The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Canadian Junior 'A' Hockey League alumni Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards completed an outstanding week June 10 at the National Hockey League awards ceremony in Toronto. Tampa Bay Lightning right winger St. Louis received the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player, the Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHL Players Association choice as the outstanding player and the Art Ross Trophy as the league-leading scorer. Tampa Bay centre Richards was presented the Lady Byng Trophy as the league's most sportsmanlike player. Richards was voted the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the most valuable player in the playoffs after Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup in the seventh game of the league final June 7. St. Louis accumulated 38 goals, 56 assists and 94 points in 82 regular-season games. He led the league in points, tied for the league lead in assists and tied for fourth in the league in goals. The 5-foot-8, 185-pound St. Louis also led the NHL with eight shorthanded goals and tied for the league lead with a plus 35 in the plus-minus category. Richards led league playoff scorers with 26 points, including 14 assists, in 23 games. He established a Stanley Cup record with seven winning goals and tied for second with 12 goals all told. The 6-foot-1, 198-pound Richards tied for ninth in the league with 79 points, including 53 assists, in 82 regular-season games. He had 12 minutes in penalties. St. Louis, 28, was second among league playoff scorers with 24 points, including a league-leading 15 assists, in 23 games. St. Louis totalled 37 goals, 50 assists and 87 points in 31 games with the Hawkesbury Hawks of the Central Junior Hockey League in 1992-93. He played four seasons with the University of Vermont Catamounts of the Eastern College Athletic Conference before signing with the Calgary Flames, as an NHL free agent, at 22. Richards was voted the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's outstanding rookie when he had 39 goals, 48 assists and 87 points in 63 games with the Notre Dame Hounds in 1996-97. He advanced to play three seasons with the Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Richards, 24, was Tampa Bay's second choice and the 64th overall selection in the 1998 NHL entry draft. Another CJAHL alumnus, left winger Ruslan Fedotenko, tied Richards for second among NHL playoff scorers with 12 goals in 22 games. Fedotenko also plays for Tampa Bay. Fedotenko, 25, had 35 goals, 31 assists and 66 points in 68 games with the Melfort Mustangs of the SJHL in 1997-98. He signed with the Philadelphia Flyers, as an NHL free agent, in 1999.
