Peter Anholt won his second WHL Executive of the Year award in his five full years as the Hurricanes' general manager. (Twitter/Western Hockey League)

By Jeff D'Andrea

P.A.'s P.A.

Prince Albert’s Peter Anholt wins WHL Executive of the Year award

May 8, 2020 | 10:51 AM

In just five full seasons as the general manager for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Peter Anholt is already celebrating his second award.

For the second time, Anholt received the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy for WHL Executive of the Year. Anholt also received the honour in the 2015-16 season — his first full season as the Hurricanes’ general manager.

“Obviously you’re excited, but I think the word ‘humble’ is the key to the whole thing,” Anholt said about his second award during a Zoom call with media. “Because anytime you get voted on by your peers, I think that really, really makes you feel good about what you’ve done and accomplished. But I think more importantly, I look at the team. It’s an individual award, but it’s probably, more importantly, a team award.

“Five years ago, I made two hires: one being [head coach] Brent Kisio and the other one being [head scout] Rob MacLachlan,” Anholt added. “Those were two very important hires. How they run their staff and the things they do is just so important to the success of the hockey club. Everybody is a part of it. Obviously, somebody has to make the final decisions but we’re all a part of this. That makes this even more special.”

Despite making some big additions and losing five of their top six scorers last season in Nick Henry, Jordy Bellerive, Jake Leschyshyn, Jake Elmer, and Taylor Ross, Anholt was still able to get the Hurricanes to a 37-19-2-5 record, good for third place in the WHL Central Division.

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“I don’t think a lot of people thought we were going to be as good as we were, but some key additions to our team this year were so important,” Anholt said.

To supplement stars like Dylan Cozens and Calen Addison, Anholt added Slovakian forward Oliver Okuliar in the CHL Import Draft, 49^th overall in the first round. Okuliar turned out to be a dynamic forward, scoring 33 goals and 68 points in 55 games for the Hurricanes, and finished second on the team in scoring behind only Cozens.

Anholt also highlighted adding Brett Davis back from the Red Deer Rebels, after trading him to the Kootenay ICE during the 2016-17 season, and adding the leadership of Dino Kambeitz from the Victoria Royals.

In Anholt’s second draft as general manager, he and his scouting staff selected defenceman Alex Cotton in the fifth round, 99^th overall in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft. Despite being a late-round pick, Cotton ended up leading the WHL in scoring by a defenceman with 67 points in 63

Anholt played three years with the Prince Albert Raiders in the team’s SJHL days from 1978-81, and also served as the team’s director of hockey operations, head coach and assistant coach in two separate stints from 1986-89 and 2002-07. Anholt’s been with the Hurricanes since 2014 when he was hired on as the team’s assistant general manager, then became the general manager as a midseason replacement.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW