ICE HOCKEY: Ice Hockey Journalists UK has revealed its award winners for the 2013/14 Elite League and English Premier League seasons.

Belfast Giants’ Paul Adey and Tony Hand MBE of Manchester Phoenix have been named Coach of the Year in their respective leagues while Dundee's Dan Bakala and Manchester Phoenix' Luke Boothroyd have received the Player of the Year accolades.

The First and Second All-Star Teams have also been announced as well as British Netminder, Defenceman, Forward and Young Player of the Year.

ELITE ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE

Paul Adey has capped an excellent return to British ice hockey as IHJUK Coach of the Year for Champions Belfast Giants.

The 50-year-old moulded an exciting Giants team into a side that is as defensively solid as it is free-scoring as they picked up their second Championship in four years.

Belfast also repeated last year's Erhardt Conference success and made the final of the Challenge Cup.

Adey said: “It's a nice award to get but you get something like that when you have good players. The guys in the room have good characters and are very professional.

“It's a nice award to get, but I'd say that the team are a big part of that.”

Dan Bakala has had a stellar year at Dundee Stars and has been named IHJUK Player of the Year.

The 26-year-old Calgary native backstopped the Stars to lead the Gardiner Conference.

Bakala said: “I’ve never had anything like this before, so it’s hard to put into words exactly how I feel, but I want to thank everyone that voted for me.

“I’m truly humbled by this; any positive comments you get is always nice, but I’ve had nothing but support from my team-mates and the coaching staff at Dundee and they’ve made things easy for me.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I first came to Scotland to be honest, but it’s been a great season and a tough league and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

“My family will be excited to hear, but it’s been a great campaign for us and I want to thank everyone for the support I’ve had since I came here and I appreciate all of it.”

Elite League All-Star First Team: Dan Bakala (Dundee Stars); Robbie Sandrock (Belfast Giants), Calvin Elfring (Belfast Giants); Kevin Saurette (Belfast Giants), Ryan Ginand (Coventry Blaze), Guillaume Doucet (Hull Stingrays).

Elite League All-Star Second Team: Stephen Murphy (Belfast Giants); Rory Rawlyk (Dundee Stars), Sam McCluskey (Dundee Stars); Jeff Szwez (Belfast Giants), Jereme Tendler (Hull Stingrays), Evan Cheverie (Belfast Giants).

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Manchester Phoenix Player-Coach and Captain have both been recognised in the IHJUK's awards.

Tony Hand MBE has scooped Coach of the Year after guiding his side to its second EPL Championship in four years.

Phoenix secured the title with a 5-2 win over Basingstoke on 16 March.

Hand is synonymous with British Ice Hockey and the 46-year-old is still competing right at the top of his game.

As a player he's notched up 85 points this season with those around him on the top line – Michal Psurny and James Archer - amassing 161 between them.

Hand said: “I'm really happy with my team this year and this award is credit to the players really.

“We kept the same roster throughout the year with only Jaroslav Cesky coming in for three games when Frantisek Bakrlik was out injured.

“We stuck with the guys and they worked well. It's a real honour to get this award.

“We have a solid team here with scoring ability throughout, a strong defence which you can see with Luke Boothroyd's award, and good goaltending. We had to fight Basingstoke all the way and the guys responded well.

“I had to keep pushing them hard, which was tough as you don't want to overwork them, but we got there in the end and we were delighted to win the league.”

Phoenix Captain Luke Boothroyd has been named Player of the Year.

The defenceman was consistently outstanding throughout Manchester's Championship run and marshalled a D-line that was the meanest in the League.

He said: “I'm quite surprised. There is a lot of exciting talent in the league and I wouldn't put myself in that category, I'm really pleased as it's a great award.

“I take every game as it comes, look at each individual game and work hard. The team do that too and that consistency was important in winning the league. When we had a blip it wasn't a major relapse; we got back on it and showed resilience.

“The team had a lot of character and that showed with the league title.

“We knew we could win the league against Basingstoke and we didn't want to leave it until the last weekend as the pressure mounts up and can affect how you play. It was nice to do it in front of our own fans too; they turn out for us week in week out.

“Now we're focused on the double which is something this club hasn't done yet.”

EPL All-Star First Team: Stephen Fone (Manchester Phoenix); Luke Boothroyd (Manchester Phoenix), Kurt Reynolds (Basingstoke Bison); Lubomir Korhon (Sheffield Steeldogs), Michal Psurny (Manchester Phoenix),Tomas Karpov (Basingstoke Bison).

EPL All-Star Second Team: Dean Skinns (Basingstoke Bison); Robert Schnabel (Manchester Phoenix), Zach Sullivan (Basingstoke Bison); Tony Hand (Manchester Phoenix), Robin Kovar (Manchester Phoenix), Stanislav Lascek (MK Lightning).

British Award Winners:

The Phil Drackett Memorial Award (Best British Netminder): Stephen Murphy (Belfast Giants)

The Alan Weeks Trophy (Best British Defenceman): Sam McCluskey (Dundee Stars)

Best British Forward: David Clarke (Nottingham Panthers)

Vic Batchelder Memorial Award (Young (u21) Player of the Year): Paul Swindlehurst