ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School hockey team celebrated its 2015-16 season, and said goodbye to eleven seniors at its annual banquet Tuesday night at the House of Ludington. A number of awards were handed out during the banquet as well.
The team's Most Valuable Player was goaltender Jack Valentine.
"I wasn't really expecting this, to be honest," Valentine said. "Just glad to be here, and I want to thank everybody for the opportunity. I'm just grateful for the award. I put in a lot of work in the off-season and in the summer. This year, we did a lot of gialie drills, work during the morning and stuff. That really helped out this season."
Valentine, routinely playing against the state's toughest teams, compiled a 9-7-4 record in net. He had a 2.28 goals against average and a 90.9% saves percentage.
Escanaba's all-time leading scorer, 2015 graduate Levi Wunder, spoke briefly to the gathering. He just returned home from Alberta, Canada, where he finished his first season in the Alberta Junior Hockey League as his team's leading scorer (53 points, 59 games).
The banquet was the last "team event" for the senior class, who had the most successful four-year run of any group of boys. They were: Valentine, Nick Aird, Blaine Borman, Matt Casey, Dylan Gauthier, Hunter LaMarch, Josh Nelson, Calvin Pinar, Brendan Sliva, Charlie Zuidema, and Jack Williams. Other awards handed out Tuesday night:
Offensive Player of the Year: Chris LeMire
Defensive Player of the Year: Calvin Pinar
Academic Award: Jack Williams
Little I Award: Hunter LaMarch
Mikey D Character Award: Nick Aird
Player Of Tomorrow Award: Garth Wickham
Hobey Baker Character Award: Charlie Zuidema
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos, and to see a video of Parker LaMarch, Kyle Egner, and Mike Zuidema, Sr. open the banquet by singing the Canadian National Anthem.
The team's Most Valuable Player was goaltender Jack Valentine.
Valentine, routinely playing against the state's toughest teams, compiled a 9-7-4 record in net. He had a 2.28 goals against average and a 90.9% saves percentage.
Escanaba's all-time leading scorer, 2015 graduate Levi Wunder, spoke briefly to the gathering. He just returned home from Alberta, Canada, where he finished his first season in the Alberta Junior Hockey League as his team's leading scorer (53 points, 59 games).
The banquet was the last "team event" for the senior class, who had the most successful four-year run of any group of boys. They were: Valentine, Nick Aird, Blaine Borman, Matt Casey, Dylan Gauthier, Hunter LaMarch, Josh Nelson, Calvin Pinar, Brendan Sliva, Charlie Zuidema, and Jack Williams. Other awards handed out Tuesday night:
Offensive Player of the Year: Chris LeMire
Defensive Player of the Year: Calvin Pinar
Academic Award: Jack Williams
Little I Award: Hunter LaMarch
Mikey D Character Award: Nick Aird
Player Of Tomorrow Award: Garth Wickham
Hobey Baker Character Award: Charlie Zuidema
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos, and to see a video of Parker LaMarch, Kyle Egner, and Mike Zuidema, Sr. open the banquet by singing the Canadian National Anthem.
