Victor

What's that I hear? More music? Of course. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUT5rEU6pqM

We started off this ceremony with the Scatman, so it's time for some more classics to kill off time as I write stuff for the VHL awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xat1GVnl8-k

And now the awkward moment where STZ isn't online.

And the winner of the S37 Sakic Trophy is..... JOHAN HALLSTROM! Of course, this is the trophy which could yet change once the 10th GM casts his votes. Out of the first 9 ballots, Hallstrom received 4 votes but Januzaj is right on his heels with 3, with both Salo and World Peace getting a vote each. So congratultions to Hallstrom for sure but it may be a co-win with Januzaj at the end of the day.

And so, the last VHLM award is upon us. Really by this point these names should be familiar from prior awards. Johan Hallstrom, David Januzaj, Kimmo Salo, and Ron World Peace are THE VHLM class of Season 37 and are rightfully deemed to have been the most important to their team's fortunes. Honourable mentions go out to Blaine Olynick and Minot's Three Amigos of Bruno Wolf, Ashton Galbraith, and Jakub Linholm. HALLSTROM, Johan / - 73GP, 128G, 64A, 192P, +93, 20PIM, 12GWG JANUZAJ, David - 72GP, 67G, 140A, 207P, +44, 70PIM, 170HIT, 155SB, 7GWG SALO, Kimmo - 63-7-0, .917SV%, 1.66GAA, 12SO, 1404SA WORLD PEACE, Ron - 72GP, 79G, 106A, 185P, +83, 145PIM, 345HIT, 119SB, 11GWG

And the winner of the S37 Esposito Trophy is..... KONSTANTIN AZHISHCHENKOV! You know what they say about men with long names? Playoff MVP apparently and a whole lot of copy + pasting. It was close, with KJA claiming 5 of GMs' votes to World Peace's 3 and Olynick's 1.

As proof of the close battle between Yukon and Bern, the champions have 1 player on the playoff MVP (Esposito Trophy) ballot, as opposed to the Royals' 2. It's the usual suspects for Bern, with clutch goaltender Blaine Olynick and top defenceman World Peace leading the way. The Rush were led by the ridiculously long-named Konstantin Jaroslav Azhishchenkov. With him and teammate Hallstrom being promoted to the Riga Reign in S38, the Latvian club have a chance to be even more unstoppable offensively. AZHISHCHENKOV, Konstantin - 10GP, 6G, 8A, 14P, +4, 4PIM, 69.55FO%, 3GWG OLYNICK, Blaine - 6-5-1, .916SV%, 2.64GAA, 1SO, 379SA WORLD PEACE, Ron - 12GP, 5G, 11A, 16P, +0, 42PIM, 58HIT, 30SB, 2GWG

Before moving on to the MVP awards, it's time for the usual shout-outs to some scoring leaders. As is the norm, a couple of players really ran away with points production, but in a fairly refreshing change, both are actives. David Januzaj carried a fairly lacklustre Bratislava Watchmen squad to the playoffs with a ridiculous 140 assists and 207 points, while Johan Hallstrom split the season between Oslo and Yukon and was equally prolific with both, scoring 128 goals. Hallstrom's addition through trade secured two cups for Yukon, as they narrowly edged out Bern for the regular season and playoff titles.

two-way tie with Doubligne.

And the winner of the S37 Bourque Trophy is..... RON WORLD PEACE! Despite a disadvantage to top scorer Januzaj in assists and points, Ron World Peace was a goal-scoring and hitting machine and takes the award with 6 votes to Januzaj's 3. The S37 12th overall pick has come a long way and could be a dark horse candidate for the S38 Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy.

Moving up the ice from goalie to defence we come to the Bourque Trophy. It was a great season for defensive prospects in the VHLM. On a stacked ballot are a Cologne, New York, and Toronto prospect, as well as Helsinki's recent first overall pick. It would be fair to say all are in with a chance of winning. HUDSON, Penis Anthony - 72GP, 22G, 99A, 121P, +57, 126PIM, 342HIT, 147SB, 2GWG JANUZAJ, David - 72GP, 67G, 140A, 207P, +44, 70PIM, 170HIT, 155SB, 7GWG SVOBODA, Vojczek - 72GP, 39G, 98A, 127P, +37, 90PIM, 126HIT, 123SB, 5GWG WORLD PEACE, Ron - 72GP, 79G, 106A, 185P, +83, 145PIM, 345HIT, 119SB, 11GWG

And the winner of the S37 Yzerman Trophy is..... KIMMO SALO! Ultimately Salo takes the spoils with 7 votes to Olynick's 2. Having lost the Founder's Cup and this award to his Finnish counterpart, expect Olynick to come back with a vengeance in his rookie season with Cologne. He's already starred in a S37 pre-season cameo and for Team World at the World Cup.

In S35, Mike Szatkowski Jr. and Brick Wahl dominated the VHLM's goalie department over fellow S36 GM goalie Martin Brookside. As Mike and Wahl moved on to the VHL, Brookside became the MVP of Bratislava's S36 campaign, with newcomers Blaine Olynick and Kimmo Salo immediately following. Naturally, this season was all about Olynick and Salo, the top two goalies and the two Founder's Cup finalists. Turku's Brock Waldron is the third wheel on this ballot, but is expected to be the first overall pick of the coming VHLM draft and by default the S38 goaltending champion. In the meantime, it's Olynick vs Salo for the Sawchuk. OLYNICK, Blaine - 63-8-1, .913SV%, 2.24GAA, 5SO, 1856SA SALO, Kimmo - 63-7-0, .917SV%, 1.66GAA, 12SO, 1404SA WALDRON, Brock - 35-17-3, .882SV%, 3.10GAA, 3SO, 1450SA

MVGM*

And the winner of the S37 Yzerman Trophy is..... BRUNO WOLF! In the recent VHL draft chat, we speculated that Bruno Wolf is a porn star name. If that is the case, he clearly has some fans, winning this award with 6 votes to Stepanov's 2 and Samuelsson's 1. Goodbye Jeevan, you shall be missed. But it's a relief to see an active claim this award, which so often seems to be dominated by VHLM veterans.

During last season's festivities I predicted that newly-named Yzerman Trophy winner Aelred Leskowsky, my former draft pick in Davos, was on track for VHLM stardom. Indeed, his two-way play has put him on the ballot for the 3rd or 4th straight year in a row. He does however have a long way to go yet to reach the level of Jeevan Samuelsson, the now retired VHLM veteran who returned after a brief VHL stay to end his career as he spent it: among the top scorers of the league. Aleksander (Sasha) Stepanov is also part of this largely inactive ballot. It really comes down to his offensive output compared to the superior hits of lone active and recent second overall pick Bruno Wolf. LESKOWSKY, Aelred - 72GP, 60G, 63A, 123P, +34, 61PIM, 192HIT, 259HTT, 8GWG, 52.74FO% SAMUELSSON, Jeevan / - 71GP, 64G, 52A, 116P, +55, 56PIM, 175HIT, 165HTT, 7GWG STEPANOV, Aleksander - 72GP, 94G, 97A, 191P, +50, 60PIM, 160HIT, 285HTT, 12GWG WOLF, Bruno - 72GP, 57G, 75A, 132P, +39, 113PIM, 257HIT, 223HTT, 94SB, 9GWG

And the winner of the S37 Ken Holland Trophy is..... AUSTIN GOW! No surprise here. 7 votes for Gow, who now joins his brother, S35 winner Jim, on this illustrious list of GMs: http://www.vhlforum.com/index.php?/topic/786-ken-holland-trophy/ Barabash and McBride both took a vote each after a successful end to their respective VHLM GM careers.

But it's not at MVP that we start our award expedition. Instead, we go straight to the bottom of the VHL/VHLM Awards forum with the Ken Holland Trophy, awarded to the minor league's top GM. Austin Gow Tyler Barabash John McBride Never since Season 18 has someone other than the GM of Founder's Cup champions been awarded the Ken Holland Trophy. Thus, the bookies' favourite this season has to be the Yukon Rush's Austin Gow. His competion are Tyler Barabash, who build finalists Bern Royals before moving on to GM the Seattle Bears midway through the season, and the Turku Outlaws' John McBride, who in his last season in charge assembled the most active locker room of the VHLM.

Yes, despite only receiving 9 ballots for VHLM awards, the live announcing of the VHLM award winners is back by popular demand. Plus, all winners are known, the only thing that can change is that the MVP vote may turn out to be a tie.

Tonight's theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6oXW_YiV6g

The average human brain can only take in so much black text. Luckily for you, the fourth annual VHL/VHLM Awards Ceremony will once again feature logo emoticons. And if you're lucky, the now traditional GIF interlude by our own STZ may yet again entertain you between VHLM and VHL awards announcements. We start in less than 30 minutes.

Yes Molholt

you guys better show up and post then

Live VHL awards ceremony tonight at 6 Eastern. Still haven't received a response from one of the VHLM GMs, and even though he can only change one of the awards (and at most, make it a tie), I think I'll skip the VHLM awards especially considering they're usually ignored and the first half hour or so doesn't get much interest. Of course, if this post gets a reaction calling for VHLM awards then I'll include them.

Yes, essentially. But it's hell of a lot better than S27 or so, let alone before S20.