Another Olympic achievement and a three-pronged success story were the decision makers in voting by the provincial sports media to select the Manitoba Athletes of the Year for 2010.

 

 

Clara Hughes won a bronze medal in the speed skating 5,000 metres in the Vancouver Olympics, and earned the Female Athlete honour in Manitoba for a second time. Jonathon Toews was selected as the top Male Athlete for 2010 for his role in Canada's hockey gold medal in the Winter Games, plus his leadership in Chicago Black Hawks' Stanley Cup victory, capped off by receiving the Conn Smythe trophy as the outstanding player in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association also announced at its annual awards dinner the selection of the Jennifer Jones Curling Team as the recipient of the Maurice Smith Memorial trophy as the provincial Team of the Year for 2010.

 

 

Hughes received this provincial honour previously for her Olympic cycling success in 1996.  She has been a Canadian notable in speed skating in her lengthy career, and gave promise to be a medal contender in Vancouver by finishing in the top three in two long track continental qualifiers prior to the Games.  By winning the 5,000-metre bronze, Hughes tied Cindy Klassen as the top Canadian in Olympic medals won (Winter and Summer). She now is training for a bid to qualify in cycling for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

 

 

Toews had eight points and was selected as the top forward and a tournament all-star in leading Canada to hockey's gold medal in Vancouver. He scored 25 goals and 43 assists for 68 points in the NHL's regular season as Chicago won its first Stanley Cup title since 1961.  In the playoffs, his 29 points and ability to win 65 per cent of his faceoffs led to the Conn Smythe trophy.  Toews is the youngest athlete to play on teams winning a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal, and a World Hockey Championship.

 

 

The Jennifer Jones foursome from Winnipeg's St. Vital Curling Club won a third straight Canadian Women's Championship competing as Team Canada at the Scott Tournament of Hearts in Sault Ste. Marie.  Jones came from behind to beat Prince Edward Island 8-7 in an extra end final.  The team advanced to the World Championship in Swift Current, but had to settle for a bronze medal by topping Sweden 9-6 in the playoffs.  Jones had the same personnel each year, with Cathy Overton-Clapham, Jill Officer, Dawn Askin, fifth Jennifer Rouire, and coach Janet Arnott.

 

 

 

 

All three recipients were decisive winners in the balloting by 40 members of the sports media throughout Manitoba.  Toews had 27 first place votes in finishing 21 points ahead of the 2009 male victor, skeleton racer Jon Montgomery of Russell.

 

 

Hughes had 22 first choices and won by 32 points over the female runner-up, boxer Olivia Gerula, while the Jones curling team received 19 first place votes and wound up 20 points in front of baseball's Manitoba Junior All-stars in balloting for the number one team.

 

 

The All-stars were the first Manitoba team in 28 years to win the Canadian Junior Baseball Championship.  Other team finalists were the Dauphin Kings, MJHL and Anavet Cup champions who were runners-up nationally in the RBC Cup tournament; Mike McEwen's team from the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club, which set the pace in earnings on the World Curling Tour in October and November; and the University of Manitoba women's volleyball team, a silver medallist in the CIS National Championship.

 

 

In the women's category, Gerula made two successful defences of the WBC World super featherweight boxing title she won in 2009, then lost a controversial decision in November to Frida Wallberg of Sweden.  Last year's winner Jennifer Saunders won her third national singles championship and topped the team selection event in racquetball. Doris Jones was the silver medallist in women's compound and team events in archery at the Commonwealth Games, and Caitlin MacDonald was the first Manitoba Bison to be selected as the women's hockey CIS rookie of the year.

 

 

The male finalists were 10-pin bowler Mike Schmidt, who won his second world championship, known as the Qubica-AMF World Cup held in Toulon, France; outstanding Chicago Bears' defensive end Israel Idonije, who received the NFL's Ed Block Courage Award for his commitment to courage and sportsmanship while providing leadership and team inspiration; Manitoba Bison Steve Christie, who was chosen as the CIS men's hockey Goaltender of the Year; and Jon Montgomery, the gold medallist in the men's skeleton in the Vancouver Olympics.

 

 

In other dinner features, the Cactus Jack Wells Memorial Award for impact on the Manitoba sports scene in 2010 was the reaction in Russell and throughout the province to Montgomery's gold medal success.  Special recognition awards were presented to the host organizing committee of the CN Canadian Women's Open golf tournament at St. Charles Country Club, and to the Memorial Cup host organizing committee in Brandon.

 

 

 

 

Darren Dunn of Assiniboia Downs received the Dallis Beck Memorial Good Guy Award, presented for exceptional service and support to the sports media covering horse racing in the province.

 

 

Veteran radio sportscaster Clayton Dreger, a fixture on the Golden West Broadcast Network in southern Manitoba for 26 years, was inducted into the MSSA Manitoba Media Roll of Honour for his wide-ranging coverage of sport in the province, and his sportscasting excellence.  The induction of Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press was deferred until 2012 due to his travelling commitments.

 

 

The MSSA Jack Matheson Awards, established to provide financial support to sports media aspirants, will perpetuate the memory of the former Winnipeg Tribune sports editor, who died earlier this month.  The 2011 recipients were Steven Dreger of Red River College, Keith McCullough, who is enrolled in the joint communications course at Red River and the University of Winnipeg, and Kirk Fraser of Brandon's Assiniboine Community College.