RAMBLERS NAMED 2023-24 ROGER MEEK EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

FROM THE MHL –

The Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL) is pleased to announce that the Amherst Ramblers have been named the Roger Meek Executive of the Year for the 2023-24 season.

Amherst finished the 2023-24 regular season in second place in the Eastlink South with a record of 27-20-3-2, which was a 21-point improvement from the 2022-23 team which missed the playoffs. That was the second-best improvement of any team in the league last season, behind West Kent. After defeating the Pictou County Weeks Crushers in the first round of the Metalfab MHL Cup Playoffs, Amherst fell in six games to the Summerside Western Capitals in the Eastlink South Division Final.

New Head Coach and General Manager Phil Fife made nine trades before the start of the season, bringing in key players such as Aiden Dufault, Liam Dutcher, Jack O’Blenis, and Anthony Gaudet. Pre-Christmas deals would land Mark Corbett and Alex Christmas to the Ramblers, while Jayden Reyers and Liam Travis were acquired before the trade deadline to help Amherst with their playoff push.

Amherst scored 61 more goals this season with 204, while allowing only fifteen more. The Ramblers had the sixth-best powerplay (23.2%), improving from second-worst at 17.6% in 2022-23, and also had the sixth-best penalty kill (78.0%) in the MHL this season. Fife was named the MHL Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the season, marking the first time a Ramblers Head Coach had won this award since Bill Riley in 1989-90.