The announcement was made at halftime of the WCSSAA Senior Boys' all-star game tonight at Waterloo Collegiate.
Needless to say, this was a pretty obvious selection. Cvrkalj, who was the lone returning WCSSAA first team all-star from a season ago, was key in leading the Knights to their first WCSSAA & CWOSSA titles in school history. Furthermore, he did so by putting up some big highlights in the process. He had 27 games of 20+ points, 15 games of 25+ points and 6 games where he notched 30 or more points. Plus, he didn't just put up those points against just anybody. He scored 39 against WCI, 39 against St. Theresa's of Midland (OFSAA AAA qualifier) and 37 against London's HB Beal (OFSAA AAAA qualifier).
You hear many people in the States talking about a player hitting 1000 points in their high school career ---- Cvrkalj hit for over 1000 (1017 to be exact) in his 45 games this season, a 22.6 scoring clip.
Of course, when asked about Cvrkalj's best attributes, Knights head coach Doros Theodosiou pointed out that he did more than just score.
Theodosiou noted that "(Cvrkalj's) best attribute is how wonderful of a person he is. He is very respectful to his coaches as well as his teammates and takes a team first approach. He is one of the most coachable players I have ever had."
"He is a great leader and a role model for the Bluevale basketball program," he continued, "he was an outstanding leader during games and in practice. He has an unbelievable work ethic which rubbed off on his teammates --- his teammates saw what it took to be an elite basketball player and as a result they started staying extra time in the gym to work on their skills."
"He is one of those few elite basketball players who made everyone around him better. Everyone fed off of his confidence and determination. Although he knew he needed to score for us, he was never concerned about his own statistics, just whether we won", noted Theodosiou.
Cvrkalj isn't just a star on the court but in the classroom as well ---- he has a mid-90s academic average. The grade 12 student has already been accepted by Laurier, McMaster, Western and Ryerson. Furthermore, he's being actively recruited by a handful of NCAA Division I schools including a pair of Ivy League schools (Princeton & Cornell), a trio of schools from the Patriot League (Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette) and a couple of schools from "power conferences" (Virginia out of the ACC & Stanford from the PAC 10).
All that being said, Cvrkalj hasn't ruled out a 5th year at Bluevale ---- which is a scary thought for WCSSAA opponents.
Cvrkalj joins an impressive list of winners in recent memory:
Previous Mike Moser Winners:
2010: Stefan Cvrkalj, Bluevale
2009: Justin Tomas, SJAM
2008: Nik Saric, Forest Heights
2007: Zach Nagtzaam, Southwood
2006: Cam McIntyre, KCI
2005: Gavin Horne, WCI
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