A pair of junior hockey players from Abbotsford have won year-end awards.
Devon Toews of the Surrey Eagles was named the defenceman of the year for the BCHL’s Coastal Conference. Toews, who racked up 10 goals and 37 assists for 47 points in 48 games with the junior A Eagles during the regular season, is headed to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut this fall on a hockey scholarship.
Jake Virtanen of the Calgary Hitmen picked up his team’s rookie of the year award. The first overall choice in the 2011 Western Hockey League bantam draft, Virtanen broke out offensively over the second half of the 2012-13 season, racking up 26 points in his last 29 games. He finished his first full WHL campaign with 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists) in 62 games.
Both Toews and Virtanen are alumni of the hockey academy at Yale Secondary.