Warriors Regular Season Award Winners
The Moose Jaw Warriors celebrated the end of the home portion of their regular season, they handed out their seasonal awards to this year’s top performers.
The Yara Warriors Awards Night ceremony was held prior to the Warriors’ 5-2 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday night.
13 awards were handed out with defenceman Morgan Rielly being the big winner of the night, taking home four awards, including Yara Fans Choice, Emerald & Vide Ventures 3 Stars Award, Best Defensive Player and sharing Player of the Year with forward Sam Fioretti.
“I didn’t really know what to expect, but we had quite a few candidates and a lot of guys that played hard every night and that helped us a lot,” said Rielly on being named co-Player of the Year. “Obviously when you get some credit, it’s nice, but there was quite a few candidates that could have won it as well.”
The 2012 fifth overall pick has 12 goals and 53 points in 59 games heading into the Warriors final game of the season, putting him third on the team.
Sam Fioretti led the Warriors in scoring all year long and has tallied 32 goals and 74 points with one more game to go. He’s also played in every game so far this season, surpassing 200 games played for his career. The 19-year-old walked away with the RBC Top Scorer Award and co-Player of the Year.
“It’s a great honour with all the great guys we have on our team to win an award like that was very exciting and to share it with a guy like Morgan is pretty special,” Fioretti said after Friday’s game.
“Coming into the year I wanted to work hard every night and hopefully good things would happen. I’ve had a lot of individual success this year, obviously I hoped we’d be in a playoff spot at this time of year, but I’ve had moments that I’ve definitely enjoyed.”
Captain Kendall, McFaull, rookie goalie Justin Paulic and rookie forward Brayden Point were the other multiple award winners.
McFaull was giving the Moose Jaw Co-op Humanitarian of the Year Award for his work with the Captains Care program over the past few seasons and overall work in the community of Moose Jaw. He also won the Shannon Maclachlan True Warrior Award.
Paulic walked away with the Vanier Collegiate Scholastic Achievement and Warriors Booster Club Un-Sung Hero Awards. Paulic has started the last 25 straight games and has appeared in 56 games this season, posting a 3.20 GAA and .898 save percentage.
Point took home the C & E Plumbing and Heating Most Sportsmanlike Award after picking up just 26 penalty minutes in 66 games; he also won the McDonalds Rookie of the Year Award, and should be in the running for the league award there as well after posting 23 goals and 56 points as a 16-year-old.
Tanner Eberle was awarded the Mark MacKay Hustle Award and Bryson Gore won the Andy’s Automatic Transmission Most Improved Player Award to round out the winners.
Gore came in as a 17-year-old rookie and has played in 68 games so far this year, picking up nine goals and 16 points, while finding a role in every situation for the team, including key face-offs.
“I thought I got better throughout the season, a lot goes out to my teammates for helping me improve what I needed on my game and also the coaches,” said Gore.
“Confidence is a big one, carrying the puck and making the right play with the puck, and not turning it over, so more confidence with the puck.”
The Warriors will finish off their season on Saturday night in Brandon against the Wheat Kings. You can catch all the action on Country 100 starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:10pm
2013 Moose Jaw Warriors Yara Awards Winners
Yara Fans Choice; Morgan Rielly
Emerald & Vibe Ventures 3 Stars Award; Morgan Rielly
Vanier Collegiate Scholastic Achievement; Justin Paulic
Moose Jaw Coop Humanitarian of the Year; Kendall McFaull
Moose Jaw Warriors Booster Club Un-Sung Hero; Justin Paulic
C & E Plumbing and Heating Most Sportsmanlike; Brayden Point
Mark MacKay Hustle Award; Tanner Eberle
McDonalds Rookie of the Year; Brayden Point
Andy’s Automatic Transmission Most Improved Player; Bryson Gore
Canada Safeway Best Defensive Player; Morgan Rielly
RBC Top Scorer; Sam Fioretti
Shannon Maclachlan True Warrior; Kendall McFaull
Moose Jaw Warriors Player(s) of the Year; Morgan Rielly & Sam Fioretti
Wow Factor Milestones
200 career games played; Kendall McFaull, Sam Fioretti, Justin Kirsch
300 career games played; Jordan Messier
