The West Central Wheat Kings U18 squad held their end of season awards this week. The Wheat Kings made the playoffs in the Centre Four division of the SAAHL this season, narrowly losing out in their first round playoff series against Prince Albert.

Leading the way for the Wheat Kings this year was forward Austin Schafer, who won both the Wheat Kings MVP, and Top Scorer award. Schafer finished with 47 points in 32 games, also earning the team lead in goals with 27. Schafer parlayed his impressive season into a strong AAA camp in North Battleford, as both Schafer and teammate Kaden Sperle will be playing for the AAA Stars in 2024-25.

Departing the team next year, Sperle was given the Hustler award. The Unity born player had 23 points in 31 games this season, adding one assist in the team's three playoff games. 

The Most Improved Player award went to Hudson Bretzer. After appearing as an affiliate for the team last season, Bretzer had 10 points in 24 games this season as a full time Wheat King. 

Chase Weinkauf took home Defensive Player of the Year for the team. Not only did Weinkauf provide a presence on the back-end, he has been a solid scorer from the blueline these past two seasons with 19 points last season, upping that total to 25 this season.

The Most Dedicated award went to the team's second leading scorer Kaegan Lowe. He was the second highest point getter on the team for a second straight season, picking up 23 assists alone this season after collecting 23 points overall in 2022-2023. 

Aiden Chachula picked up the Most Sportsmanlike award with only 14 penalty minutes across all 32 games played. The defender also chipped in with six points on the season.

The only player not pictured below, goaltender Tyson Borschneck won the team's Scholastic Award. Borschneck started 16 games for the Wheat Kings this season, splitting goaltending duties with Jaden Blanchette who picked up the extra game for 17 starts this season.

View a photo gallery of the award winners below.