Sport Newfoundland and Labrador has announced the finalists for its annual awards for 2017 and the list of nominees contains the names of many previous winners.
Awards in nine categories will be presented during the Stars and Legends gala on April 21 at the Sheraton Hotel in St. John’s
Three finalists from each category have been selected by an SNL selection committee from a list of nominees compiled by 16 provincial sport organizations.
Among the finalists are softball pitcher Sean Cleary, the senior male athlete of the year the last three years, and baseball player Heather Healey, who won the senior female award for 2016.
Camryn Bonia of track and field, the junior female athlete of the year in 2016, is nominated in the category once again, while para-athlete Liam Hickey is nominated in the senior male category after being the junior male winner the past two years.
Rugby player Pat Parfrey is the other senior male nominee, while a couple of athletes who competed for NCAA schools — basketball player Hannah Jardine (University of Delaware) and runner Julia Howley (Simon Fraser University) — join Healey as finalists for senior female honours. Jardine has been a provincial award-winner before, taking the junior female honours in 2012.
The Brad Gushue curling rink, named team of the year in 2016, is up for the award again this year after its Brier and world men’s championships. Gushue-skipped teams also won the award in 2006, 2005, 2001, while Gushue himself was senior male athlete winner in 2005 and 2006.
The Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts, who won the 2017 Allan Cup national senior hockey championship and Holy Cross senior women’s soccer team, bronze medallists at the 2017 Jubilee Trophy Canadian championships, are the other team of the year nominees.
The Stars and Legends Awards Gala is actually two events in one, with Sport NL also making its Hall of Fame inductions.
Joining the Hall this year are Laura Breen (soccer) and John Slaney (hockey) as athletes, Ben Dunne (soccer/track and field) as an athlete builder and John McGrath (soccer/Sport NL executive) as a builder.
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The Finalists
Final nominees, by category for Sport Newfoundland and Labrador’s annual awards for 2017 (winners to be announced April 21):
Senior Female Athlete of the Year
Heather Healey (Baseball)
Julia Howley (Athletics)
Hannah Jardine (Basketball
Senior Male Athlete of the Year
Sean Cleary (Softball)
Liam Hickey (Para-sports)
Patrick Parfrey (Rugby)
Junior Female Athlete of the Year
Camryn Bonia (Athletics)
Maggie Connors (Hockey)
Kate Sullivan (Swimming)
Junior Male Athlete of the Year
Campbell Clarke (Rugby)
Noah Cumby (Swimming)
Zachary Rose (Hockey)
Team of the Year
Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts (Hockey)
Holy Cross Women (Soccer)
Team Gushue (Curling)
Coach of the Year
Peter Densmore (Rugby)
Allison Kirby (Gymnastics)
Jake Stanford (Soccer)
Volunteer of the Year
Rob Carrol (Gymnastics)
David Coates (Baseball)
Jennifer Powell (Softball)
Executive of the Year
Stan Coffin (Hockey)
Gary Corbett (Softball)
Kevin Higgins (Baseball)
Official of the Year
Scott Critch (Basketball)
Ashley Hammond (Hockey)
Markus Hicks (Volleyball)
Twitter: @telysports
