Cousins big winner at Greyhounds awards banquet

The Soo Greyhounds held their annual awards banquet on Friday night ahead of their final two regular season games this weekend.

Nick Cousins was the big winner, taking home three awards including Most Valuable Player.

The third-year forward also took home the top scorer award and was part of a three-way tie with Ryan Sproul and Brandon Alderson for the Red Star Three Star Award.

Cousins heads into the Greyhounds final two games with 26 goals and 101 points in 62 games.

In addition to the Red Star award, Sproul was also named Best Defenceman and shared the Humanitarian Award with Alderson.

Sproul currently leads Greyhounds defencemen in scoring with 20 goals and 65 points in 49 games.

Alderson, who has set career highs with 28 goals, 35 assists and 63 points in 65 games, was also named the Greyhounds Most Improved Player.

Other award winners on Friday night included:

• Darnell Nurse - Player's Player and Scholastic Player of the Year
• Jared McCann and Sergey Tolchinsky - shared Rookie of the Year
• Andrew Fritsch - Most Gentlemanly Player
• Alex Gudbranson - Unsung Hero

Earlier in the day, the Ontario Hockey League announced the Western Conference coaches poll winners. Sproul earned top honours in a pair of categories, including hardest shot and best offensive defenceman. Overage defenceman Colin Miller was named the Western Conference's most underrated player.

The annual coaches poll sees each team nominate one player per category and coaches vote for the top three in each. Coaches are not permitted to vote for players on their own team.

The Greyhounds return to action on Saturday night when they host the Kitchener Rangers.