BASINGSTOKE UK: Bison captain Aaron Connolly was a double winner at the annual Basingstoke Bison End of Season awards night.
The British forward who missed the whole of the Herd’s play-off campaign won both the Players’ Player trophy, as well as the Bison Supporters’ British Player of the Year.
In Bison’s leading goal scorer Czech Republic import Tomas Karpov won the Supporters Player of the Year.
Basingstoke-born Stuart Mogg’s marked his first full campaign on the team as a defenceman , by winning Doug Sheppard’s Coach’s Player of the Year trophy.
Another Basingstoke bred player Daniel Lackey won the Most Improved Player of the Year accolade, having joined the Herd from the Buffalo in the final stretch of the championship winning season.
The Alan Parrott Outstanding Contribution Award was deservedly won by the Bison’s equipment manager Tony Skinns for his many dedicated years of service to the club.
“I think with the season we have just had, there were many players who could have won the awards. Aaron is a leader both on and off the ice and he has picked up the award all the players want to win which is the Players’ Player,” said Bison coach Doug Sheppard.
The Bison may have missed out on adding play-off glory to their league crown after going out at the semi-final stage, but with having won their first league title in 23 years it will go down as one of the best seasons in the club history.
Sheppard is already working hard to build a team to defend their crown and his biggest job is finding a replacement for power forward Joe Greener, who is heading to the States to take up a coaching role this autumn with the Soo Indians, the first team he played for in North America.
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