Eleven players were recognized with hardware at the Bonnyville Voyageurs annual banquet on Dec. 4 at the St. Louis Parrish Hall.
The evening started off with the team's head coach Larry Godziuk taking the time to honour the All-Star seasons four Voyageurs players enjoyed. Isaac Amalia finished first in the league in sacks. Reid Skrypichayko finished fifth in the league in receiving, Isaac Fagnan finished tenth in receiving and Cole Kulczycki finished sixth in league tackles.
The 2014 season saw the Voyageurs finish third in the Wheatland Football League, their highest finish since 1989. It was also the first time since 1994 that they both beat Cold Lake and St.Paul in the same year.
“Overall we are extremely proud of the effort the guys put in and the growth that some of the players showed (over the course of the year),” said Godziuk.
“We talked about winning, not just being on the scoreboard. We look at the overall picture. Everybody would like to have a championship banner or a medal around their neck, but our coaching staff, we look at winning in a real broad sense. Showing up on time, showing up dressed nicely and behaving properly, those are all qualities of winners.”
The successful campaign saw five team records broken. Fagnan kicked the franchises longest field goal, knocking a 41-yard attempt through the uprights. Skrypichayko broke two records, one for the most fumble recoveries in a game with three and the other for a quarterback completion percentage of 100 per cent. Amalia finished with a season record ten sacks and also had an interception TD.
A brand new award highlighted the annual team awards as Marcel Chartrand took home the first ever Lunchbox award.
Graduating quarterback Gregory Godziuk took home the big award of the night after being named the Voyaguers offensive MVP, while fellow graduating forward Maverick Best was named overall best offensive player. Kole Malishewski received the best offensive line award.
Defensively, Isaac Fagnan was named team MVP with Justin Church and Brady Becvar sharing the defensive player of the year award. The award for defensive front seven player of the year went to Cole Kulczycki.
Amalia was named the organization's special teams MVP, with Skrypichayko taking home the rookie of the year award. Justyn Davidson was recognized as the team's most improved player in 2014.
The evening also saw $26,000 raised from the annual Scott MacDonald Charity game presented to representatives from the Bonnyville Covenant Health Centre. A total of $20,000 will be going to the hospital with half going to the cancer ward and the other half going to families in need. The other $6,000 raised from the evening will go to the Scott MacDonald Scholarship fund.
This year the Voyageurs will be handing out five scholarships each worth $700.
The Voyaguers will be back in action on May 5, when their spring camp begins. The summer football program will kick back up on August 17.
Godziuk expects next season to be more of a rebuilding year as the team will be younger and inexperienced.
“It is going to be a young team. We are not getting a large group of bantam players graduating into the program and we only have about 15 returning players,” said Godziuk. “We are going to have to get out there and do a bit of recruiting. It will be a rebuilding year next year for sure.”
Skrypichayko is penciled in as the team's starting quarterback, replacing the graduating Godziuk.
