By Tanner Schafer
Thunder Bay, ON – Owen Riffel of the Sioux Lookout Bombers is the SIJHL Forward of the Year. Riffel had a stellar campaign and was the driving force behind the Bombers attack. The ‘04 from Onanole, MB led the SIJHL in goals with 36. Pair that with his 41 games played and he was nearly a goal per game player. Also, when factoring in his 31 assists his final point per game mark was 1.63. Riffel was also the go to man on the power play as he scored 15 of his goals with the man advantage. The young forward was a model of consistency, logging double digits in 5 of the 7 months he played, and despite securing a few honorable mentions Riffel never got the nod for Forward of the Month. Despite the lack of monthly recognition Riffel was great enough all year in order to win SIJHL Forward of the Year
Honorable mention for Forward of the Year goes to Edison Weeks of the Thunder Bay North Stars and Jett Mintenko of the Kam River Fighting Walleye.