Finalists announced for the Golden Puck Awards

Press Release

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League today released the list of nominees for the 2011 Golden Puck Awards. Every year, the QMJHL honours its most deserving athletes, teams and personalities at its awards Gala. The awards banquet will be held on Wednesday, April 6th 2011, at the Hyatt-Regency hotel in downtown Montreal.

Here are this year's nominees:

Michel-Brière Trophy - Most Valuable Player
Sean Couturier - Drummondville Voltigeurs
Philip-Michaël Devos - Gatineau Olympiques / Victoriaville Tigres
Jonathan Huberdeau - Saint John Sea Dogs

RDS Cup - Rookie of the Year
Martin Frk - Halifax Mooseheads
Charles Hudon - Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Zach O’Brien - Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Domenic Graham - Drummondville Voltigeurs
David Honzik - Victoriaville Tigres
Dominic Poulin - Chicoutimi Saguenéens

Émile « Butch » Bouchard Trophy - Best Defenseman
Brandon Gormley - Moncton Wildcats
Simon Després - Saint John Sea Dogs
Ryan Kavanagh - Shawinigan Cataractes / Rimouski Océanic

Frank-J.-Selke Trophy - Sportsman of the Year
Philip-Michaël Devos - Gatineau Olympiques / Victoriaville Tigres
Zach O’Brien - Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Zack Phillips - Saint John Sea Dogs

Michael-Bossy Trophy - Top Professional Prospect
Nathan Beaulieu - Saint John Sea Dogs
Sean Couturier - Drummondville Voltigeurs
Jonathan Huberdeau - Saint John Sea Dogs

Marcel-Robert Trophy - TELUS Scholastic Player of the Year
Pascal Amyot - Halifax Mooseheads
Michaël Bournival - Shawinigan Cataractes
Guillaume Goulet - Victoriaville Tigres
Jean-Philippe Mathieu - Drummondville Voltigeurs
Nicolas Therrien - Chicoutimi Saguenéens

Ron-Lapointe Trophy - Coach of the Year
Mario Duhamel - Drummondville Voltigeurs
Gérard Gallant - Saint John Sea Dogs
Patrick Roy - Québec Remparts

Maurice-Filion Trophy - General Manager of the Year
Sylvain Couturier - Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Mike Kelly - Saint John Sea Dogs
Pascal Vincent - Montreal Juniors

Paul-Dumont Trophy – Personality of the year
Sean Couturier - Drummondville Voltigeurs
Jonathan Huberdeau - Saint John Sea Dogs
Louis Leblanc - Montreal Junior

Humanitarian Award
Alex Émond - Rimouski Océanic
Kirill Kabanov - Lewiston MAINEiacs
Gabriel Lemieux - Shawinigan Cataractes

Please note that the following trophies will be awarded at a special pre-game ceremony on Friday, March 25th or Tuesday, March 29th: Michel-Bergeron (offensive rookie of the year), Raymond-Lagacé (defensive rookie of the year), Guy-Carbonneau (best defensive forward), Kevin-Lowe (best defensive defenseman), Robert-Lebel (best goals-against-average - team), Jean-Rougeau (regular season champions) and Luc-Robitaille (best offensive team). Here are the nominees:

Michel-Bergeron Trophy - Offensive Rookie of the Year
Martin Frk - Halifax Mooseheads
Charles Hudon - Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Zach O’Brien - Acadie-Bathurst Titan

Raymond-Lagacé Trophy - Defensive rookie of the year
Domenic Graham - Drummondville Voltigeurs
David Honzik - Victoriaville Tigres
Dominic Poulin - Chicoutimi Saguenéens

Guy-Carbonneau Trophy - Best defensive forward
Michael Kirkpatrick - Saint John Sea Dogs
Phillip Danault - Victoriaville Tigres
Frédérick Roy - Québec Remparts

Kevin-Lowe Trophy - Best defensive defenseman
Samuel Finn - Lewiston MAINEiacs
Charles Landry - Montreal Junior
Andrew Randazzo - Drummondville Voltigeurs

The John-Horman (Executive of the Year) and Jean-Sawyer (Marketing Director of the Year) trophies will be awarded at the Annual Entry Draft. The finalists will be revealed at a later date.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)