Wheatland Athletics Association dishes out hardware

Posted on: Staff Writer

Mario Prusina
Times Editor
 
Members of the three double-A teams in the Wheatland Athletics Association exchanged their sticks and helmets for shirts and ties at the annual awards banquet April 1 at the Strathmore Civic Centre.
The peewee, bantam and midget teams honoured their top scorer, top defenceman, rookie-of-the-year, most improved, most sportsmanlike and team MVP.
“This has been a very satisfying year,” said WAA President Sandy Henry. “Our peewee program took a huge step – we became a team at the end that could compete and that was the goal to start with. It took us a while to get together – when you bring kids together from other communities it takes time.
“Our bantam program was solid as always. (The coaching staff) does an excellent job with those guys, no matter how our peewee program has done the year before, those guys always ice a competitive team. They’re always top three in the league and they consistently get there. Certainly a lot of that is coaching.”
The midget team, which won the regular season banner and the league championship banner, lived up to expectations.
“Midgets, again, are always strong,” said Henry. “The UFA (Bisons) take some players from us, certainly – but we seem to have enough depth that we’re always able to find a way to get our midget team near the top.”
Liam Rycroft of the Braves and Tyler Sharuga of the Warriors were presented the Craig Kletzel Memorial Award, while Zach Wittenburg was awarded the SCAHL Top Defenceman. 
The Association also reviled their new “Members of Distinction” award, which was presented to the founders of the WAA. Len Desmet and Rick Puttick were two of the founders on hand to accept the award.
 
Here is a list of the award winners.
 
Wheatland Braves
Peewee AA
Top Scorer – Sarah Lecavalier
Top Defencemen – Matt Halkovic
Rookie of the Year – Tyler Petrie
Most Improved – Wacy Sandum
Mosts Sportsmanlike – Ryan Bell
Most Valuable Player – Kody Hammond
 
Wheatland Warriors 
Bantam AA
Top Scorer – Cody Willis
Top Defencemen – Jack Vergouwen
Rookie of the Year – Shane Fraser
Most Improved – McKay Bray
Mosts Sportsmanlike – Taylor Donner
Most Valuable Player – Tyler Sharuga
 
Wheatland Chiefs
Midget AA
Top Scorer – Alex Bechtold
Top Defencemen – Zach Wittenburg
Rookie of the Year – Devon Westby
Most Improved – Brad Bergerman
Mosts Sportsmanlike – Tyson Kapty
Most Valuable Player – Justin Fraser