Whitecaps ironman claims prestigious A-League award on eve of his 50th consecutive game with Vancouver.
Vancouver Whitecaps defender Rick Titus was today named the A-League Defender of the Year.
Titus, who was recently given All A-League honours for the second consecutive year, has played every minute of every game for Vancouver since joining the club on June 13, 2000, a streak of 49 consecutive games and 4,950 consecutive minutes over two seasons.
The 32-year-old from of Mississaugua, Ontario, is expected to play his 50th career game and 5,000th consecutive minute for Vancouver on Wednesday at Swangard Stadium, when the Whitecaps take on the Hershey Wildcats in game one of their two-game total-goal semi-final playoff series. Kick-off is 7:30 p.m. with tickets still available from Ticketmaster at 604-280-4400.
Titus is in his fifth A-League season, after previously playing for the Toronto Lynx (1997-98), Hershey Wildcats (1999), and Staten Island Vipers (1999). He played 17 games for Hershey, Wednesday's playoff opponent, in 1999 before being traded mid-season to Staten Island. Titus was named Vancouver's Defensive Player of the Year last season, although ironically that award went this year to defender Chris Franks. Last week Titus was given All A-League First Team honours after being given All A-League Second Team honours the year before.
Rick Titus' Vancouver Playing Statistics (p = playoffs)
Year GP GS Min G A Pts GWG C E
2000 18 18 1665 0 1 1 0 0 0
2000p 3 3 304 0 0 0 0 0 0
2001 26 26 2391 1 1 3 0 2 0
2001p 2 2 180 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 49 49 4950 1 2 4 0 2 0