Two Allen Americans Among CHL Award Finalists
Bruce Graham
Chris Whitley
The CHL came out with their list of finalists for four of their End-of-the-Year Awards, and the Allen Americans had two candidates in threa categories. Forward Bruce Graham is a finalist for Most Valuable Player and goalie Chris Whitley is a finalist for Goaltender of the Year. Whitley is also a candidate for Rookie of the Year honors. Both players have had fantastic years, and I’m sure will be happy with the nominations. But, I think they both have good cases to win.
Bruce Graham has played in 56 games so far, scoring 26 goals and 42 assists for a total of 68 points. He’s a plus 17 on the year, and has 71 PIMs. But, his 8 game-winning goals are second best in the league, and show why he’s one of the MVPs for Allen this season, at the very least.
Chris Whitley leads the league with 27 wins, and has an overall record of 27-8-3. His GAA of 2.66 is sixth in the league, and his .913 save percentage is tied for eighth.
The stronger candidate of the two is probably Whitley, as he leads the league in wins and is among the leaders in the other categories. Here is the league’s full release:
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(Tempe, Arizona) - The Central Hockey League (CHL) announced today the five finalists for each of the four significant CHL awards, selected by the CHL front office following nominations from member clubs. Balloting will take place among CHL Head Coaches, team Communications Departments and selected media members in CHL markets to determine the recipients of the CHL’s Most Valuable Player, Most Outstanding Goaltender, Most Outstanding Defenseman and Rookie of the Year awards.
2009-2010 CHL Most Valuable Player candidates include the defending CHL Most Valuable Player, Odessa’s Sebastien Thinel, along with Allen’s Bruce Graham, Colorado’s Kevin Ulanski, Corpus Christi’s Chad Woollard and Rapid City’s Les Reaney.
The finalists for the Most Outstanding Goaltender include three rookies in Chris Whitley of Allen, Charlie Effinger of Missouri and Danny Battochio of Rapid City. They are joined by Joel Martin of Odessa and Brett Jaeger of Texas.
The selected finalists to receive Most Outstanding Defenseman consideration include the reigning winner of the award in Aaron Schneekloth of Colorado. The other candidates are Bossier-Shreveport’s Simon Mangos, Rapid City’s Jamie VanderVeeken, Odessa’s Alex Dunn and Tulsa’s Derek Eastman.
Rookie of the Year honors will be determined amongst Allen’s Chris Whitley, Corpus Christi’s Ryan Garbutt, Missouri’s Nick Sirota, Rapid City’s Danny Battochio and Texas’ Joe Palmer.
Additional awards to be determined include Coach of the Year, Equipment Manager of the Year and Athletic Trainer of the Year, as determined by their CHL peers, along with six member All-CHL and All-Rookie teams (voted on by CHL Head Coaches). The CHL’s regular season point leader will receive the Joe Burton Scoring Champion award, while the CHL front office will determine the recipients of both the Man of the Year Award (for outstanding leadership and contributions to the community) and Rick Kozuback Award (perseverance, determination and commitment to hockey) based on nominations and supporting material from CHL member teams.