The Penticton Vees scored a hat trick in hardware.
The British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) announced their league award winners Friday and captain Tyson Jost, Dante Fabbro and head coach Fred Harbinson were amongst the winners. Jost won the Vern Dye Memorial Trophy as BCHL MVP, Fabbro was named the Top Defenceman and Harbinson was announced as the BCHL Coach of the Year.
Jost finished with 42 goals and 104 points. Only teammate Scott Conway and Nanaimo’s Sheldon Rempal have more points than the 17-year-old.
In a statement released by the Vees, Jost said being nominated was an honour, considering the candidates.
“It’s special but Scott (Conway) could have easily been nominated for the award and Rempal and Jordan Kawaguchi are both amazing players and it could have gone either way, so it’s humbling to be recognized like this,” said Jost, who was named player of the week for the week ending, Feb. 28. He had three goals and nine points in three games.. Jost helped the Vees earn their 50th win in a 5-1 win over Salmon Arm on Saturday.
Jost is the first Vee to win the BCHL MVP award since 2011 when defenceman Joey Laleggia was bestowed the honour. The North Dakota commitment is the 22nd player in franchise history to be named league MVP, joining the likes of Brett Hull, Paul Kariya and Joe Murphy to be named the league’s best.
Fabbro became the fifth Vees’ defenceman in the last six seasons to be named Top Defenceman and first since Brett Beauvais in 2014. Fabbro leads all BCHL rear-guards in points with 63, despite only playing 43 games. Fabbro is second in goals (14) and assists (53). The Coquitlam product said sharing the honour with the organization makes it that much better.
“It’s definitely a huge honour and sharing the recognition with Tyson winning MVP and Fred winning Coach of the Year, makes it that much more special not only for us but the entire team,” he said.
Fabbro told the Western News it’s humbling for the three of them to get.
“It’s obviously pretty exciting. I know there is a lot of great defenceman in this league. Just to be among the top of those guys is something pretty cool,” he said. “Yanni Kaldis on Nanaimo is an awesome player. He’s fought hard all year.”
Fabbro is the 11th defenceman in franchise history to win the award and past alumni to win include Duncan Keith, Mike Reilly, Troy Stecher and Laleggia.
For Harbinson, it’s his third Coach of the Year award as he won in 2008 and 2012, but its his first since the league switched to one winner per award instead of per conference in 2013. Harbinson has guided the Vees to their fifth consecutive Division title and their second consecutive BCHL regular season championship. The Vees are 49-6-1-0 heading into the final two games of the regular season. Harbinson is the only three-time winner in franchise history, and this is the ninth time a Vees’ coach has the award.
In other Vees news, Nicholas Jones is making it five Vees set to join the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks. The Vees announced on Monday that Jones has committed to the National Collegiate Athletic Division 1 program joining Gabe Bast, Dixon Bowen, Tyson Jost and Colton Poolman. Jones will join the Fighting Hawks in 2017-18.
Jones said UND’s reputation speaks for itself.
“We have four good guys going there and it’s a fantastic program with a great group of coaches, and I feel UND gives me the best opportunity to be in a winning program and become a pro hockey player,” said Jones in a team statement.
The 19-year-old finished fifth in team scoring in the regular season with 21 goals and 63 points in 42 games. The Edmonton product most recently won the Vees’ Most Sportsmanlike award and came to the team in late October, after playing parts of two seasons at Ohio State University. Prior to joining Ohio State, Jones had a decorated junior career with the Sherwood Park Crusaders in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL). In the 2013-14 season with the Crusaders, Jones finished third in AJHL scoring with 72 points in 52 games and his 41 goals was the most in the league; he also had a league-best 16 power-play goals. That season, Jones was a unanimous selection to the AJHL’s North Division All-League team. In two seasons in the AJHL, Jones compiled 52 goals and 96 points in 100 career games.