Sports' big night

Summersides Heather Moyse and Albertons Jeff Ellsworth were the big winners at Sport P.E.I.s 33rd annual awards banquet Wednesday night in Charlottetown.

Moyse, a brakeman on the Canadian womens two-man bobsleigh team and a fullback on the national womens rugby squad, took home the Lieutenant-Governors Award as P.E.I.s outstanding athlete and, for the second-straight year, the senior female athlete of the year award.

Ellsworth, an outfielder who anchored Canadas silver medal performance at the 2006 Pan-Am softball championships, was named the senior male athlete of the year.

For Moyse, her sixth and seventh Sport P.E.I. awards since 1998 were just part of a globe-trotting 2006, starting with the Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy, and ending with Canadas senior womens national rugby team in Edmonton.

A lot is going through my head right now. So much that its hard to actually figure it out and decipher, said Moyse. Last year was a huge honour getting the Bill Halfpenny award for the international performance, but to get the Lieutenant Generals Award, it was a shock. I had just sat back down into my seat.

A few months after being recruited as a bobsleigh brakeman and learning the job at events in Canada and Europe, Moyse found herself on Canadas 2006 Olympic team in February.

At the Games, she teamed with driver Helen Upperton and pushed Canada to four of the fastest start times and nearly a medal, missing bronze by five-100ths of a second.

After a spring spent training for rugby, Moyse went on to Team Canada at the 2006 Womens Rugby World Cup tournament in Edmonton in September and scored seven trys, including four versus Kazakhstan. Her seven trys led the tournament, as did her 35 points.

Canada finished pool play third at 2-0-1, beating Spain 79-0 and Kazakhstan 45-5. It lost to the eventual-winner New Zealand 66-7 in its opening game.

Moyse missed a bronze following a tough 20-14 loss to England after she was tackled just short of scoring in a semifinal game, but she was the lone Canadian to reach the tourney all-star team.

This spring, Moyse will continue working toward her masters degree in occupational therapy at the University of Toronto and train for Team Canadas fall rugby season.

She said coming to the Sport P.E.I. banquet and her Summerside home are a welcome break.

To get something like that on P.E.I. it means so much. This is a great reason for me to be able to come back to P.E.I. for a little bit.

Like Moyse, Ellsworth couldnt believe the news of his first Sport P.E.I. award.

It was a total shock. I didnt really expect this coming down here, he said. Its quite an honour. Its just like I said in (my acceptance speech) its just like wearing a Team Canada jersey all over again winning this award.

In 2006, he played for Team Canada at the Pan Ams in Hermasillo, Mexico, where he hit .333, with one home run, and helped the squad to silver.

He credits teammates and a little Island mud for a successful international season.

Having a strong team all around me and great coaching. And support from home here plays a big role, too.

Ellsworth also played for the Fargo Kegel Black Knights of North Dakota in the International Softball Congress championships in Kitchener, Ont., and suited up for the Charlottetown Fawcetts at the Canadian senior championships in Prince George, B.C., where he earned all-Canadian outfielder and top batter, hitting .545, including five home runs.

He also helped the Alberton Athletics intermediate team win the eastern Canadian championship.

But his best moment came in Mexico.

Pulling on the jersey and running on the field against Venezuela the first game. My whole body went numb for the first little while. It took three innings in order for that to wear off.



The award winners:

Lieutenant-Governors Award/Senior Female Athlete - Heather Moyse, bobsleigh/rugby.

Senior Male Athlete - Jeff Ellsworth, softball.

Intercollegiate Female - Angela Drane, golf.

Intercollegiate Male - Jared Connaughton, track and field.

Junior Female - Ashley MacIntyre, rugby.

Junior Male - Logan MacMillan, hockey.

Masters - Shawn McCardle, long distance running.

Coach - Gardiner MacDougall, hockey.

Team - P.E.I. Goalball.

Administrator - Glenn Holmes, speed skating.

Official - Jeff MacRae. gymnastics.

Honourary membership - Charlie Ballem, school sports builder and historian.

Premiers Award (top sports organization) - Roadrunners Club of P.E.I.

Presidents Award (lifetime backer of amateur sport) - Marilyn Sutherland.