Retiring Washington Power forward Paul Gait was the runaway selection for Most Valuable Player in the fourth annual Outsider's Guide Fan Choice Awards, conducted recently on this site.

Gait, who was playing his final season in the NLL, beat Rochester Knighthawks forward John Grant, 107-87, for the top spot, with Albany Attack assist wizard Josh Sanderson placing third, with 76 votes. After Sanderson, there was a large dropoff in vote totals, with Tracey Kelusky (Montreal Express) drawing 56 votes to place fourth. Gait's twin brother Gary, who is sticking around with the Power, finished a close fifth, at 55. Vancouver Ravens goaltender Dwight Maetche placed sixth, at 50 votes. The six players comprise the Fan Choice Awards' All-Pro Team.

Like a year ago, when Philadelphia Wings goaltender Dallas Eliuk finished third in the Most Valuable Player balloting, Maetche's spot on the All-Pro Team was not assured by being the top-polling netminder. After Eliuk's razor-thin victory in Goaltender of the Year voting last year, the problem of a split between that award and All-Pro goaltender honors was resolved by removing the guarantee that the Goalie of the Year would automatically make the All-Pro Team (if a different goaltender than the Goalie of the Year led the MVP voting among goalies and finished in the top five in MVP balloting, he would get the All-Pro nod).

As it turned out, Maetche didn't need the protection, easily defeating Albany's Rob Blasdell, 65-38, for Goaltender of the Year honors. In the NLL's official voting, the top two were inverted. A late charge by Toronto Rock goaltender Bob Watson nearly brought him even with Blasdell for second; he finished third, with 33 votes.

In Rookie of the Year voting, a clear division could be seen between the two major contenders, the two outside contenders, and everyone else. Blaine Manning, the second-overall pick in August's entry draft, had the last laugh on top selection Gavin Prout of New York, adding the FCA Rookie of the Year (104-94) nod to the league's official Rookie of the Year award and a league title with the Toronto Rock. Vancouver's Peter Morgan finished third, at 68, topping Ottawa Rebel forward Ryan Painter, 61. Calgary Roughnecks goaltender Matt King finished fifth, with 42 votes, and Columbus' Kasey Beirnes rounded out the All-Rookie Team with 40 votes.

King's spot on the All-Rookie Team was determined not by his position among the twenty-eight players to receive a vote (including eight write-ins), but because he finished tops among the league's four rookie goaltenders. With 39 votes, New Jersey netminder Matt Roik placed second among netminders (seventh overall, a vote shy of an honorable mention for making the top six). Ottawa's Andrew Leyshon picked up 29 votes, while the Landsharks' Mike Miron came in last, at 25, in one of the fans' most notable splits from the league's official awards (Miron was named the league's All-Rookie goaltender).

New this year is an All-Defensive Team, which, perhaps not surprisingly, is led by a pair of Toronto Rock defensive standouts. After running neck-and-neck with Jim Veltman for most of the voting, Pat Coyle broke away late to take a 92-87 victory as the league's Defenseman of the Year. Montreal Express defender Bruce Codd finished a distant third, with 60 votes, with Albany's Cam Woods (54) and Rochester's Mike Hasen rounding out the top five. As Goaltender of the Year, Maetche backs up this quintet, completing the defensive unit.

In Coach of the Year voting, Bob McMahon decimated his nearest competitors, building a 75-43 victory over second-place coach Paul Dal Monte (Vancouver) much the same way his Albany Attack stormed to the league's best record this season. Third-place coach Les Bartley (27 votes) gets to celebrate most, though, after his Toronto Rock edged Dal Monte's Ravens for the Northern Division title, then scraped out a one-goal win over McMahon's Attack for the NLL Champion's Cup.

Annually one of the more interesting categories, due to the close race for the award and the wide variety of write-ins, the Most Improved Player balloting did not disappoint this year. Columbus Landsharks forward Gewas Schindler came out of nowhere to post a 66-point season, topping Codd for this award, 42-39. West coast standouts Chris Panos (Calgary) and Chris Gill (Vancouver) followed, with Paul Gait finishing fifth. Can a guy be MVP and Most Improved, though? After improving his scoring total by 62 points this season over last season (only 32 other players reached 62 points at all), 23 voters thought so. Write-in votes in this category ran the gamut, from Maetche to Rochester backup goalie Pat Campbell, single-season assist king Josh Sanderson to the czar of the transition game, Toronto's Steve Toll.

This year, as in all previous years, a record number of ballots were received. This year, 203 valid ballots came in, almost 50 more than in 2001. The total number of submissions was close to 300, but numerous ballots had to be disqualified due to several people trying to vote many times (you were allowed to vote once, after all, not forty-six times). Others were partially disqualified due to voter error (undervotes or overvotes in multi-vote category). This is why voting totals vary across the categories. Following are the full results for each of the six categories (x- indicates a write-in vote; "Pct" refers to the percentage of ballots which named that player):

Most Valuable Player         Votes    Pct.
Paul Gait           WASH       107   68.59
John Grant          ROCH        87   55.77
Josh Sanderson      ALBA        76   48.72
Tracey Kelusky      MONT        56   35.90
Gary Gait           WASH        55   35.26
Dwight Maetche      VANC        50   32.05
Jeff Ratcliffe      PHIL        42   26.92
Colin Doyle         TORO        40   25.64
Tom Marechek        PHIL        38   24.36
Jim Veltman         TORO        35   22.44
Chris Gill          VANC        33   21.15
Rob Blasdell        ALBA        29   18.59
Kevin Finneran      PHIL        23   14.74
John Tavares        BUFF        22   14.10
Shawn Williams      ROCH        22   14.10
Gavin Prout         NEWY        14    8.97
Kaleb Toth          CALG        12    7.69
Mike Benedict       OTTA        10    6.41
Gary Rosyski        ALBA        10    6.41
Ben Prepchuk        CALG         4    2.56
x-Bruce Codd        MONT         3    1.92
x-Steve Dietrich    ROCH         2    1.28
x-Derek Malawsky    ROCH         2    1.28
x-Gewas Schindler   COLU         2    1.28
x-Jake Bergey       PHIL         1    0.64
x-Andrew Martin     PHIL         1    0.64
x-Tim Soudan        ROCH         1    0.64
x-Steve Toll        TORO         1    0.64
x-Cam Woods         ALBA         1    0.64
x-Casey Zaph        ROCH         1    0.64
Vote for five (1 pt each) - 156 ballots cast


Rookie of the Year           Votes    Pct.
Blaine Manning      TORO       104   72.73
Gavin Prout         NEWY        94   65.73
Peter Morgan        VANC        68   47.55
Ryan Painter        OTTA        61   42.66
Matt King (G)       CALG        42   29.37
Kasey Beirnes       COLU        40   27.97
Matt Roik (G)       NEWJ        39   27.27
Keith Cromwell      PHIL        36   25.17
Andrew Leyshon (G)  OTTA        29   20.28
Mike Miron (G)      COLU        25   17.48
Jamey Bowen         VANC        23   16.08
Peter Lough         MONT        21   14.69
Mike Murray         TORO        21   14.69
Derek Suddons       COLU        19   13.29
Scott Stewart       NEWJ        18   12.59
Mike Law            VANC        16   11.19
Jamie Grimoldby     ALBA        11    7.69
John Gallant        WASH         9    6.29
John Kilbride       CALG         9    6.29
x-Bill Greer        COLU         8    5.59
Shawn Nadelen       NEWJ         7    4.90
x-Andrew Martin     PHIL         4    2.80
x-Ted Jenner        ROCH         3    2.10
x-Billy Lefeurve    NEWJ         2    1.40
x-Rich Brzeski      PHIL         2    1.40
x-Jesse Phillips    CALG         2    1.40
x-Sandy Chapman     TORO         1    0.70
x-Jeff Spano        PHIL         1    0.70
Vote for five (1 pt each) - 143 ballots cast


Defenseman of the Year       Votes    Pct.
Pat Coyle           TORO        92   60.13
Jim Veltman         TORO        87   56.86
Bruce Codd          MONT        60   39.22
Cam Woods           ALBA        54   35.29
Mike Hasen          ROCH        44   28.76
Dan Ladouceur       TORO        42   27.45
Pat McCready        BUFF        40   26.14
Paul Cantabene      WASH        39   25.49
Peter Jacobs        PHIL        36   23.53
Regy Thorpe         ROCH        36   23.53
Dave Stilley        PHIL        33   21.57
Jamie Hanford       NEWJ        30   19.61
Rich Catton         VANC        27   17.65
Bill Greer          COLU        26   16.99
Jim Moss            ALBA        26   16.99
Jesse Phillips      CALG        21   13.73
Hugh Donovan        WASH        14    9.15
Pat McCabe          NEWY        13    8.50
Brian Spallina      NEWY        13    8.50
Derek Suddons       COLU        13    8.50
x-Craig Gelsvik     BUFF         3    1.96
x-Casey Zaph        ROCH         3    1.96
x-Glenn Clark       TORO         2    1.31
x-Mark Cochrane     ALBA         1    0.65
x-Marshall Abrams   ROCH         1    0.65
x-Andrew Turner     ROCH         1    0.65
x-Gordon Purdie     NEWJ         1    0.65
x-Bruce Murray      VANC         1    0.65
x-Rich Brzeski      PHIL         1    0.65
x-Andrew Martin     PHIL         1    0.65
x-Josh Ruhle        PHIL         1    0.65
x-Darren Reisig     VANC         1    0.65
x-Pat Cougevan      ROCH         1    0.65
x-Phil Sanderson    ALBA         1    0.65
Vote for five (1 pt each) - 153 ballots cast


Goaltender of the Year       Votes    Pct.
Dwight Maetche      VANC        65   32.34
Rob Blasdell        ALBA        38   18.91
Bob Watson          TORO        33   16.42
Dallas Eliuk        PHIL        24   11.94
Pat O'Toole         ROCH        15    7.46
Steve Dietrich      BUFF        13    6.47
Matt Roik           NEWJ        10    4.98
x-Gord Nash         NEWY         2    1.00
x-Devin Dalep       WASH         1    0.50
Vote for one - 201 ballots cast


Coach of the Year            Votes    Pct.
Bob McMahon         ALBA        75   38.66
Paul Dal Monte      VANC        43   22.16
Les Bartley         TORO        27   13.92
Paul Day            ROCH        17    8.76
Lindsay Sanderson   OTTA        12    6.19
Darris Kilgour      WASH         7    3.61
x-Terry Sanderson   MONT         7    3.61
Jim Brady           NEWJ         4    2.06
x-Ron Roy           COLU         1    0.52
x-Adam Mueller      PHIL         1    0.52
Vote for one - 194 ballots cast


Most Improved Player         Votes    Pct.
Gewas Schindler     COLU        42   21.76
Bruce Codd          MONT        39   20.21
Chris Panos         CALG        30   15.54
Chris Gill          VANC        25   12.95
Paul Gait           WASH        23   11.92
Nick Trudeau        ALBA        19    9.84
Matt Panetta        NEWJ         2    1.04
x-Shawn Williams    ROCH         2    1.04
x-Peter Jacobs      PHIL         2    1.04
x-Dwight Maetche    VANC         1    0.52
x-Colin Doyle       TORO         1    0.52
x-Ben Prepchuk      CALG         1    0.52
x-Josh Sanderson    ALBA         1    0.52
x-Steve Toll        TORO         1    0.52
x-Casey Zaph        ROCH         1    0.52
x-Jeff Ratcliffe    PHIL         1    0.52
x-Pat Campbell      ROCH         1    0.52
x-Darryl Gibson     TORO         1    0.52
Vote for one - 193 ballots cast