SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The American Hockey League announced that Syracuse Crunch forward Alex Barre-Boulet has been voted the winner of the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding rookie for the 2018-19 season.
The award is voted on by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league’s 31 cities.
Barre-Boulet scored the game-winning goal in his pro debut on Oct. 6 and went on to be the top-scoring rookie in the AHL during the regular season with 68 points in 74 games for the Crunch, also good for sixth in the league’s overall scoring race. He earned a share of the Willie Marshall Award as the league co-leader with 34 goals, and also tied for first with 17 power-play goals and shared first among rookies with six game-winners. Barre-Boulet had a 12-game scoring streak from Nov. 11 to Dec. 12 that matched the longest in the league in 2018-19, one of six stretches he had of recording a point in at least four games in a row.
A 21-year-old native of Montmagny, Que., Barre-Boulet signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Mar. 1, 2018, following a junior career in which he was selected as the Canadian Hockey League’s Player of the Year and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s MVP in 2017-18. Barre-Boulet spent four seasons in the QMJHL with Drummondville and Blainville-Boisbriand, totaling 140 goals and 197 assists for 337 points in 263 games.
This award, which was first presented by the AHL in 1947, honors the late Dudley (Red) Garrett, a promising young player who lost his life during World War II while serving in the Royal Canadian Navy. Garrett split his only pro season, 1942-43, between the AHL’s Providence Reds and the NHL’s New York Rangers.
Previous winners of the Garrett Award include Terry Sawchuk (1949), Jim Anderson (1955), Bill Sweeney (1958), Roger Crozier (1964), Gerry Desjardins (1968), Rick Middleton (1974), Darryl Sutter (1980), Pelle Lindbergh (1981), Steve Thomas (1985), Ron Hextall (1986), Brett Hull (1987), Felix Potvin (1992), Corey Hirsch (1993), Darcy Tucker (1996), Daniel Briere (1998), Darren Haydar (2003), Rene Bourque (2005), Nathan Gerbe (2009), Tyler Ennis (2010), Cory Conacher (2012), Tyler Toffoli (2013), Matt Murray (2015), Mikko Rantanen (2016), Frank Vatrano (2016), Daniel O’Regan (2017) and Mason Appleton (2018).
