RBC SJHL PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Chantz Petruic, Yorkton Terriers
1999 F Chantz Petruic (Moose Jaw SK) continues to just roll along in his final SJHL season as he wins the honour for the third month in a row, posting 12-goals and 8-assists in 9-games played during December. Petruic had his second four-goal game of the season on December 17th against Nipawin and he had multiple goal games three other times this past month and he also had three four-point games. He’s been held off the scoresheet just five times all year and with 44-goals in 40-games played, he is a threat to hit the 60 goal mark for the season. Petruic enters the New Year with 81-points on 134 goals the Terriers have scored this season, which represents a 60.4% contribution to all of Yorkton’s offense. Runner-up: Daylon Mannon, La Ronge Ice Wolves.
MAYFAIR DIAGNOSTICS SJHL DEFENSEMAN OF THE MONTH: Olivier Lepine, Notre Dame Hounds
2001 D Olivier Lepine (Ile Bizard PQ) had a coming out party in December as he paced all SJHL blueliners with 2-goals and 7-assists in 8-games played. Lepine entered December with just 3-assists in 17-games overall. Lepine got six of his points over the course of two games against Kindersley, December 12th in Wilcox and then one week later on the road. He’s emerged as a bonafide threat quarterbacking the powerplay and is poised to, potentially, put himself into the conversation for SJHL Rookie Of The Year with a good stretch drive. He now has 2-goals and 10-assists in 25-games played. Runner-up: James Philpott, La Ronge Ice Wolves.
SASKTEL SJHL GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH: Matt Sankner, Kindersley Klippers
2000 G Matt Sankner (Pennington NJ USA) has been a revelation for the Klippers and has been a central figure in having them back in the playoff mix. He went through December with a 3-and-2 record, 2.01-GAA, .937-SPCT and he also posted a shutout, a 32-save performance on December 7th against the league leading Battlefords North Stars. That was the second half of a back to back against the Stars. He made 40-saves one night earlier in defeating Battlefords. Another highlight came on December 14th when he blocked 33-of-34 in beating the Weyburn Red Wings. Sankner is 6-4-and-3 with a 2.42-GAA and .929-SPCT and 1-shutout since joining Kindersley in a trade from Flin Flon. He has allowed three goals or less in 11 of 13 appearances. He’s third overall in SPCT at .931 when you take into account his stats from the Bombers. Runner-up: Berk Berkeliev, Melville Millionaires.
DIRECTWEST SJHL ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Tristan Lemyre, Flin Flon Bombers
2001 F Tristan Lemyre (Mirabel PQ) took advantage of an expaned role and launched 6-goals and 9-assists in 7-games played. Lemyre had two four-points games including December 14th against Battlefords when he connected for a hat trick with every goal coming on the man advantage. He also had a goal and four points on December 12th at Humboldt and he enters January riding a five game point scoring streak, in fact he has points in 13 of his last 15 games overall (15-12-14-26) and is a player to watch in the second half as he continues his ascension into the SJHL’s elite forwards. Overall, Lemyre has 16-goals and 17-assists in 24-games played, he’s second to Kyle Ford in SJHL rookie scoring for the season. Runner-up: Aaron Greyeyes, La Ronge Ice Wolves.
PLAYERS OF THE MONTH (December)
