Oil Kings Announce Team Awards Led by Sebastian Cossa as MVP
Published on May 14, 2021 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release
Edmonton, AB - The Edmonton Oil Kings put the finishing touches on their third straight and sixth overall Central Division championship season last week and today the team announced their 2020-21 team award winners.
Most Valuable Player
Sebastian Cossa (Fort McMurray, AB) is the Oil Kings Most Valuable Player for the 2020-21 season.
The Oil Kings goaltender posted a record this year of 17-1-0-1 while leading the WHL in goals against average (1.57), save percentage (.941) and shutouts (4).
Cossa, listed as an 'A' rated prospect by NHL Central Scouting for the 2021 NHL Draft, has completed two years in the WHL with the Oil Kings. In his time in an Oil Kings uniform, Cossa has climbed several of the all-time franchise lists as he now sits fourth in wins (38), third in shutouts (8), and seventh in saves (1292).
This season, he set a new franchise record for consecutive wins in a single season by a goaltender. By winning his first 12 starts of the year he broke the previous record of 11 established by Tristan Jarry during the 2013-14 season. Cossa helped lead the team to having the fewest goals against (41) amongst all teams in the WHL this year.
This is Cossa's second team award of his career after being named last year's recipient of the Blue Willow Unsung Hero award.
"He was exceptional all season," said Oil Kings General Manager Kirt Hill. "It even extends back into last season and the 11 months off that he really took advantage of to work on his development. His record, his save percentage and goals against average, it's all there, it all speaks for itself. Having a goaltender like that solves a lot of problems for you as a general manager. He's probably one of the top goaltenders in the league and at the end of the day when your defensiveÃÂ corps or forwardÃÂ corps makes some blemishes, that's the guy you want on the goal line for you."
Past Recipients
2019-20: Matthew Robertson
2018-19: Trey Fix-Wolansky
2017-18:ÃÂ Trey Fix-Wolansky
2016-17:ÃÂ Davis Koch
2015-16:ÃÂ Dysin Mayo
2014-15:ÃÂ Tristan Jarry
2013-14:ÃÂ Tristan Jarry
2012-13:ÃÂ Keegan Lowe
2011-12: Michael St. Croix
2010-11:ÃÂ Mark Pysyk
2009-10:ÃÂ Mark Pysyk
2008-09:ÃÂ Torrie Jung
Kristians Pelss Memorial Award
Jake Neighbours (Airdrie, AB) is the 2020-21 recipient of the Oil Kings Kristians Pelss Memorial Award.
The award is handed out to the player who best exemplifies the traits of late Oil Kings forward Kristians Pelss, a former WHL champion with the Oil Kings and Edmonton Oilers draft pick. He was known for his commitment to hard work on the ice, as well as his dedication to being a great teammate and member of our community off the ice.
Neighbours, a 2020 St. Louis Blues first-round pick, has completed his third season as an Oil King and first as a member of its leadership group after he was named an alternate captain for the first time in his career ahead of this past season.
Through 141 career regular season games, and 16 career post-season games, Neighbours has shown the passion and dedication to be an Oil King just asÃÂ PelssÃÂ did. Through his hard-nosed style of play, his capability to elevate his and his teammates' level of play in pressure situations, his tireless work in our community and ability to foster a positive culture in the dressing room, Neighbours is the well-deserved winner of this year's Kristians Pelss Memorial Award.
This is Neighbours' fourth team award of his career after winning the Scholastic Award in 2018-19 and 2019-20 as well as earning the team's Most Improved Player Award in 2019-20.
"When he got here at 16, I almost felt like he was 20," laughed Hill. "He's got such a mature attitude to him. He's a pro, being drafted in the first round, he does all the little things off the ice, he practices hard and every game you know what you're going to get from him, the consistency level is there."
Past Recipients
2019-20: Ethan McIndoe
2018-19: Scott Atkinson
2017-18: Colton Kehler
2016-17: Davis Koch
2015-16: Aaron Irving
2014-15: Ben Carroll
2013-14: Curtis Lazar
Humanitarian of the Year
Liam Keeler (Edmonton, AB) is the Oil Kings Humanitarian of the Year for the 2020-21 season.
This past season, the local product completed his fourth year with the Oil Kings, along the way surpassing the 200 games played mark, becoming the 25thÃÂ player in franchise history to do so.
Throughout his long tenure as an Oil King, Keeler has always been someone to step up and support community initiatives. This season, along with Scott Atkinson, Keeler started the 'PKs for Charity' initiative helping raise money for a charity in Edmonton for every successful penalty killed by the team. This year's charity was Kids Kottage, and thanks to a partnership with Windsor Plywood Leduc, they were able to raise $3,000.
Along with the 'PKs for Charity' initiative, Keeler was virtually in the community on nearly a daily basis. He participated in ICE School presentations, an elementary school program run by the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation, as well as taking part in virtual Q and A's with Hockey Edmonton players, parents and staff throughout the course of the season. This year, Keeler was an advocate for the WHL's Mental Health Moments, helping reinforce the importance of supporting mental health by raising awareness about things people can do to reduce anxiety, stress, and worry.
This is Keeler's first team award of his career.
"Liam is a guy that's a first-round pick, from Edmonton and has been with the organization since he was 16 years old," said Hill. "He takes a lot of pride in our city, growing up playing with the Southside Athletic Club, he really wants to give back to minor hockey and back to the community. He was the first guy to put his hand up for any type of community engagement we had as a group this year. The biggest thing you think about when it comes to Liam is how much he loves this city, playing for his hometown team and how much he wants to give back."
Past Recipients
2019-20: Ethan Cap
2018-19: Will Warm
2017-18: Conner McDonald
2016-17: Tyler Robertson
2015-16: Patrick Dea
2014-15: Travis Ewanyk
2013-14: Riley Keiser
2012-13: Travis Ewanyk
2011-12: Mark Pysyk
2010-11: Adrian Van de Mosselaer
2009-10: Rhett Rachinski
2008-09: Torrie Jung
Top Scorer Award
Jake Neighbours (Airdrie, AB) is the recipient of the Oil Kings Top Scorer Award for the 2020-21 season.
Neighbours is a two-time team award winner this year and five-time team award winner in his career after leading the Oil Kings in scoring this year with 33 points (9G, 24A) in just 19 games.
Neighbours not only led the Oil Kings in scoring this year but also the entire Central Division. He finished the season sixth overall in league scoring, third in assists (24), first in plus-minus (+29), and fourth in points per game (1.74). He recorded at least one point in all 19 games he played this season.
With 131 career points (43G, 88A) in 141 career games, Neighbours sits 11th all-time in points by an Oil King, just three back of Dysin Mayo for 10th.
"He had a phenomenal year and took a real leadership role with this group," added Hill on Neighbours. "I think he's a guy that just continues to get better and his ability to play that hard style of game but then produce offensively its really rare to find a player like that and he's a guy that brings it every single night which you love to have."
Past Recipients
2019-20: Riley Sawchuk
2018-19: Trey Fix-Wolansky
2017-18: Trey Fix-Wolansky
2016-17: Davis Koch
2015-16: Brett Pollock
2014-15: Brett Pollock
2013-14: Henrik Samuelsson
2012-13: Michael St. Croix
2011-12: Michael St. Croix
2010-11: Dylan Wruck
2009-10: Michael St. Croix
2008-09: Brenden Dowd & Jeff Lee
Top Defenceman Award
Matthew Robertson (Sherwood Park, AB) is the recipient of the Oil Kings Top Defenceman Award for the 2020-21 season.
This marks the second straight year the New York Rangers prospect has been named as the team's top rearguard and this is his fourth team award of his career after being named last year's Top Defenceman and MVP while also being named the team's Rookie of the Year in 2017-18.
Robertson finished the season fifth among all WHL blueliners in scoring with 22 points (4G, 18A) in 22 games, first in plus-minus (+26) and first in shots on goal (106).ÃÂ In his career with the Oil Kings, he has played 208 games and amassed 127 points (31G, 96A). He ranks third all-time in goals and points scored by an Oil Kings defenceman.
Apart from his exceptional offensive statistics, Robertson led all Oil Kings defencemen in ice time this year, facing the toughest matchups night in and night out. He was tasked with neutralizing the opposition's top scoring lines and helped guide the team to the fewest goals against (41) in the WHL this year.
"He's another guy that took a significant leadership role with a lot of young D on our team this year," said Hill. "He was clearly one of the top defencemen in our division this year. Every night it was something special to watch him play 25 minutes and take ownership of the ice. He's been a guy since he was 16 playing over 20 minutes a night, so he's used to the workload. The one area that I thought he got much better at this year was his ability to get shots off so quick, with his slapshot that he was utilizing a lot more and then that snapshot from the point that we've seen him score so many goals up high on."
Past Recipients
2019-20: Matthew Robertson
2018-19: Conner McDonald
2017-18: Conner McDonald
2016-17: Will Warm
2015-16: Dysin Mayo
2014-15: Dysin Mayo & Ashton Sautner
2013-14: Cody Corbett & Griffin Reinhart
2012-13: Keegan Lowe
2011-12: Mark Pysyk
2010-11: Mark Pysyk
2009-10: Mark Pysyk
2008-09: Mark Pysyk
Rookie of the Year
Carson Latimer (Surrey, BC) is the Oil Kings Rookie of the Year for the 2020-21 season.
Latimer, selected in the third round, 48thÃÂ overall, of the 2018 WHL Draft by the Oil Kings, finished his first season in Edmonton with 16 points (5G, 11A) in 22 games which was good for eighth among all rookie scorers in the WHL this season.
The smooth skating Latimer was a flexible weapon for the Oil Kings this year, moving up the lineup when called upon to help fill in with players away at the World U-18 Championship or injured, while also serving as a valued member of the team's highly successful special teams units.
This is Latimer's first team award of his career.
"He really settled into his game," said Hill. "I think he's one of the elite skaters in this league, like he can really fly out there and wins a lot of puck races, puck battles and has the ability to make some really nice plays when he gets on loose pucks quick and finds his teammates. He had a lot of chemistry with guys like Jalen Luypen, Carter Souch and Keeler, and it just seemed like the consistency got better and better each game. He's still a young player growing into his role on a pretty good team but we were quite happy with the year he had."
Past Recipients
2019-20: Dylan Guenther
2018-19: Vladimir Alistrov
2017-18: Matthew Robertson
2016-17: Trey Fix-Wolansky
2015-16: Brayden Gorda
2014-15: Andrew Koep
2013-14: Aaron Irving
2012-13: Edgars Kulda
2011-12: Curtis Lazar & Martin Gernat
2010-11: Griffin Reinhart
2009-10: Michael St. Croix
2008-09: Mark Pysyk
Most Improved Player
Jalen Luypen (Kelowna, BC) is the Oil Kings Most Improved Player for the 2020-21 season.
Luypen set career highs in goals (16), assists (13) and points (29) during the pandemic-shortened season and was one of just four players to play in all 23 games this year. His 16 goals ranked fifth among all goal scorers in the WHL while also matching his entire career output from his previous 111 games played prior to this season.
Starting the season as a third-line winger, Luypen forced his way into the team's top-six forward group, showing his versatility by playing both centre and wing throughout the course of the year and being a key cog on both the power-play and penalty-kill units.
This is Luypen's first team award of his career.
"I think it reverts back to his summer and the 11 months off," said Hill. "He's a guy that took advantage of it. What he did in his training program in Kelowna, the guys he was skating with, I know he was skating with pro guys, and that really helped raise his game to the next level. When he got here, with the type of season it was, he had the opportunity to play in a role that he hasn't had in the last couple of years and playing big minutes. His confidence was high, and he ran with the opportunity right from the first game.
"A few things in his game that I thought improved were his skating, it got a lot better with some more power in his stride with some more quickness and shiftiness. The second thing was his shot, I thought he took that to the next level, it just has that power to it now where he's able to beat goalies clean and has that really quick release too."
Past Recipients
2019-20: Jake Neighbours
2018-19: Carter Souch
2017-18: David Kope
Scholastic Award
Ethan Peters (Moose Jaw, SK) is the recipient of the Oil Kings Scholastic Award for the 2020-21 season.
Peters is coming off completing his first year in the WHL with the Oil Kings and received better than passing grades for his on-ice work from the coaching staff, but perhaps more impressive was what he accomplished in the classroom this year.
The rookie defenceman, who played in all 23 games this year racking up five points (1G, 4A), currently has a Grade 12 average of 94.6% for his seven core courses.
"Ethan is a conscientious, hard-working young man, who was successful working independently achieving outstanding grades," said Oil Kings Education Advisor Sharon Sereda. "It was a pleasure and honour working with Ethan as he was dedicated and committed to his education, and I want to wish him congratulations on being named as the team's Scholastic Player of the Year."
Past Recipients
2019-20: Jake Neighbours
2018-19: Jake Neighbours
2017-18: Ethan Cap
2016-17: Ethan Cap
2015-16: Kyle Yewchuck
2014-15: Patrick Dea
2013-14: Dysin Mayo
2012-13: Cole Benson
2011-12: Rhett Rachinski
2010-11: Ryan Dech
2009-10: Mark Pysyk
2008-09: Rhett Rachinski
Western Hockey League Stories from May 14, 2021
- Schneider Named to Team Canada for 2021 IIHF WHC - Brandon Wheat Kings
- Michael Dyck Named to Canada's Coaching Staff for 2021 IIHF World Championships - Vancouver Giants
- Dureau Rejoins Syracuse - Portland Winterhawks
- Oil Kings Announce Team Awards Led by Sebastian Cossa as MVP - Edmonton Oil Kings
- Bedard Edges Evans for Three Star Award - Regina Pats
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