Whitfield Named MVP, as the P-Bruins Hand Out Team Awards.
P-BRUINS HAND OUT TEAM AWARDS
Five Different Players Honored in Pregame Ceremony
Providence, RI – The Providence Bruins, in their 19th year in the American Hockey League, announced their 2010-11 end of the year award winners, who were honored in a ceremony prior to this afternoon's 3-2 win against the Manchester Monarchs at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.
Captain Trent Whitfield, whose season was limited by an offseason Achilles injury that kept him out of the line-up until Jan. 7, was the recipient of three awards honoring his play this year. The 13th year pro was voted by his teammates as the club's MetLife Auto & Home Most Valuable Player for the second straight season after scoring 18 goals and 36 points in just 45 games since his return to the ice. Despite sporadic action, his goals-total finished good for third on the club, which was helped largely by 12 goals in the month of March, when he was named the league and team Player of the Month and earned an AHL Player of the Week distinction.
Whitfield's leadership and on-ice contributions were noticeable to the fans as he was voted by the P-Bruins faithful as the club's winner of the Hendricks Memorial Fan Appreciation Award. He was also honored as the Pawtucket Credit Union Community Service Award winner after earlier earning the team's nomination as the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year for his significant contributions off the ice in the Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts communities.
First-year forward Max Sauve was voted by his teammates as Providence's Williams & Stuart Rookie of the Year, finishing second on the team with 21 goals in 61 games. The speedy winger added 17 assists for 38 points, along with a plus-six rating, in his first full professional season. Sauve, Providence's December Player of the Month, led all P-Bruins rookies in scoring and finished fourth on the squad overall, helped by an eight-game point-streak from Feb. 23 to Mar. 12. His season was limited by injury as he missed 19 straight games from Oct. 17 to Dec. 5, 2010.
Defenseman Matt Bartkowski was named the team's Dunkin' Donuts Best Defenseman, as voted by his teammates. The rookie appeared in 69 games for Providence, scoring five goals while adding 18 assists for 23 points. Bartkowski received three recalls to Boston as a first-year pro, going scoreless in six games overall, including three against his hometown Pittsburgh Penguins.
After earning Providence's Rookie of the Year Award in 2009-10, second-year pro Jamie Arniel was given the team's Shaw's Supermarkets Leading Scorer Award for pacing the P-Bruins with 23 goals and 50 points in 78 games, along with the U.S. Army 3 Stars Award. The Eastern Conference All-Star set career-highs across the board after totaling 12 goals, 16 assists and 28 points in 67 contests as a rookie last season. In addition, the Providence October Player of the Month received two call-ups to Boston, making his NHL debut on Nov. 28, 2010 in Atlanta.
Rookie blue-liner Steve Kampfer, who has spent the majority of the season with the parent Bruins, was named Providence's Champion Windows Plus/Minus Award winner after finishing his 22-game AHL campaign with a plus-10 rating. Kampfer has registered three goals and 13 assists for 16 points in his time with the P-Bruins, as well as five goals and five assists in 38 games for Boston, where he contributed a plus-nine mark. The defenseman was also named an AHL Eastern Conference All-Star, though he did not appear in the game.
The P-Bruins finished the season ranked fifth in the Atlantic Division with a 38-36-3-3 record and 82 points under head coach Rob Murray and assistant coach Bruce Cassidy.
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