The Red Deer Rebels used Saturday night’s regular season finale against Edmonton to honour their best players.
The opening face off for Saturday’s contest was delayed by about 15 minutes so the Rebels could hand out their end of season team awards, with rearguard Mathew Dumba getting everything going with the Rookie of the Year award.
Dumba, who could get some consideration for the WHL’s Rookie of the Year award, put up 15 goals and 26 points in 62 games this season.
Coaldale native Adam Kambeitz, one of the team’s best penalty killers, grabbed the Underrated Player of the Year award, while Florida Panthers draft pick Alex Petrovic, who saw his season totals improve by 30 points this year over last (7-50-57), was named Defenseman of the Year.
Twenty-year-old forward Brett Ferguson, who tallied a 14 game point scoring streak earlier this year, was named the Humanitarian of the Year for all his work in the community, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who finished the year in fourth in the WHL scoring race with 106 points, won for Top Scorer.
The Players Award, which is voted on by the players in the locker room, went to Rebels captain Colin Archer.
And goalie Darcy Kuemper, who set four franchise records this season and tied the WHL record for shutouts in a single season with 13, was named Team MVP, with that award being decided on by the coaches.
The Molson Cup Three Stars, awarded to the three Rebels’ who found themselves among the games Three Stars throughout the year, will be handed out at some point during Red Deer’s opening round playoff series with Edmonton.
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