Nanaimo wrapped the Island Pod season in third place with a record of 8-11-0-1. The team will now say goodbye to their six 2000 born players who finished their careers on May 11. (Gary Dorland)

By Dan Marshall

Whirlwind Season

VIDEO: Clippers’ graduating players the focus of final week

May 13, 2021 | 10:37 AM

NANAIMO — The Clippers played four games in the final week of their Pod Season going 2-1-0-1.

With Nanaimo locked into third place in the standings much of the focus was on their six graduating players Jordan Naylor, Trevor LeDonne, Liam Ryan, Nolan Hutcheson, Thomas Maia and Baxter Anderson.

Coach Darren Naylor lauded the commitment of his players in a unique season with many challenges.

“In all my years nobody’s had to go through what we’ve gone through over the past year. My message for the guys was that I’m proud of them and what they’ve had to go through will make them more mentally tough and be a good lesson in life.”

Goalie Jordan Naylor completed his third year with the club having twice faced 50 shots in his final week of action.

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He admitted being very proud of his team-record six shutouts in the 2019-20 campaign but his favourite Clippers memory was a goal scored by one of his teammates.

“Last year in the second to last game of the year we had to win to clinch first place in the Island. Josh Bourne scored late to give us the win. That’s something that I’m never going to forget.”

Naylor was named the Clippers MVP for a second straight time at the end of the year.

Both LeDonne and Ryan were two year Clippers who went out on a high note statistically.

LeDonne finished the season with a team leading 17 points through the brief 20 game season and Ryan tallied six points in his final four games.

Both veterans won team awards as well. LeDonne shared the top defenceman award with Jack O’Brien while Ryan earned Nanaimo’s Unsung Hero Award.

Nanaimo’s other graduates took home hardware after completing one year of service with the club.

Nolan Hutcheson led all Clipper goal scorers with nine goals in the Pod season and won the trophy as the Clippers Top Forward.

Thomas Maia was the team’s Most Inspirational Player and Baxter Anderson was singled out as the Best Two-Way Player.

Associate coach Colin Birkas noted the legacy of the players moving on will be felt off the ice as well as on it.

“Their character, work ethic and attitude really showed. It’s been a real pleasure having those kids around hopefully they’ve passed on those traits to the kids coming back.”

CLIP NOTES:

Nanaimo finished in third place in the Island Division with a record of 8-11-0-1.

Some other notable Clippers end of season awards were Kai Daniells winning Top Rookie and Keighan Gerrie taking the Most Exciting Player. Luke Lavery won Most Improved Player and Michael Craig won the Coaches Award.

The Clippers played 38 times in the 2020-2021 season, the most games played in Junior A in Canada. Nanaimo played two exhibition games, 16 Island Cup contests, and 20 games in the Pod Season.

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