Vernon’s Ben King has been nominated as one of four finalists for the Western Hockey League’s Four Broncos Memorial Trophy presented by Kia Canada to the league’s Player of the Year.
King, who skates for the Red Deer Rebels, is the Central Division’s nominee.
Joining King in vying for the honour are Logan Stankoven of Kamloops from the B.C. Division’s Kamloops Blazers; North Vancouver’s Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats in the East Division; and Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.’s Olen Zellwegger in the U.S. Division from the Everett Silvertips.
King led the WHL with 52 goals, finishing second to linemate Arshdeep Bains among WHL scoring leaders with 105 points. The 19-year-old, who was named McSweeney’s WHL Player of the Month for March 2022, finished the campaign with 15 game-winning goals, one shy of equaling a 43-year-old league record. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound centre held a 58.8 per cent face-off efficiency, and over the course of 206 regular season games with Swift Current and Red Deer has registered 205 points (89G-116A).
King and the Rebels will face the Brandon Wheat Kings in the opening round of the league playoffs starting Friday, April 22, in Red Deer.
Bedard became the first 16-year-old in 35 years to score 50 or more goals in a WHL regular season, finishing with exactly 100 points (51G-49A) during the 2021-22 campaign.
Stankoven is a 19-year-old forward who finished third in WHL scoring with 104 points (45G-59A) and was one of eight WHL players to finish with 40 or more goals during the 2021-22 regular season. He helped Kamloops to a third consecutive B.C. Division Championship, recording three or more points 18 times along the way.
Zellwegger, an 18-year-old Anaheim Ducks prospect, led all WHL defencemen in scoring with 78 points (14G-64A) during the regular season, setting both new personal bests and Everett Silvertips franchise marks in the process.
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