On Saturday April 10th, the NWHL's Western Division handed out its hardware. Angela James of the Beatrice (North York) Aeros, a four time Women's World Hockey Championship (WWC) Gold Medal winner with Team Canada, was named the 1998-99 NWHL Western Division Most Valuable Player. James was the NWHL's 4th highest scorer with 36 goals (most in the league) and 19 assists for a total of 55 points in 31 games. She was the leading scorer for the Aeros, the league's regular season and playoff champions. James was also named the Western Division's Most Valuable Forward.
Other individual award winners included Stephanie Boyd of the Brampton Thunder who led the NWHL in scoring with 21 goals and 40 assists for a total of 61 points in 38 games, while the duo of Kendra Fisher and Lauren Goldstein of the Aeros led the NWHL in goaltending, as the Aeros allowed only 39 goals in 40 games, and recorded 19 shut outs. Goldstein also won the Western Division's Most Valuable Goalie award, leading the league with 9 shutouts and a 0.52 goals against average, and was also named the playoff's Most Valuable Goalie. Teammate Amanda Benoit was named the playoff's Most Valuable Forward, while teammate Cheryl Pounder was named the playoff's Most Valuable Defense.
The four remaining individual awards went to members of the Mississauga Chiefs. The Western Division's Most Valuable Defense award went to Nathalie Rivard, who recorded the most power play goals in the NWHL for a defenseman with 4. Annie Fahlenbock won the Rookie of the Year award, leading all Western Division rookies in scoring with 10 goals and 22 assists for a total of 32 points in 38 games, and placed 18th overall in the NWHL's scoring race. Andria Hunter won the Bob Phillips Memorial Trophy as the league's most sportsmanlike player, recording only 2 penalty minutes in 40 games, while scoring 20 goals and 21 assists for a total of 41 points, placing 6th in the NWHL's scoring race. Finally, coach Rick Osborne was named the Western Division's coach of the year: he led his Chiefs to the 3rd best record in the NWHL, and to a second place finish at the OWHA's Provincial Championship.
The team awards all went to the Beatrice Aeros. The Aeros won the regular season championship with a record of 37 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie, for an impressive 0.938 winning percentage. The Aeros also won the Western Division playoffs, sweeping the 2nd place Brampton Thunder in the best of 3 final. Finally, the Aeros also captured the award for least penalized team in the Western Division, recording a total of 433 penalty minutes in 40 games.
Each team also announced their own Most Valuable Forward and Most Valuable Defense:
Team: | Most Valuable Defense | Most Valuable Forward |
---|---|---|
Beatrice Aeros | Becky Kellar | Angela James |
Brampton Thunder | Sue Merz | Jayna Hefford |
Mississauga Chiefs | Nathalie Rivard | Andria Hunter |
Scarborough Sting | Cassandra Turner | Michelle Steele |
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