Islanders goalie honoured for work in class and crease

Charlottetown Islanders goalie Matthew Welsh has been named scholastic player of the year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Welsh, a second-year business student at UPEI, has maintained a 90 average in his four courses while helping lead the Islanders to a sixth-place overall finish in the QMJHL regular season.

The Islanders were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

Welsh, 19, also won several Islanders team awards, including most valuable player. He has one year of junior hockey left and said he expects to be back with the Islanders next season.

Islanders defenceman Lukas Cormier was named to the QMJHL all-rookie team. Cornwall, P.E.I.-native Jordan Spence, who plays for the Moncton Wildcats, was named the league's rookie of the year.

Dobsonmakes first all-star team

Noah Dobson of Summerside, a defenceman with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, was named a first team all-star.

Islanders coach Jim Hulton was nominated for coach of the year. That award went to Mario Pouliot, who led Rouyn-Noranda to a league record 59 wins.

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the QMJHL announced its 50 top players of all time. Brad Richards, of Murray Harbour, P.E.I., who was named MVP of the QMJHL regular season, playoffs and at the Memorial Cup in 1999-2000with the Rimouski Oceanic, came in at No. 8 on the list.

Drew off to San Diego

In other Islanders news, the team announced that 20-year-old Hunter Drew, who played his last game of junior hockey, signed an amateur tryout agreement with the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League. The Gulls are the farm team of the NHL's Anaheim Ducks, who drafted Drew 178th overall in 2018.

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