RED DEER, AB – The 2007 TELUS Cup, Canada’s 29th National Midget Championship, held its Awards Banquet on Friday night in Red Deer, AB. The tournament’s Awards Committee named the recipients of all seven individual awards. » Photo Gallery

The awards were based on the tournament’s round-robin, which ran from Monday to Friday.

The 2007 TELUS Cup award winners are:

TELUS Most Valuable Player – Marc Boulanger (Red Deer Optimist Rebels – HOST)
The force between the pipes for the Optimist Rebels, Boulanger played every second for the team over its last eight playoff games in Alberta, and saved his best for the National Midget Championship. Three consecutive shutouts, 207:34 of scoreless hockey, and a huge reason the hosts were able to grab the second spot in the round robin, Boulanger had a miniscule 0.50 goals against average and a .974 save percentage in four games.

Top Forward – Tyler Fiddler (Prince Albert Mintos – WEST)
The best offensive player on the best team during the round robin, Fiddler finished tied for second in scoring (one goal, five assists in five games), and picked up at least one point in four of the Mintos’ five games. He also picked a great time for his first goal, scoring the game-winner in Thursday night 2-0 win over the Red Deer Optimist Rebels, snapping the host’s 27-game home unbeaten streak.

Top Defensive Player – Lewis Laczko (Prince Albert Mintos – WEST)
One of six Mintos returning from the 2006 TELUS Cup championship team, Laczko was a defensive force, helping the Mintos allow just five goals in five games, the second best goals-against mark in the round robin. He also chipped in with three points (one goal, two assists) while taking only four penalty minutes, playing mainly against the opposition’s top players.

Top Goaltender – Carsen Chubak (Prince Albert Mintos – WEST)
Chubak only played two of his team’s five round robin games, but he played in arguably the two most important, shutting down both the Seminaire Saint-Francois Blizzard and the Red Deer Optimist Rebels. Chubak allowed only one goal on 60 shots, including a shutout over the tournament hosts, stopping their 27-game unbeaten streak at Red Deer Arena. His stand-on-his-head performance in the opening 40 minutes against the Blizzard – he stopped 30 of 31 shots – allowed the Mintos to come back and win that game.

Most Sportsmanlike Player – Matthew Bell (Vancouver North West Giants – PACIFIC)
The captain of the Giants, and one of their top blueliners, Bell constantly found himself on the ice against the other team’s top scorers. Not only did he help the Pacific representatives to the semi-final with his shut-down defensive play, but he did it all while not recording a single penalty minute.

Top Scorer – Kyle Reynolds (Red Deer Optimist Rebels – HOST)
Reynolds’ seven points were good enough for him to finish as the top scorer at the 2007 TELUS Cup. Reynolds scored four goals and three assists in five games, with five of his seven points coming in the Optimist Rebels’ 10-0 romp over St. John’s on Wednesday night. He also finished as Red Deer’s leading scorer in the regular season.

Esso Scholarship – Jamie Leveille (Vancouver North West Giants – PACIFIC)
A Grade 11 student, Leveille has a perfect 4.0 grade point average, with a more than 95% class average. He was also a rock on the blueline for the Giants, who surprised many by knocking off Seminaire Saint-Francois on Thursday and qualifying for the semi-finals. Leveille has aspirations of being an engineer, and plans to attend Carleton University on Ontario.

After an exciting week of round-robin play, the semi-finals are set for Saturday, April 28. The Prince Albert Mintos, the defending TELUS Cup champions, face the Seminaire Saint-Francois Blizzard at 2:00 p.m. MT, followed by the host Red Deer Optimist Rebels taking on the Vancouver North West Giants at 6:00 p.m. MT. Both games will take place at Red Deer Arena.

The bronze medal game will go at 10:00 a.m. MT on Sunday, April 29, followed by the gold medal game at 2:30 p.m. MT. Both of the medal games will take place at the Enmax Centrium. The gold medal game can be seen live on TSN/RDS, the official broadcaster of Hockey Canada, and also online via TSN Broadband at www.tsn.ca.

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