Niagara Falls Men's League
2010 Wrap up
Another season completed in Niagara Falls
The league held its annual awards banquet Sunday afternoon. The league would like thank Al Greatrix, Mark Korten, Herb Beckman, Rick Lessard, Brian Crocker, Dave Rotella and Dan Duemo for their time in administering the league in 2010. Sometimes a thankless job but its the reason we all get to play fastball in Niagara.
League champs for the regular season, Niagara Fury. Coach Mark Korten leads the Fury to a 18-3 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 with a 14-3 record.
The regular season MVP award was awarded to Phil John of the Fury. Phil got off to a great start and was consistently the Fury's most dangerous hitter throughout the year in addition to his usual terrific defense.
Playoff champs for the second consecutive year, Tazco. Tazco 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 - Tazco's Tom Berube. Berube, Ronny Winger and Mike Joseph were a tough staff all year long for Tazco but Berube gets the nod as he finishes 4-0 for the playoffs. Playoff MVP goes to Tazco's Pat McCloy. McCloy cashed some big two out runs for Tazco during their playoff run. McCloy suffered a serious knee injury near the end of the playoffs and the league wishes him well in his recovery this winter.
The annual Janet Greatrix Memorial award for sportsmanship and dedication to the NFMFL was presented to Jeff Kraneyk of Tazco.. Jeff is a long time NFMFL player and respected by all the league's players and coaches as a tough competitor. Jeff is always around the park and on numerous occasions helped other teams out when short on players. Jeff is frequently picked up for tournaments by other teams including a trip to the World tournament with Palermo this year. Jeff also played through an injury and greatly contributed to Tazco's playoff championship run this year.
The annual Rusty Dekker Memorial award was presented to the Lizard's Dan Duemo. In addition to contributing to the Lizards good year with his stellar pitching Dan also took on the managing role of the team upon long time coach/manager Craig Smith's retirement from the game. Dan was instrumental in organizing his group of players and was a key administrator for the league this year. Indeed as a great friend of Rusty's, Dan did what Rusty would have done as well, pick up the pieces and do what ever he could to help his ball club out. The league and all its players are indebted to Dan for his efforts this year. Dan has organized a very good young team that were very tough to play against all year.
The league I believe was a great success for 2010. Lots of camaraderie between the players during and after the games. The league would also like to recognize from the GHFL in 2010 Niagara Falls teams and players:
Regular season champions and playoff finalists, Niagara Fury
Most Valuable Pitcher, Scott Wagar, Niagara Fury
Russ Dekker Memorial Defensive Player Award finalist Jason Surdyke, Garden City Lizards
The league would also like to thank Niagara Falls umpires, team sponsors (Tazco, Hooligan's bar, Lazy Lizard's bar, Grand Central bar, Vandenberg's Meats), 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 the Fury and Hooligan's planning Florida AAU with various 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!
