SWIFT CURRENT, SASK – Brett Levis is Saskatchewan’s player of the year. Again.
The Saskatchewan Soccer Association held their 2016 year-end award ceremony on Saturday and Levis was named the Male Senior Athlete of the Year. He is the first player to win the award three times, after also taking home the honour in 2012 and 2013.
Fellow Saskatoon native Thomas Hasal, a goalkeeper for Whitecaps FC U-18 Residency, was also honoured as the Youth Male Player of the Year.
Levis, 23, is coming off a year in which he helped Whitecaps FC 2 reach the Western Conference Final for the first time, recording four goals and two assists in 24 regular season appearances as a midfielder-turned-fullback. He also helped Whitecaps FC reach the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals for the first time, starting three of the club’s four victories.
In fact, he was one of only two players to appear in all four of Vancouver’s group stage matches.
Levis, who also picked up an assist in a friendly against Crystal Palace FC, earned a first-team contract in August and made his MLS debut in Vancouver’s regular season finale on October 23. Unfortunately, the University of Saskatchewan product tore his ACL in the match, which has him sidelined to start the 2017 campaign.
Hasal, meanwhile, joined the Residency program in August after coming through the club’s Saskatchewan Academy Centre. He has been a standout for both club and country.
In October, Hasal earned his first invitation to a Canadian youth national team, participating in the men's U-18 series in El Salvador. Hasal, who made a penalty kick save in the second of the two matches against the hosts, also started three matches for Canada at the CONCACAF Men's Under-20 Championship early this year.
