Athletes of the Year Finalists

The Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association has announced the finalists for the selection of Manitoba's Team of the Year and Athletes of the Year for 2011.

Three football players are on the five-member list of finalists for Male Athlete of the Year. With an indication of retirement after he was named to the CFL East Division All-star team for a sixth straight year, Doug Brown of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is included with standout B.C. Lion running back Andrew Harris, who totalled 458 yards rushing and 395 yards receiving en route to the Lions' Grey Cup title, along with quarterback Ryan Marsch of the Winnipeg Rifles, who was picked as the Most Valuable Player in the CJFL Prairie Football Conference.

Andrew Harris

The two other Male Athlete finalists are last year's winner Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Black Hawks, who led his team in scoring and was a first team NHL All-star last season, and bowler Michael Schmidt, who qualified for the fifth time to represent Canada in the Quibica AMF World Cup for the World 10-Pin Championship in South Africa.

The finalists for top Female Athlete are from five different sports, headed by 2009 winner Jennifer Saunders, who won her fourth Canadian Women's Singles Championship in racquetball. Swimmer Chantal Van Landeghem won four individual medals and one relay medal at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. Jocelyne Larocque starred on defence for Canada's national hockey team in the 4 Nations Cup, and was a first team All-American for the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Sarah-Anne Brault won the Canadian Triathlon Championship, and Manitoba Bison assistant soccer coach Desiree Scott was selected to play as a midfielder for Team Canada in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Jocelyne Larocque

Two curling foursomes are finalists in the Team of the Year category on the final ballot. Jeff Stoughton's Charleswood team won the World Men's Championship in Regina, beating Scotland's Tom Brewster 6-5 in the gold medal game, after compiling a 10-1 record to finish first in the round robin. Kelly Robertson's Neepawa team won nine straight games to capture the Manitoba Senior Men's Championship, then added the Canadian Senior title in Digby, Nova Scotia, with a 10-1 round robin record, and a 7-5 win over Alberta's Brad Hannah in the final.

The other three team finalists are the Brandon Bobcats men's Volleyball team, silver medallists in the CIS national championships, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for winning the CFL Eastern title to advance to the Grey Cup final for the first time since 2007, and the Winnipeg Thrashers, who won the Telus Cup national Midget Hockey Championship with a 3-1 final victory in St. John's, Newfoundland, over the London Knights.

As a result of final voting by the Manitoba Sports Media, the winners will be declared at the 56th annual Athletes of the Year awards dinner on Sunday, January 29th, 2012, at the Delta Winnipeg Hotel.

Among the MSSA awards to be presented at the dinner are the Cactus Jack Wells Memorial trophy, to recognize the event or individual creating a major impact on the Manitoba sports scene, the Dallis Beck Memorial Good Guy/Gal award to an individual providing exceptional support to the sport media, and the Jack Matheson Memorial awards to post secondary students interested in a career in sports journalism or sports public relations.

In addition, sportswriter Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press will be inducted into the MSSA Media Roll of Honour, recognizing his dedicated service to the sports community.