OTHL -- The anuall price banquette is still a few weeks away, but today the OTHL announced the winners of a handfull of the awards. The Phoenix Coyotes where the big winners today taking home three of the awards. And Peter Forsberg was the big winner thanks to his great season.
Forsberg picked up the Art Ross Trophy, given to the player that leads the league in total points in the reagular season. Forsberg finished the season with 93 points in 79 played games. Teammate and fellow Swede Mats Sundin came in second place with 88 points in 78 games, and another Swede rounded out the top three with Daniel Alfredsson finishing third with 86 points.
The second award Peter Forsberg was awarded with, was the Wayne Gretzky Trophy, witch is given to the player with most assists during the reagular season. Forsberg finished with 60 assists in 79 games, 8 more then second placed Mike Modano (Montreal) and 9 more then teammate Mats Sundin. The final award Forsberg picked up today was the Iron Man Trophy wich is given to the player with the highest amount of ice time per game.
Simon Gagne was awarded for his excellent season as he took home the Maurice Richard Trophy as the leagues top scorer. Gagne had 39 goals in 82 games, just one ahead of teammate Patrik Elias and two ahead of Mats Sundin.
As stated earlier, the Phoenix Coyotes took home the most tropies, and there fourth one was given to Markus Näslund for his league leading +43 rating. Näslund will recive the Vladimir Konstantinov Trophy at the price ceremony later this year. Another new OTHL award is the Gordie Howe Trophy witch is handed out to a player who best exemplifies the role of a powerforward. And the first ever Gordie Howe Trophy was given to Boston Bruins Joe Thornton. Thornton meet the requirments of at least 20 goals and 135 penalty minutes as he had 32 goals and 155 penalty minutes. Joe Thornton also had 51 assists and a +28 rating, making him a worthy reciver of the award.
Two other new awards given to players not normally reciving awards and tropies, is the Scott Stevens Trophy and the Bob Probert Trophy. Two awards given to player's excelling at the physical end of the game. The Scott Stevens Trophy is given to the player with the highest amount of hits during the regular season, and this year it was awarded to Minnesota Wild's defender Derian Hatcher, who had 229 hits in 82 games. The Bob Probert Trophy is given to the player with the highest amount of penalty minutes during the regular season. And this years winner was Chicago Blackhawks Francis Lessard who had 364 penalty minutes in 80 games.
The OTHL also rewarded Martin Brodeur with the William Jennigs Trophy for allowing the least amount of goals per game. The New Jersey Devils lead the league with just 178 goals against in 82 games. Only 2.17 goals against per game. And another goaltender recived the OTHL Star of the Year, as Marty Turco won it with 129 total star points.
All the awards will be awarded on the price ceremony later this season along with the other awards.