1.7 goals against average and a 0.94 save percentage in the regular season, but he only played 13 games. Sutherland led league goalies in wins through the playoffs with nine wins in 13 games.
Adam MacBeth has been nominated for the Mark Trost Award for best defenceman, and Rob Childs is up for the Garrett Hamel Award, given to the player that displays the most heart toward the game.
Before the GMHL playoffs began, the John Klinck Award was presented to the Elliot Lake Bobcats for finishing first in the regular season with 73 points.
The David Blythe Award was presented to Brad Clark of the Deseronto Storm for leading the league in scoring at the end of the regular season with 127 points.