MAKING the decision to play professionally overseas paid off for Danny Bois.
The Thunder Bay native is celebrating a championship after helping his Red Bull Salzburg side capture the title in the Erste Bank Hockey League, a 10-team loop featuring teams from Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia.
After six seasons competing in the American Hockey League, the 27-year-old Bois inked a deal with Salzburg in the off-season.
The rugged forward recorded 33 points in 65 games including 13 goals. His 212 penalty minutes were the second most of any player in the league.
Finishing number two overall in the standings his side would upend top seeded KAC Klagenfurt 3-2 in overtime in the seventh and deciding game to give Salzburg the crown.
NEWEST 99er: Just days after the completion of the season another member of the EBHL has signed an area product to skate in the league.
The Austrian club Graz 99ers have bolstered their blue line with the signing of Dustin VanBallegooie to a contract for the 2011-12 campaign.
The 28-year-old defenceman, who hails from Murillo, had spent the past two years playing in Denmark where he won multiple awards and was a league all-star.
VanBallegooie was also named the top defenceman at the 2010-11 Continental Cup, the top club competition in Europe, where he helped lead his Danish side to a bronze medal performance.
With his help, Graz will look to improve on a sixth-place finish in the EBHL standings this season and a first round playoff ouster that saw them swept in the opening round of postseason play.
ECAC ACCOLADES: Two Lakehead products were recently recognized by their respective Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference schools.
Paul Karpowich, a junior goaltender at Clarkson University, was named the Golden Knights most valuable player at their year-end awards banquet.
The St. Louis Blues draft choice set a school record for saves in a season with 1,053 while starting 35 of 36 games and posting a 3.05 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.
Karpowich earned ECAC goaltender of the week accolades once and earned a spot on the conference weekly honour roll four times.
Meanwhile Luke Cain was presented with the Union College Charles N. Morrison Award, which is given annually to a student-athlete who participates in extracurricular activities while demonstrating exceptional academic interest and achievement.
The senior forward is a three-time member of the ECAC all-academic team and is expected to earn a spot once again this year.
USHL FUTURE: The United States Hockey League held their annual futures draft this past week with one local resident being chosen.
Riley Corbin, a goaltender with the Thunder Bay minor midget Kings, was selected in the fifth round, 70th overall, by the Sioux City Musketeers.
He was one of seven Canadians taken in the 90-player draft.
Clubs retain the USHL playing rights to its drafted players for up to three years and can add any of its affiliate list players to its active roster during the season.
CHAMPS: The Northern Hawks 2000 boys select squad returned home from the Minnesota Meltdown invitational tournament last weekend with the championship trophy in their possession.
The team comprised of local players went undefeated in five games en route to the title with Justin Paul’s outstanding on-ice efforts earning him MVP laurels.
In the gold medal game vs. highly touted Easton Synergy from Minneapolis the Hawks trailed 4-1 after two periods, but stormed back with six third period goals to win 7-6.