2016 St. John's Molson-Coors Awards Finalists

1/27/2017

Finalists Announced For City's Athletic Best

Besso, Cleary, Hickey, Healey, Noseworthy and Rivkin up for athlete of the year; Galway Hitmen, Gushue curlers, Willingdon Cup golf in running for top team

Seven different sports are represented amongst the finalists for the 66th St. John’s Molson Coors Athlete of the Year awards night set for Feb. 7 at City Hall.

Finalists for male athlete of the year are Nathaniel Besso of Karate, softball’s Sean Cleary and Paralympic athlete Liam Hickey. Up for female honours are baseball player Heather Healey and soccer players Jessie Noseworthy and Hannah Rivkin.

Team of the year finalists are softball’s Galway Hitmen, the Brad Gushue curling team and the Willingdon Cup golf squad.

Winners of the male athlete of the year take home the Tom “Dynamite” Dunne Memorial Award, while the top female athletes are awarded the Margaret “Mag” Davis Memorial Award.

The banquet is set for 7:30 p.m. in The Foran/Greene Room.

Nathaniel Besso

Given his sport, Besso might not be a household name within Newfoundland sports … yet.

Besso could well be Newfoundland’s next Olympic athlete given his resume with the national karate team.

The 18-year-old black belt won a bronze medal in kumite (fighting) at the Pan-American Junior and Under-21 karate championship in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 2016.

It marked the first time an athlete from Newfoundland medalled at the event.

The championship marked Besso’s fourth time as a member of Canada's national team. He’s traveled around the world representing the country, including trips to Croatia, Austria, Colombia and Bolivia, and has made several appearances at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas.

He also starred at the 2016 nationals in January outside Vancouver, repeating a gold-medal performance from 2015 in junior (16-17) kumite (fighting). He won bronze in senior (18 and over) kumite (he was permitted to compete in the older division because he turned 18 later in 2016), bronze in U21 kumite and was part of Atlantic Canada's silver medal-winning team.

Sean Cleary

The city’s top athlete in 2014 and 2015 returns as a finalist again following another outstanding season on the softball diamond.

The playoff MVP in the St. John’s senior men’s league, Cleary helped the Galway Hitmen win an unprecedented fifth straight Canadian senior men’s championship on home soil in St. John’s.

He was the top pitcher in the nationals with three wins, a 0.41 ERA and 35 strikeouts, and was the MVP of the championship round.

He helped the Toronto Gators win the 2016 International Softball Congress tournament championship in Moline, Illinois.

Cleary was named the tournament’s most outstanding pitcher and was a first-team all-star chucker. He was 5-0 with a 0.97 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 36 innings pitched.

Liam Hickey

Hickey is an up-and-coming, two-sport star who might well be a two-sport Paralympian in the very near future.

Hickey represented Canada in two different sports in 2016, starting with the Paralympic Summer Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil in August.

Hickey was part of the men’s basketball team, the youngest player on the squad at 18.

Canada, which went 1-6 and finished a disappointing 11th, won its last game, defeating Algeria 70-51, with Hickey scoring seven points.

In December, Hickey joined another national team, this time the Canadian sledge hockey squad, which competed in the 2016 World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Charlottetown. P.E.I.

Canada lost 5-2 to the United States in the final. Hickey had two goals and three assists in Canada's five games in the tournament.

He hopes to be part of Canada’s Paralympic team for the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Heather Healey

It was a momentous 2016 for the baseball pitcher from Paradise, who plays for Feildians in the St. John’s intermediate league.

Healey was a member of the Canadian team which won a silver medal at the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup in South Korea. At 19, she was one of the youngest members of the team.

Canada is the second-ranked team in the world.

In June, Healey bolstered her chances at making the national team roster with a strong performance at the first-ever Under-20 Women's International Cup in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Healey started the U20 tournament-clinching game for Canada, helping the visitors to a 13-3 trouncing over the host country. She went three innings, allowing just two hits while striking out five with a fastball clocked in the low to mid-70s, and a nasty slider.

She also got the start in Canada’s first game of the tourney, taking the decision in a 12-2 win over Cuba.

In the city intermediate league, Heakey hit .267 and was 4-2 on the mound with 38 strikeouts in 38 innings pitched. She had a 4.05 ERA.

In senior play with Feildians, she went three-for-eight at the plate and was two-for-four in the playoffs.

Jessie Noseworthy

Noseworthy had a huge year on the soccer pitch, starring for the Memorial Sea-Hawks and the Holy Cross squad which won the provincial Jubilee Trophy women’s championship.

In the Atlantic University Sport conference circuit, Noseworthy was named most valuable player after a regular season that saw her finish first in the conference in goals (14), assists (9) and points (23).

Her goal total was also tied for most in the entire country.

Noseworthy was an AUS first-team all-star and a first-team all-Canadian for the Sea-Hawks, who finished second in the AUS at 10-1-1. Memorial lost 2-1 in overtime to Acadia in the AUS playoffs.

In provincial play, Noseworthy tied for the scoring lead in Jubilee Trophy with 18 goals. Malorie Harris, the St. John’s athlete of the year for the past three years, also potted 18 goals.

Hannah Rivkin

Rivkin was no slouch on the soccer pitch this season, either, teaming with Noseworthy for a formidable one-two punch on the Sea-Hawks and with Holy Cross.

In AUS play, Rivkin was second to Noseworthy in scoring with nine goals and seven assists for 16 points. Rivkin was also an AUS first-team all-star and a first-team all-Canadian.

In provincial play, Rivkin was the Jubilee Trophy regular season and playoff MVP, finishing tied for second in scoring.

She netted the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over C.B.S. Kirby United/Pleasantville Legion in the provincial final.

The championship capped off an unbeaten season for Holy Cross, which finished with 18 victories and a tie.

Galway Hitmen

The senior men’s softball team from St. John’s won the Canadian championship again in 2016, the fifth straight year the team (under different sponsors) won the nationals.

The victory marked the first time a team has won five straight Canadian senior men’s fastpitch championships.

Galway’s 3-0 win over Kelly's Pub Molson Bulldogs in St. John's was another all-Newfoundland final pairing at nationals.

The 2014 final in Charlottetown, P.E.I. was the first national championship to feature the unlikely all-Newfoundland title game when 3Cheers outlasted Kelly's Pub.

Brad Gushue curling team

It was a season to remember for the Brad Gushue curling team of Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker from the Bally Haly Golf and Curling Club.

Gushue and Co. were one of the top teams on the World Curling Tour with a staggering 109-21 win-loss record.

They won the Rogers Grand Slam Cup, awarded to the team with the most bonus points over the course of the season, topped the Tour’s Money List with $194,051 in earnings and finished second on the Order of Merit to Mike McEwen of Manitoba.

Gushue acknowledged if the team had won more game, it would have been an “unbelievable” season.

That one game was the 9-5 Tim Hortons Brier final setback to Alberta's Kevin Koe.

This season, Gushue skips the top team on tour, leading the Order of Merit so far, and second on the Money List with $112,895 in winnings.

All that despite Gushue missing the first eight events of the 2016-17 season because of an injury.

Willingdon Cup golf team

Provincial golf history was made in August when Newfoundland and Labrador won the Willingdon Cup Canadian amateur men’s team competition for the first time at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club.

Newfoundland’s team of Blair Bursey of Gander and Nathan Peters and Chuck Conley of St. John’s finished two strokes ahead of runner-up Ontario.

The Willingdon Cup competition was conducted during the first two rounds of the Canadian men’s amateur championship. Adding to the remarkability of the Willingdon Cup accomplishment is that Bursey, the two-time defending provincial men's champion, and Peters, whose home club is Clovelly, were both just 19.

As well, the team had to overcome the loss of its third member when the veteran, Conley, was forced to withdraw from the competition. Normally, a team's total score is achieved by using the two best daily results of the three-member team. However, with Conley unavailable, Newfoundland had to depend on only the scores of Bursey and Peters.