On Saturday, March 23rd, the SNHL wrapped up another exciting year of hockey with the All-Star game, Callaghan Cup Championship, and Player Awards.
2023-24 SNHL All-Star Game
The night kicked off with a dozen players suiting up for the return of our SNHL All-Star game. A big thanks to our goaltenders – Aaron Goldstein and Scott Irvine – who faced a ton of rubber and probably wished they had stayed home that night. In the end, Team Green blew their 7-3 lead, as Team Yellow scored 10 unanswered goals, winning 13-7.
Team Yellow was led by Daryll Simpson, who returned to play after missing most of the season due to injury. He did his best to make up for the lost points this season by racking up 5 goals and 4 assists to win Player of the Game for the winning side, with Kev Wigner hot on his tail, adding a 3rd-period hat trick. Marc de Abaitua was the Player of the Game for the losing squad, with a hat trick of his own, plus 1 apple. Thanks to everyone who played!
2024 Callaghan Cup Championship
Our championship game saw the Parking Lot Kings battle the MVS Knights for the Callaghan Cup. It was an extremely tight, and physical game, with the teams trading goals in the first and second periods. But a power-play goal by Brandon Lisi with 1:09 left in the third period put the Knights in the lead, and after adding 2 empty net goals to make it 5-2, they were crowned the 2024 SNHL Callaghan Cup Champions.
The Bill Whitbread Memorial Award for Playoff MVP was presented to Knights goalie Matt Pacella, who came up huge for the Knights in the semifinal and championship games (and he also won the 50/50 draw later that night!) Congratulations to rookie team captain, Jay Clark, and the MVS Knights!
2023-24 Player Awards
After the on-ice action was over, we headed out to the Barn for an end-of-season celebration. Big thanks to Daryll Simpson for catering the party! We enjoyed some great food, a few drinks, and some robotics action courtesy of the Humberview Alpha Dogs. We also presented our annual SNHL Player Achievement Awards. Congratulations to this year’s winners:
- Top Goaltenders – Regular Season: Fabiana Petricca / Josh Thompson – #29 Green (2.74 GAA)
- Top Scorer – Regular Season: Hayden Simpson – #88 Green (18g + 17a = 35 pts)
- Rookie of the Year: James McLean – #21 Blue
- Defenceman of the Year: Kevin Wigner – #33 Yellow
- Best Team Guy: Bob McHardy – #14 White
- MVP – Regular Season: Cam Coulter – #9 Blue
- Team Captain of the Year: Daryll Simpson – Green
2023-24 Matt Dowdle memorial Award
Before the start of the All-Star Game, we also presented our most prestigious award of the year – the Matt Dowdle Memorial Award. This award was introduced to honour Matt’s legacy and acknowledge a league member who is a leader on and off the ice and who makes coming to the rink each week fun. As per our tradition, last season’s award winner – Cam Coulter – had the honour of selecting the 2023-24 recipient.
This award is about honour. I was fortunate to be the recipient of this last year knowing the meaning of the award. It had a lot of weight to it but what I didn’t realize is how much this award meant to others in the league. I had great respect for Matt on the ice. I only had a few conversations with him outside the rink but could tell he was a guy many could get along with. It wasn’t until one of the more experienced guys from the league let me know how special this award is to others that I then felt the need to represent Matt with great pride. This year I am proud to present this award to a man I look up to on the ice, in the dressing room and in the parking lot. I know this award will mean a lot to him as he was super close Matt. I love this guy and he has been and will be a key player in this league going forward. Matt would be extremely proud that he and his spirit are being represented by this years recipient, Scott Irvine.” – Cam Coulter
On behalf of the SNHL, I want to say Thank You and Congratulations, Irv! I know without a doubt that Matt would be thrilled to see you win this award!
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