The KIJHL announced its divisional award winners this week.
Beaver Valley Nitehawks forward Nathan Dominici earned the Neil Murdoch Division Most Valuable Player Award for the 2023 season and Connor Stojan was named the Top Goaltender.
The 18-year-old, Dominici, is in his second season with the Nitehawks and led them in points, averaging 1.05 points per game with 41 in 39 games.
Of his 23 goals, four were game winners and nine came on the power-play. The Trail native played an average of 17 minutes and 49 seconds each game with 2:48 on the power-play. Dominici led his team with 23 goals, which was the second highest in the division, and his five game-winning goals are second highest.
Dominici was also an affiliate player with the Trail Smoke Eaters playing in four games and scoring one goal.
Stojan, a Grande Prairie product, won 15 of the 25 games he played. The 18-year-old netminder finished with a 2.45 goals-against-average (GAA) and a .931 save-percentage (SP).
He won the most games in the Neil Murdoch Division, and his save percentage was tied for the best in the league, while his GAA cracked the top-10 in the league. Stojan started his Nitehawks tenure with five straight wins. During that stretch Stojan had a 2.54 GAA with a .929 SP.
He finished the season winning his final two games with a 2.00 GAA and a .944 SP.
Other winners included Spencer Horning of the Grand Forks Border Bruins winning the Top Scorer award, Tyson Lautard of the Nelson Leafs the Top Defenceman, the Rookie of the Year went to Russell Kosec of the Border Bruins, and Chad Bates from Grand Forks taking home the Most Sportsmanlike Player award.
The Coach of the Year went to Grand Forks’ Dave Hnatiuk. Hnatiuk helped the organization take big strides improving from a five-win season last year to 25 this season. It’s their third winning season in franchise history. The Border Bruins finished eighth overall in the league.
The Nitehawks will play the Nelson Leafs in the first round of the Murdoch division playoffs with games going in Nelson on Friday and Saturday and in Beaver Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday with the puck drop at 7 p.m.