Two Coquitlam athletes and one coach have been recognized by Sport BC for their accomplishments in the past year.
New York Islanders’ centreman Mathew Barzal, a leading candidate to win the Calder Trophy as the top rookie in the National Hockey League, was named the male junior athlete of the year at a gala ceremony March 28 at the Westin Bayshore hotel in Vancouver.
Barzal, who grew up in Coquitlam and played much of his minor hockey at the Burnaby Winter Club, helped lead his junior team, the Seattle Thunderbirds, to their first Western Hockey League championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup. Barzal’s 25 points in 16 games earned him the most valuable player award in the WHL playoffs.
In October, he made the roster of the Islanders, the NHL team that drafted him 16th overall in the league’s 2015 entry draft. The 20-year-old’s 79 points in 79 games leads all rookies in the league.
Wrestler Jacqueline Lew was awarded the female high school athlete of the year. The Pinetree secondary school grad won three provincial high school championships through her high school career, and she was a three-time Canadian cadet and juvenile national champion. She’s also won several international tournaments.
In September, Lew began her post-secondary career at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby.
Coquitlam Cheetahs’ head coach Tara Self won the female coach of the year.
A former Olympian herself, Self has helped coached several Cheetahs’ athletes to provincial, national and international success, including sprinter James Linde, who won a silver in the 200m sprint at last August’s World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan.
The enthusiasm of Cheetahs’ athletes as volunteers and spectators was also instrumental in the success of the Harry Jerome International Track Classic when it alighted at Coquitlam’s Percy Perry Stadium last June.
