Broncos Pats Cave copy
Colby Cave against the Pats (photo by Darwin Knelsen for scbroncos.com)

Swift Current Broncos captain Colby Cave found himself on the receiving end of some big honours over the weekend.

In addition to winning the Team MVP and Coach's Award as a part of the Broncos regular season ending awards ceremony, Cave was also a multiple time winner in a Saskatoon StarPhoenix coaches and players poll. He was named best faceoff man, penalty killer and defensive forward in the conference.

"It's a great honour," Cave said. "There's a lot of good players out there. Just even to be recognized among those groups of guys is a huge honour and to win it is even bigger. A lot of different guys could have won those awards and that's why the WHL is such a good league."

While Cave finished the regular season with career highs of 35 goals and 40 assists, he managed to remained focused on playing a two-way game.

"The mindset you have to have is work from the defensive zone out," Cave noted. "Ever since I got to Swift Current (Coach/GM Mark Lamb) helped me out with that a lot. He's always told me that the offensive numbers are going to come as long as you play good in your defensive end."

"I can't thank him enough for the development. He has a lot to do with these nominations and how well my career has gone so far."

Dillon Heatherington of the Broncos was named top defensive defenceman, while Jake DeBrusk tied for most improved player.

Other Broncos receiving votes in different categories included Landon Bow (best goalie, most improved), Zac Mackay (faceoff, defensive forward, penalty killer and most irritating), Tanner LeSann (defensive forward and most irritating), Brett Lernout (defensive defenceman, most improved, best shot), Max Lajoie (most underrated), Carter Rigby (best shot, most irritating), Ayrton Nikkel (most irritating). Cave (most improved, most underrated, best pro prospect undrafted), Heatherington (best pro prospect drafted) and DeBrusk (best shot, best pro prospect undrafted) also received votes in other categories.

The other major Broncos team awards included DeBrusk for top scorer and fan favourite, Lernout for top defenceman, Lajoie for top rookie and Mackay for Hockey Hounds humanitarian. You can click here for the full list of award winners.

Swift Current starts their first round playoff series in Regina on Friday.