The Portage Terriers seem as dominant as they were last year when the won the RBC Cup, despite losing much of the core of that team.
One key cog they didn’t lose, though, is Brad Bowles. His stellar play has helped keep the Terriers atop the MJHL standings this year, and earned him the MJHL MVP award (the Steve “Boomer” Hawrysh Award).
Bowles was as humble as ever when accepting this award, making sure to thank the players and coaches around him for his success.
“It’s such an honour to win this award,” said Bowles. “There’s a lot of players deserving of it, but it’s definitely nice to get.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaching staff here in Portage,” he added. “They are the reason I have had success this year and they deserve a lot of credit.”
The Terriers have put together another 50 win season, and look poised to have another long playoff run. How far might they got? How about all the way
“I think it’s definitely possible to repeat as champs,” said Bowles. “We’ve showed during the regular season what kind of team we have, but once playoffs come it’s a whole different game, and we just need to be prepared.
“I think we have the depth to go as far as we did last year for sure, if we put our minds to it,” he added. “If we comes to the rink and play hard every night good things will happen.”
The recognition is well deserved, according to head coach Blake Spiller (who himself won the coach of the year award this season).
“He’s our leader, along with his twin brother (Shawn), they’ve both been good for us this year,” said Spiller. “With our only returning four players, and having nine rookies, they just come to work every day, and he’s deserving of this award. He’s our MVP – he’s just a guy that never takes the night off.”
Coming off an RBC Cup season where he was a dominating factor, there has been no hangover, so to speak at all for the Elkhorn native.
“I wasn’t surprised by how well he did,” noted Spiller. “Last year into the RBC Cup, I didn’t see many guys across Canada who combined the skill, tenacity, and work ethic of Brad Bowles.
“I wasn’t surprised how well Brad did,” he added. “And if Shawn had not been injured, I think he would have been in the running for the same award.”
Bowles is likely to win another award, as he has an edge on OCN’s Logan Harland for the scoring title.
As for what he’ll do after his junior career is over, Bowles plans to keep it simple – “I want to get an education and play hockey.
