On Wednesday, the Canadian Premier League announced that Halifax Wanderers defender Dan Nimick is one of three nominees for the CPL Defender of the Year award.
Nimick, 23, made quite the impression in his first professional season, proving himself a key part of the 2023 Wanderers squad as he logged a full 90 minutes in all but one of the side’s regular season matches this season. Nimick showed a nose for goal as much as he showed a knack for defending. His six goals, four of which came from the penalty spot, were the most by any CPL defender in 2023, and he set up another three with a trio of assists.
GOAL ⚓️@HFXWanderersFC open the scoring vs. @ValourFootball as Massimo Ferrin hits a screamer from just outside the box 🚀
🔴 Watch #CanPL on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/Orz5uoJbkW
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) October 7, 2023
Nimick’s direct play forward is just one of the attributes that stood out this season, as he led outfield players in the CPL with 174 successful long balls played. In a record-setting year for Halifax, Nimick was a standout, named to the Gatorade Team of the Week on six occasions, earning Player of the Week honours in week 12 and week 20, and winning the title of Player of the Month for August.
LATE WINNER 🫣
Dan Nimick gets a goal against @ForgeFCHamilton and pushes @HFXWanderersFC ahead in the last few seconds of stoppage time with a penalty advantage, taking home all three points 👏#CanPL | @onesoccer
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) July 1, 2023
The other nominees are Forge FC’s Manjrekar James and Cavalry FC’s Daan Klomp. The winner will be decided through voting by CPL club technical leadership and selected media members representing local and national outlets who consistently covered the 2023 CPL regular season. The winner will be revealed at an in-person ceremony in Hamilton, Ont. on Thursday, Oct. 26, as part of the CPL Final weekend festivities.
The winner of the Defender of the Year award will receive a unique piece of Inuit soapstone art, carved by artist Ruben Komangapik. The Walrus statue was chosen to honour the CPL’s best defender because the animal is one of the ocean’s toughest creatures, feared even by polar bears and killer whales, like a tenacious defender who is a true guardian of the gates for his squad.
The 2023 CPL Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on dedicated soccer channel OneSoccer, available as a linear channel on Optik TV (Ch. 980), the pay-TV service operated by Telus, one of Canada’s “big three” telecoms companies, as well as on streaming service fuboTV Canada. OneSoccer is also offered as an affordable streaming service through the OneSoccer.ca website, via Roku, Chromecast and Apple TV devices and with the OneSoccer app for iOS and Android devices.