Niagara Falls Men's League
2009 Wrap up
Another season completed in Niagara Falls
The league held its annual awards banquet Saturday evening. The league would like thank Al Greatrix, Herb Beckman, Rick Lessard, Brian Crocker, Dave Rotella and Craig Smith for their time in administering the league in 2009. Sometimes a thankless job but its the reason we all get to play fastball in Niagara.
League champs for the regular season, Storms Fury. Coach Herb Beckman leads the Fury to a 13-5-3 regular season record.
A large part of the Fury success is the play of their ace Scott Wagar, who is rewarded and recognized by the league as the regular season Most Valuable Pitcher.
The regular season MVP award for the first time is shared between two players. These two players had almost identical stats and a good case was made for both, the league decided to recognize both their outstanding seasons by presenting co-MVP to Ray Carr, Storms Fury and Mark Hall, Cool Hand Lukes.
Playoff champs after a one year hiatus, Cool Hand Lukes. Lukes defeated the Fury in four games for the playoff championship. A great series to decide the league championship. This leads to the award for Playoff Most Valuable Pitcher - Tom Berube. Berube, Ronny Winger and Mike Joseph were a daunting staff for Lukes but Berube gets the nod for winning the clinching games in the semis and finals. He finishes 3-0 for the playoffs. Playoff MVP goes to the Lukes, Mark Hall. Hall was on fire throughout the playoffs and was in the mix it seemed of every Lukes rally.
The annual Janet Greatrix Memorial award for sportsmanship and dedication to the NFMFL was presented to Richie Vassos of the Red Hot Chili Pepper.. Richie volunteered to help Red Hot Chili Pepper with their pitching in 2009 and changed teams from the Fury to the Pepper. Richie and Janet were good friends and this type of selfless act by Richie is exactly what Janet would have envisioned for this league.
The annual Rusty Dekker Memorial award was presented to Hooligan Dawgs. Again a first for the league as this individual trophy was presented to the entire Dawgs roster and coaches Rick Lessard and Brian Crocker. The Dawgs had some struggles this year but played hard to the end and are to be commended for their spirit.
A special presentation was made to Lukes Ronny Winger. Ronny had an incredibly difficult year having lost his older brother and former NFMFL player Rick Winger. Throughout this incredible ordeal Ronny remained a great teammate and in turn the Lukes boys provided great support for their friend and pitcher. The league wishes Ronny well throughout the winter as he and his family deals with their loss.
The league I believe was a great success for 2009. Lots of camaraderie between the players during and after the games. The league would also like to recognize from the GHFL in 2009 Niagara Falls players:
Most Valuable Player finalists Mark Hall, Cool Hand Lukes, Adam Dearborn, Storms Fury
Top Pitcher finalist Scott Wagar, Storms Fury
Russ Dekker Memorial Defensive Player Award finalist Adam Dearborn, Storms Fury
The league would also like to thank Niagara Falls umpires, team sponsors, volunteers, fans, Ker Park grounds crew, City of Niagara Falls, GHFL executive and Niagara Falls players for their dedication to the game. It was indeed a busy year with three tournaments running at Ker and the GHFL games along with the local component. Al as always thank you for posting Niagara Falls results and information.
Will be planning 2010 along with planning Florida AAU with various Fury and other Niagara players. As always your comments are welcome. I am sure I probably missed a thank you or perhaps missed recognizing someone's efforts and if so my apologies. Good luck everyone with their hockey seasons!
