Goaltender and National Hockey League Hart Trophy MVP Carey Price from Williams Lake was named sa国际传媒 professional athlete of the year, over NHL Art Ross Trophy scoring champion Jamie Benn of Victoria, at the 50th annual Sport sa国际传媒 awards ceremony Thursday night at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
And never underestimate the power of a compelling comeback story.
Speedskater Denny Morrison of Fort St. John won two silver medals at the 2015 world championships in the Netherlands after surviving a harrowing motorcycle crash last May which he can鈥檛 remember and which left him with a permanent steel rod in his leg. Morrison defeated swimmer Ryan Cochrane of Victoria in balloting for sa国际传媒 male amateur athlete of the year. Cochrane won two gold medals at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games and two medals at the world aquatics championships in Kazan, Russia.
Long-jumper Christabel Nettey of Surrey, gold medallist at the Pan Am Games in Toronto and fourth at the 2015 IAAF world track and field championships in Beijing, was named senior female athlete of the year.
Balloting was conducted by a selection panel, chaired by former broadcaster Bernie Pascall, of media and amateur sports officials from across the province.
The Mann Cup national lacrosse champion Victoria Shamrocks were nominated for team of the year but the award went to the CIS Vanier Cup football champion UBC Thunderbirds.
Perhaps the most moving win was in the male coaching category as Cochrane鈥檚 late swim coach Randy Bennett of Victoria, who died of cancer at age 51, was posthumously named the winner. Also nominated was Shamrocks bench boss Bob Heyes.
The Island swept the coaching categories with triathlon mentor Carolyn Murray of Victoria named female coach of the year.
Graydon Robb of the Vancouver Island University Mariners, the Canadian collegiate badminton player of the year, was named the top sa国际传媒 collegiate athlete for 2015 and basketball/rugby/soccer all-rounder Graeme Hyde-Lay of St. Michaels University School the best high school athlete. Wheelchair rugby player Trevor Hirschfield from Parksville got the nod as the best athlete in a Paralympic sport.
Chris McLaughlin, who commanded the post position for the UVic Vikes in basketball, and Quinn van Gylswyk of Victoria, who kicked the winning field goal in the Vanier Cup for UBC and then memorably celebrated, were nominated for university athlete of the year. But it was Maria Bernard from UBC, who dominated NAIA track and cross-country, who was selected the winner.
Louise Kennedy of Brentwood Bay, from synchronized swimming, was nominated as official of the year but the award went to soccer鈥檚 Michelle Pye from North Vancouver.
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