Black Hawks’ season-ending awards

The Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks gathered last week to finish their season and recognize everyone’s hard work during the season.
Awards were given to all the players and managers for a job well done this year and the parents provided a wide variety of desserts for everyone, said Black Hawks coach Joel Trickey.
Trickey gave a brief review of the season and said that the next one should bring even more success to the team. Seniors Jake Peabody and Jared Tapley were recognized for their excellent leadership as captains and individual accolades were passed along for all the students involved this season.
The Black Hawks garnered several awards at the Eastern Maine Class B Hockey Banquet. Overall, the team had 10 players picking up individual awards. Leading the way was Ben Ward, as he was named a First Team All-star forward and earned an Academic All-star award, as well.
Senior defensemen Peabody was named to the Third Team All-stars and also picked up an Academic All-star award. Peabody was named to the Senior All-star Team along with fellow senior defenseman Tapley. Tapley was named a Class B Honorable Mention defenseman to go along with his Senior All-star award.
Picking up a Third Team Forward award was Cody Briggs. Briggs was also named an Academic All-star. Malik Abouliesh was awarded an Honorable Mention as a goaltender and was one of eight Academic All-stars on the Black Hawks this season. Other Houlton-Hodgdon players making the Academic All-star Team were Ian Gervais, Nick Chase, Logan Holmes and Dylan Gard.
    Sophomore defenseman Jordan Brown was picked for the All-Rookie Team in his first year of playing a regular shift. Brown was the highest vote getter for the Rookie Team other than goaltenders.
“The Rookie Team is perhaps the hardest team to make as usually there are many new faces on the ice every year,” said Trickey. “If my memory serves me right, Jordan is only the third player from the Black Hawks to make this prestigious team and we’re proud of this accomplishment.
“We were quite honored by the selection of so many players to the various All-star Teams this season,” he added. “Ben was the second-leading vote getter among forwards this year and only trailed the Player of the Year in votes. He deserves the honor as he became one of the most dynamic skaters in the league this season. Seniors Jake and Jared were very deserving also. They both were excellent captains and gave our team solid leadership both on and off the ice.”
To be named one of the top six defensemen as Peabody was isn’t an easy task. There were about 36 players taking a regular shift on defense in the league. Briggs proved his worth to the other coaches in the league with his third-team nomination.
The Black Hawk coaches are proud of the junior and seniors who garnered All-Academic awards, as they had to have a 90 or above school average.
“We are constantly among the league leaders in placing players on this team and this year was no exception,” said Trickey. “We had eight out of 10 eligible players make the team and one player missed it by a very slim margin. This is an important award as academics is a huge part of being on any varsity team. We’re proud of all our all-stars and the entire team. The kids came a long way this year and were looking forward to having another very successful season next year.”