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.
At the tournament's awards banquet Friday night at the Grande Prairie Inn, Klippers netminder Kevin Dziaduck copped honours as the tournament MVP in large part thanks to his 53-save performance against the Nanaimo Clippers one night earlier. Kindersley's 4-2 victory eliminated Nanaimo from contention at the five-team event and propelled the Klippers into Saturday night's semifinal contest against the host squad. "We were in a do-or-die situation against Nanaimo," Dziaduck said. "We had a great performance and we got the win that we needed." This past season, Dziaduck actually played for the Yorkton Terriers, who were eliminated from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's playoffs by the Weyburn Red Wings. After the Klippers beat the Red Wings in the SJHL championship series, Kindersley was allowed to pick up an extra goaltender for the remainder of the playoffs and they chose Dziaduck. In the Anavet Cup against the Manitoba Junior Hockey League champion Selkirk Steelers, Kindersley fell behind three-games-to-one. "They put me in and I won three games for them," said Dziaduck of the comeback effort that qualified the Kippers for the RBC Royal Bank Cup. "It's just a great feeling. To get a second chance like I did with Kindersley, I couldn't ask for anything else." Also at the awards banquet, Grande Prairie Storm players walked away with three separate honours. Josh Welter won the tournament's Top Scorer award, Scott McCulloch was named the tournament's Outstanding Forward, and blueliner Kyle Radke took home the Top Defenceman award. The Top Goaltender was Chris Whitley, who backstopped the Aurora Tigers to all three of their victories. Nepean Raiders' Grant Clitsome was named the tournament's Most Sportsmanlike Player. Two other awards were also handed out at Friday's awards banquet to players not in the tournament. Nick Johnson of the St. Albert Saints was named the RBC Financial Group Canadian Junior 'A' Player of the Year, while Adam Kinnaird of the Fort Saskatchewan Traders won a $5,000 RBC Financial Group Scholarship.
