It’s that time of year again folks! It’s time to select winners for the 15th Annual Dark Clouds End of Year Awards.
The awards categories are as follows;
- Player of the Year
- Newcomer of the Year (Player)
- Iron Skillet Award
- Jackass of the Year
- Buzz Lagos Award for Lifetime Achievement
Voting will remain open for two weeks (10/5-10/19), with the winners to be announced at the 15th Annual Dark Clouds End of Year Awards Party and Charity Auction on November 5th at La Doña Cervecería in Minneapolis.
Previous Award Winners
Player of the Year:
- 2004 – Dustin Branan
- 2005 – Freddy Juarez
- 2006 – Matt Schmidt
- 2007 – Nic Platter
- 2008 – Nic Platter
- 2009 – Nic Platter
- 2010 – Andres Arango
- 2011 – Kyle Altman
- 2012 – Matt VanOekel
- 2013 – Pablo Campos
- 2014 – Miguel Ibarra
- 2015 – Justin Davis
- 2016 – Christian Ramirez
- 2017 – Bobby Shuttleworth
Newcomer of the Year:
- 2004 – Jay Alberts
- 2005 – Nate Knox
- 2006 – Alfredo Esteves
- 2007 – Brian Farber
- 2008 – Ricardo Sanchez
- 2009 – Lawrence Olum
- 2010 – Simone Bracalello
- 2011 – Justin Davis
- 2012 – Miguel Ibarra
- 2013 – Calum Mallace
- 2014 – Christian Ramirez
- 2015 – Sammy Ndjock
- 2016 – Jeb Brovsky
- 2017 – Jerome Thiesson
Buzz Lagos Award (presented to individual (club or community) for lifetime achievement
- 2005 – Buzz Lagos (Namesake, original coach and leader of the Minnesota Thunder)
- 2007 – Liz Schorn (Thunder team trainer and photographer)
- 2009 – Claude Duran (Thunder team mascot, Thor)
- 2010- Manny Lagos (Original player, former coach and now club administrator)
- 2012 – Chris Lidholm (Broadcasting voice of the Minnesota Thunder, Stars, United)
- 2013 – Kevin Friedland (Player and man of one thousand hats that kept the team going thru many lean years)
- 2014 – Dan Barnes (Owner of original USL Discussion Boards, fan community in the early days)
- 2016 – Angie Blaker (Team Operations)
- 2017 – Brian Quarstad (Inside Minnesota Soccer)
Jackass of the Year (presented to Dark Cloud Supporter of the Year)
- 2005 – Keith Kramer
- 2007 – Kevin Joseph
- 2008 – Neal Logan
- 2009 – Tim “SuperRookie” Hayes
- 2010 – Scott Kerssen
- 2011 – Anthony de Sam Lazaro
- 2012 – David Smith
- 2013 – Ben Pfutzenreuter (Arts and Crafts); Wes Burdine (Discourse); Tim Alexander
- 2014 – Nachiket Karnik and Doreen Hartzell
- 2015 – Abe Opoti
- 2016 – Rich Harrison, Teresa Peterson, Sam Solberg
- 2017 – Jim Oliver
Misc:
- 2008 – Kevin Friedland – Humanitarian/Man of the Year
Iron Skillet Award: (presented by Dark Cloud leadership to a member who have fixed or improved organization)
- 2014 – Brandon Maurisak
- 2015 – Jeff Rueter & Jake Rueter
- 2016 – Nachiket Karnik (Nach)
- 2017 – Ben Krouse Gagne and Phil Cross
Tom Donovan Award: (presented to Dark Cloud traveler of the year as selected by Travel Committee Chair)
- 2017 – Andrew Lovgren