Advantage

Claiming Week 4 of 4

Ah my bad. When looking at the player page that definitely confused me. My apologies.

Honestly, given how my last few players have gone, I'm sure people will catch me in no time lol

Reviewing the S89 VHL Draft's 1st Round Using TPE As a member of the Season 89 VHL Draft Class, I have specifically been keeping an eye on how some of the other members have been doing since being selected. Part of that is to see where I stand compared to my peers and also part of it is due to having two other teammates who were selected in the 1st Round alongside me. So I have a special interest, to be sure, when it comes to how our draft's prospects are developing. Therefore, I decided to specifically look at the players that had been selected in the 1st Round of the Season 89 Draft. Now this was a draft that received some criticism for not having a lot of elite talent and also for not necessarily being particularly deep. In fact, at the time of the draft it seemed to be all about Jensen and Queefson with everyone else falling a bit further behind them. However, as this list below will show, this narrative as not necessarily continued on, and while one player does seem to be staying fairly ahead of the rest of the pack (okay, so obviously I have a bit of bias here..) there were definitely some real gems that ended up coming out of the first round. 1st Round of Season 89 (Organized by TPE) 1 -- Viktor Jensen (578 TPE - +230 Since Draft, Selected 1st @Advantage) 2 -- Montgomery Burns (501 TPE - +201 Since Draft, Selected 3rd @LastOneUp) 3 -- Jeff Lewis (489 TPE - +235 Since Draft, Selected 10th @nerji) 4 -- Zyn Westwood (446 TPE - +174 Since Draft, Selected 5th @Sullvino) 5 -- Eric Queefson (441 TPE - +104 Since Draft, Selected 2nd @twists) 6 -- Shubham Anand (440 TPE - +217 Since Draft, Selected 13th @Will3) 7 -- Fradin McGryer (435 TPE - +204 Since Draft, Selected 4th @Fradin99) 9 -- Ronald Johnson MacWallace III (420 TPE - +196 Since Draft, Selected 7th @RJMW) 9 -- Keegan Gamble (408 TPE - +217 Since Draft, Selected 11th @Keegan Gamble) 10 -- Pope Francis (402 TPE - +105 Since Draft, Selected 8th @nurx) 11 -- Savaisk Tzesar (401 TPE - +194 Since Draft, Selected 12th @comrade cat) 12 -- Ben Laas (389 TPE - +169 Since Draft, Selected 6th @dustywilson22) 13 -- Otis Boudreaux Jr (383 TPE - +153 Since Draft, Selected 9th @Otis Boudreaux Jr) 14 -- Dominik Kopecky (272 TPE - +86 Since Draft, Selected 15th @DustyMclaren) 15 -- Marty Byrd (260 TPE - +106 Since Draft, Selected 16th @Marty B) 16 -- Tobias Weiss (258 TPE - +44 Since Draft, Selected 14th @jfaly) Best Pick: Jeff Lewis (10th - Moscow) - Pretty hard to argue with this one. Jeff Lewis has developed the most since the Draft, even more so than Viktor Jensen, who has gained on the rest of the pack when it comes to development. Lewis, who is making his VHL debut this season, is coming off a season with Cologne that saw the young Canadian record 30 goals and 79 points over the course of the 72 game season. A real gem here for Moscow and this sturdy short king seems to have the stuff to keep finding success at the professional level. Honourable Mention: Shubham Anand (13th - Calgary) - This Indian-born winger has had the third best development track since the draft and is returning for his second, and likely final, season in the VHLE. Last year saw Anand have a bit of an up-and-down year as he was involved in a trade that saw Geneva send the young winger to Vasteras, who had been struggling greatly as a team. Anand would finish the season with 17 goals, 40 points and 106 hits over the 71 game season, which was a respectable though unspectacular total compared to someone like Lewis who was picked just three picks before. With that being said, we are betting on a bit of an improvement this season for Anand and while the results have not necessarily been there, his overall game has noticeabley improved with Anand showing the ability to round into an all-around player.

Claiming Week 3 of 4

I’m good with that if you are. Doubt anyone would mind since it’s typically first come first serve.

@Victor if anyone else is able to take Dil on, I think it would be for the best. I might have a bit of trouble getting it done over the next couple of weeks so feel free if anyone else wants to get it done quicker.

1. I really think my team, the Malmo Nighthawks, had an amazing off-season, but to give you someone else...I liked Moscow's off-season a fair bit (despite being overrated slightly by Spartan). 2. Hoping for 20 Goals and 50 Points at a minimum. Would love to have a true breakout year and get near the point-per-game territory. 3. Hoping for myself but I think Tzesar is due for a breakout year as he enters into the VHLE. He looked really comfortable in the VHLM last year as he improved greatly on the year prior, and I think he takes another step this year. --- 1. You win 1 Million Dollars in the Lottery...how do you deal with that influx in cash? 2. Who would you take with 1st overall in VHFL this season? 3. You can change one award winner from last season. Who is it and why?

Tremendous pick!! Congrats @Doomsday!

Sparks: Shutout vs CGY: 54/54 Shutout vs SEA: 25/25 Shutout vs HSK: 23/23 Shutout vs VAN: 24/24 Shutout vs LDN: 29/29 Shutout vs WAR: 35/35 Shutout vs LAS: 31/31 Shutout vs RIG: 29/29 Shutout vs PRG: 23/23 273 Saves in 9 Shutouts 30.33 per Game During Regular Season averaged 35.61 Shots against per Game Wallob: Shutout vs VAN: 40/40 Shutout vs MAL: 23/23 Shutout vs SEA: 17/17 Shutout vs DC: 38/38 Shutout vs LDN: 47/47 165 Saves in 5 Shutouts 33.00 per Game During Regular Season averaged 36.78 Shots against per Game I definitely don't regret picking Wallob as my winner as I do think he ultimately had the better overall season, but I am curious to see if a points system breaks more ground in the BOG with some discussion.

Claiming Week 2 of 4

That’s fair, one of the big factors for @KaleebtheMighty was that @hylands really wanted to play in Malmo. And while I know what you are saying, I see our defensive depth fairly different with some guys leaning more towards depth. But tbh not a bad problem necessarily to trade from a strength like that if the cap forces it.

I’m going to do some number crunching into the shutouts and get back to you in here hopefully later tonight once the wife is in bed, but I know the general belief was that they faced a similar workload and he had a higher save percentage (and not by a small amount) and the best GAA in the league. I did find in 3 star voting it was pretty close: Wallob 1st Star - 8 2nd Star - 9 3rd Star - 3 Total Points - 45 Sparks 1st Star - 9 2nd Star - 6 3rd Star - 4 Total Points - 43

I should add, a really good article @Spartan these are never easy to do and you’ll never please everyone but yet we all love to read them (hence all the activity on it).

Yea I feel like outside of Stone there isn’t necessarily another potential elite guy on D while the two he mentioned are solid potential 2nd pair guys on a top team. Meanwhile we are graduating or are close to graduating two forwards to join Jensen, Trunov and Williams. I certainly don’t think up front was any more of a need than another big piece on the backend. I also think it’s interesting to bring up Hylands history @Spartan . From what I can find I know his last player he retired earlier but his previous guy was 1300+ tpe (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, just going by portal search of his username). My history is pretty horrible if we ignore Sullivan and Wahl but I always seem to get passes for going high so I find it strange after a single player would mess up his perceived reputation that much. It’s also important to note the recent forwards we acquired are part of the reason we could comfortably go defense.

Jensen Showing Off as Europe Dominates WJC Viktor Jensen has been spending part of his off-season suiting up for Team Europe at the Season 89 WJC. Jensen, who won Gold last year, has been showing off thus far on his road towards a repeat Gold Medal. “I want to bring Gold home for Europe. We have a great team once again and we have gelled together very quickly. Outside of one performance where we just didn’t have it against a solid team, we haven’t really faced much adversity whatsoever. So I do expect that to come but I’m clearly here to fight past that and win some gold to put around my neck.” Jensen has been dominating with 10 goals and 8 assists for 18 points, over the teams first ten games. And the team has been the best team in the tournament through those ten with an 9-1-0 record. Even in games where he didn’t necessarily find the scoresheet, he always seems to be making an impact. In the teams ten games, Jensen has recorded 60 shots and an incredible 65% Faceoff Percentage (on 365 draws). This dominance and progress in his skill set can mainly be attributed to the work he has been putting in this off-season according to Jensen: “I’ve really been trying to improve my overall strength and my technique when it comes to taking draws. My skating has been improving too with specifically my acceleration, agility and balance being the most impacted and giving me the best results so far. It has been a huge change in my game and it’s definitely for the better.”

Transaction ID: 21526593964796302 5 TPE Uncapped Doubles Week 1 Million

I will say @Banackockone thing that may help BOG (and I may bring this up in there) is to lay out the moves of each GM up for it for the awards show. I know I took some opinions of what was done at face value, and I do think that can confuse voters at times as opposed to having everything all laid out.

I know someone mentioned cycling a lot of the same assets around, although this is a totally fair devils advocate play. I do think this one could go to you for sure and really nice response Bana. I was pretty split overall though honestly on this one and like I said..I hate voting on it for so many reasons.

My VHL Award Ballot For Season 89 ‘ For those that have gotten to know me over the years, you might know that I have never minded explaining my reasoning when it comes to who I voted for. I have always believed there should be a fairly high amount of transparency in the league when it comes to what the Blues/BOD discuss and what the rest of the league sees. And I have always felt that this should stretch to awards as well. The Hall of Fame and the Awards show are two of the most important things I get to have an influence on, and that has always been one of my favourite things about being a member of the Board of Governors. ‘So I decided to put together an article on who I voted for in the Season 89 Awards and explain a little bit about my reasoning. I’m not necessarily going to go too in-depth with each of these awards, as some of them are pretty self-explanatory, but I will make sure to at least justify my pick with each one. So without further ado, going in opposite order of status, lets get to my picks. DAVID KNIGHT TROPHY (TOP GM) - Euron Leonidas (MOS - Spartan) I have to be honest when I say that I have always hated voting for this award. It’s always been fairly arbitrary to me and is always the one that seems to have the most variance in options being discussed. Thus I have always believed a one-to-one comparison with the previous year's team, the moves you made during that season and the previous off-season and overall team success are the three contributing factors to decide on who takes home the David Knight Trophy. This is an award I have been fortunate to take home six times when I was a General Manager, but since then it has been Bana that has taken over as the league’s most successful and decorated in its long history. And once again, he was a candidate in this one. The two candidates I was really looking at were Blake Campbell (SEA) and Euron Leonidas (MOS). There were a few other names discussed that really put together excellent campaigns like Frank Chadwick (VAN), Zack Gagnon (LA) and Benjamin Zeptenbergs (RIG). Ultimately though, I leaned to Euron Leonidas on this one. In what is a narrow vote for me I felt that Moscow saw a bit more of an upheaval in the depth department after they signed seven unsigned free agents and also made a major move that helped propel them to the best record in the league. This is always a tough one but that’s ultimately the choice I went with. DUSTIN FUNK TROPHY (MOST IMPROVED) - Brian Kowalski (RIG - Wheaties) This one is honestly one that I originally thought seemed like a bit of a runaway but was swayed by a few other members in the league towards potentially looking at another player instead. Brian Kowalski was the player I saw immediately as he was a frequent name in these awards and improved by 56 points, going from a decent offensive player to an absolutely dominant player that was arguably the league’s best player this season. However, my eyes turned to Nikolas Kauppi who broke out and went from a 39 point player to an 87 point talent. He originally had a bit of a down second year after a solid rookie year but exploded for 25 more goals with a career high of 40 and then added 47 assists to go along with a bit more physicality. He was a member of Prague for both season’s but did see an increase in minutes and responsibility which definitely could have had an impact on why the difference was so vast. Nevertheless, his season was tremendously impressive. Ultimately, I went with Brian Kowalski though. His career high in points was 54 and he had been coming off a very similar campaign where he recorded 52 points and a career high in hits of 226. Kowalski was switching teams from Davos to Riga, which is the most brought up criticism of his season in the Board of Governors. Nevertheless he would jump 56 points and had by far his best blocked shot season with 233, which was an increase of 105 over the previous one. Also, while he did switch teams, they were similarly successful with Davos finishing with 93 points in Season 88 and Riga ending up with 92 points in Season 89. Get ready to read his name a lot by the way. CHRISTIAN STOLZSCHWEIGER TROPHY (TOP ROOKIE) - Jasper Davis (NYA - Josh) This is the award that I first ever won when my first active player, Michael Angelo, took it home in Season 20. It’s been one that can come and go when it comes to having much competition, and has often been dominated by goaltenders of late. While the Board of Governors did discuss the solid season Merome Dilson had in Calgary, it ultimately ended up being someone else that I felt had the best overall season. Jasper Davis made his debut in New York after a tremendous season in the VHLE for Geneva, and despite the addition of multiple veterans that were going to eat their piece of the pie, he still excelled. Davis finished with 30 goals and 62 points while also being an occasional physical presence up front on their second line. That kind of impact despite the team improving and keeping him down on that second line, earns himself the win for me when it comes to the Stolzy. SCOTT BOULET TROPHY (TOP TWO-WAY FORWARD) - John Jameson (PRG - Frank) This award celebrates the best well-rounded forward in the league looking at their defensive accomplishments, their physicality and of course their offensive accolades. Ronan Lavelle, Sirdsvaldis Miglaskems and John Jameson were the names that got the most conversation. All three scored 50 goals and all three had at least 200 hits with Lavelle having the most points but least amount of hits, Miglaskems having the least amount of points but most number of hits and Jameson finishing second in both categories. I sided with Jameson in the end who had only one less point than Lavelle but had an impressive 243 hits and a solid 39 blocked shots to go along with it. He had the best plus/minus of the three and was easily one of the most valuable players in the league this season with 25 more points than anyone else on his roster. JAKE WYLDE TROPHY (TOP DEFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN) - Brian Kowalski (RIG - Wheaties) We already covered that Brian Kowalski had quite an impressive season that included a monstrous 108 points from the backend. When it comes to the Jake Wylde Trophy though, the focus is on some of the other attributes in a player. Hammar Voss and Brian Payne definitely played at an impressive level defensively and physically, but the focus actually came around to a familiar name. To me this kinda has to go to Brian Kowalski. Not only did he have that tremendous offensive season but he showed incredible feistiness and physicality with 218 hits and was another goalie for the Reign with a ridiculous 233 blocked shots. He just filled the stat sheet in pretty much every way this year and unfortunately for some of these other great defenders, Kowalski continues to get a lot of shine. ALEXANDER VALIQ TROPHY (TOP OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN) - Brian Kowalski (RIG - Wheaties) This really was a debate between two players in Brian Kowalski and Hammar Voss who both had incredible offensive seasons that saw the two players finish just two points apart. The argument for Kowalski is that he led in points and had by far the most goals with 23. Meanwhile, Voss has the argument of utilisation as he was not double-shifted on the PP like Kowalski was and played less minutes overall. I ultimately went with Brian Kowalski again as while the offensive performance was narrow, I felt his goal total could not be ignored. With eight more goals than Voss and being the leading scorer of their team (while Lavelle led for Moscow over Voss) I felt Brian Kowalski once again had the best case. Hate to be a broken record though and do wish I had a little more variation, but he just simply earned it. STERLING LABATTE TROPHY (TOP DEFENSEMAN) - Brian Kowalski (RIG - Wheaties) The illustrious trophy that has seen many famous names from Sterling Labatte himself to Daniel Braxton to Conner Low to Hammar Voss last year, win it and etch their name in league history as the best defenseman in a single season. Sometimes it can definitely be an interesting debate but in other cases, like this one, there is really only one name that is getting considered. I don’t think it should be surprising at all to see Brian Kowalski get my vote here as he was my choice for both the Wylde and Valiq Trophies that decide the top defensive and offensive defenders in the league. So obviously he is my clear choice for Top Defenseman overall after putting up more points and blocked shots than Hammar Voss, Brian Payne and Jake Thunder while also continuing to be a tremendously physical presence with over 200 hits too. Brian Kowalski with the clear sweep for me defensively and with my Most Improved win on top of that. AIDAN SHAW TROPHY (TOP GOALIE) - Clueless Wallob (MOS - DMaximus) Likewise to the Labatte Trophy, the Aidan Shaw Trophy crowns the best player at a single position as we look at those who tend the nets in what is usually a one-sided vote that usually goes towards the leader in save percentage in the past. That being said, while I didn’t find this one to be a hard one to vote on, my choice had a definitively better Save Percentage, GAA and even more wins than both Ash Sparks and Jesse Teno, who are two others that got some consideration. This has to go to Clueless Wallob for me though. A league-best .937 save percentage and a tremendous 2.31 GAA and 45 wins to pair with it, made him my easy choice after a dominant season for what was the best team in the entire league during the regular season. If Ronan Lavelle didn’t have such an amazing season, I think he would have had more consideration for the Scotty Campbell Trophy as League MVP, but nevertheless Wallob was the MVP of the goalies in my book. DAISUKE KANOU TROPHY (PLAYOFF MVP) - Lachlan Summers (DAV - kirbithan) I recently wrote an article on this debate and I will link my thoughts HERE so that you can read through some of my considerations. I do think this is clearly between Lachlan Summers and Jake Thunder, and regardless of who wins what will be, in my opinion, a very close vote, this will be a tremendous feather in the cap to both of these players. However, while Thunder was the driving force earlier on in the playoffs, Summers had a remarkable four final games of the series that saw every win that Davos had on route to their Continental Cup victory. Over the course of those four wins, Summers faced just shy of 44 shots per game, and finished with a 1.75 GAA and an astounding .960 save percentage over that stretch. He stonewalled Vancouver in those four games and played like the deserving Playoff MVP in my book. SCOTTY CAMPBELL TROPHY (MVP) - John Jameson (PRG - Frank) The award that everyone dreams of winning, at least when it comes to individual accomplishments, as this award deems the Most Valuable Player in the league, named after the “Wayne Gretzky of the VHL” in Scotty Campbell. This one is always difficult to vote on and is almost always a close vote as several candidates are usually considered. This one was a little different though as the Board of Governors narrowed it down to two players. Wallob and Lavelle, both of the Moscow Menace, were seemingly eliminated from the vote given that they played on both teams. Kowalski did get some talk but had some other players that had excellent seasons on that Riga Reign squad with The Frenchman not being too far back at least. Jesse Teno, meanwhile, had an anemic offense with only one player recording 70 points on the team and despite that, the London United finished with a solid above-average record that saw them make the playoffs, and it was Teno they owed that to. He recorded a .933 save percentage and fantastic 2.38 GAA to go along with 33 strong wins. However, he was not my choice. John Jameson.was my definitive choice for the Most Valuable Player as he finished 25 points ahead of anyone else on his team. A team that finished with a strong 38-26-8 record was led by the Irish forward who finished with the second most points (just one back of Lavelle), the second most goals (tied with Miglaskems) and the sixth most assists just to add a cherry on top. You could go a couple ways here and maybe there are others that I missed, but I have John Jameson as my Scotty Campbell Trophy and League MVP. —-- And with that, I hope you all enjoyed reading about who I voted for to win each league award. Who did you agree with? Who do you think I got wrong? I would love to hear everyone’s opinions so feel free to share and give me your picks on who should take home the individual hardware this season. Members Mentioned: @Spartan @Banackock @Frank @InstantRockstar @hedgehog337 @Wheaties @Tetricide @Josh @MexicanCow123 @Arce @FrostBeard @BOOM @Scurvy @Jericho @Smarch @sterling @DMaximus @DarkSpyro @aimkin @Thunder @kirbithan @OrbitingDeath ***Also, I am sorry if I get any of these wrong for who I actually voted for. I voted a few days back and am in no condition to completely remember right now! Pretty sure I got it right though.*** 2000+ Words (Claiming Week 1 of 4)

ROOKIE EXPERIENCE – VIKTOR JENSEN [MALMO] Written by Viktor Jensen It wasn’t an easy rookie experience to say the least. I came in with all these big dreams about being able to do what I did in every other league I have played in, and take over at some point and be the best player on the ice for consistent stretchers. However, that simply never happened. I had an easier start as the team and I had really gelled early and we got off to a great start. Unfortunately that isn’t how the rest of the season went but I did learn a lot at least, about what it takes to get to that next level. I came in with the goals and expectations of being a solid second-line pivot right off the bat, thinking 20 goals and 50 points would be what I would likely average, given the success I have seen in some of the previous leagues I have played in. As you can imagine though, I didn’t find it that easy. This was the first time I really felt like I was struggling to adapt and was a step behind for a consistent stretch of the season. I also really wanted to help take our team to the playoffs as the Nighthawks were coming off a tough campaign being one of the rebuilding teams in the Victory Hockey League. Finally, I really wanted to improve in the dot and become someone who won more draws than he lost. I knew a couple of these goals were probably lofty, but I was committed to keeping the expectations high as I knew that was what was expected of me given the hype and the draft position. Unfortunately, the expectations may have been the biggest problem as I struggled to mesh at first with professionals that range from slightly older than me to veterans in our great league. Here I am, this beardless child who has never played anything above the VHLM, stepping onto the ice with guys who have won the Continental Cup or players I looked up to and watched growing up. It was a more difficult adjustment than I thought it would be, but I definitely think it got easier as the season went on, even if the performance wasn’t quite there. I fell short ultimately in all of my goals, but I think part of the problem was the expectations I put on myself, and now that I know what I need to improve and develop further, I am confident that my sophomore experience will be better than my rookie one.

Jensen's Off-Season Plans Viktor Jensen enters this off-season with a lot of development to do after a difficult first campaign in the Victory Hockey League. The young Norweigan center started strong but struggled as the season continued and was unable to impress as the wear and tear of the games went on. When asked about what his off-season plans were, he had this to say: “I’m definitely taking some time to see family and friends but then I will be getting to work in hopes of being a lot more productive next season. The focus will definitely be on my offensive development as I want to be a little better at creating offense and of course faceoffs, as that’s always something I want to improve on. I will also likely spend a lot of time in the gym in hopes to fill into my frame a bit better.” Jensen has shown some promise and seems to have a decent chance of finding himself on the All-Rookie Team, but if he doesn’t show much development on the ice next season, there will be some red flags popping up for “fans” to pick at, as the first overall pick will undoubtedly have a target on him if he doesn’t live up to the hype.

Summers or Thunder - Who will Win the Daisuke Kanou Trophy? Hello everyone, I decided to take the week off doing trade reviews and instead give everyone an inside perspective of someone who is struggling to decide on who should take home the Daisuke Kanou Trophy for Playoff MVP. For me this comes down to two players, in goaltender Lachlan Summers and defender Jake Thunder, both members of the Continental Cup winning Davos Dynamo. I have really been debating this one back-and-forth, and as you may have expected so are many others in the Board of Governors. Therefore, I thought I would put a little article together based on my own thoughts and opinions on the award and the likelihood of one player winning over the other. I will start with Jake Thunder who has been the person I think most people would think will win after putting up a very strong 10 goals, 22 points, 59 hits and 33 blocked shots over the sixteen-game stretch. His finals was pretty strong as well with 9 points, 26 hits and 10 blocked shots during the six-game series. For most of the series he carried Davos’ play offensively as he drove it the entire way, but admittedly did fair a lot better against weaker competition in the other matchups. He finished the playoffs with the second-most points, first in goals and fifth in assists among all players (not just defenders). He also finished third in hits, fifth in blocked shots and had a remarkable four game-winning-goals, including the Continental Cup winning one. Certainly if he were to be voted in, it would be pretty hard to argue it and he would be absolutely deserving. Lachlan Summers has been someone that has looked better and better with every review. At first, I thought he looked like a goalie that had a really good playoff campaign, but simply didn’t have the incredible eye-catching results that Thunder had across the board. As I continued to inspect the situation a bit further though, I realized he really stepped it up quite a bit during the Continental Cup Finals. Summers faced well over 40 shots per game over the six-game series and had a .943 Save Percentage, and as seen below, he was absolutely dominant in all four victories. Lachlan Summers Continnetal Cup Finals Game 1: 4.00 GAA, .911 SV%, 41/45 (Loss) Game 2: 4.00 GAA, .909 SV%, 40/44 (Loss) Game 3: 2.00 GAA, .960 SV%, 48/50 (Win) Game 4: 1.00 GAA, .974 SV%, 37/38 (Win) Game 5: 2.00 GAA, .957 SV%, 44/46 (Win) Game 6: 2.00 GAA, .951 SV%, 39/41 (Win) As seen above, Summers’ best argument is definitely that in the final four games (all of which Davos won) he stepped it up above everyone and carried them to their Continental Cup victory. With that being said, he was no where near as good in the other series’ so while he may have been the biggest x-factor during their final series, it was Thunder who drove them to the Finals in the first place. That’s why I struggle to decide on who realistically should be the victor and admittedly I am pulling for a draw myself so that both can take home the honour of being the Daisuke Kanou Trophy winner. So who will take home the Daisuke Kanou Trophy? I think Thunder will take it by perhaps a single vote, but I definitely think it will be a close one and it would very appropriate if both tied and shared the honour. That’s what I’m honestly pulling for but obviously both are very deserving candidates and it will be a great one to watch going into the VHL Awards Ceremony.

BRENDAN MARNER: LOCK FOR FIRST BALLOT HOF? Brendan Marner enters the VHL Board of Governors' attention for the first time when it comes to Hall of Fame consideration, as of this year. After a career that saw him record 685 points in 504 games (remarkable total given seven seasons) and an impressive 1622 hits to go along with it; Marner was an impressive power forward for his excellent seven season career, spent entirely on Warsaw. This actually was a fairly interesting conversation in the Board of Governors and while I won't go too in detail, but it certainly wasn't a unanimous opinion on whether Marner deserved to be a first ballot Hall of Fame player ot not. Once I started diving into it though, while he had a few award wins, it was his All-Star Team finishes that seemed most impressive to me on first notice. To be considered a top-6 forward in the league in four of his seven seasons seemed like an absolutely ridiculous accomplishment. Once I looked into it, it was even more impressive as he had four finishes in the Top-3 of the league in points, which is incredible company I would have to imagine (maybe I will look into that at some point). This goes with two Top-5 finishes in goals and four Top-10 finishes in assists. To me that was the moment I had to say he deserved it 100% and while I am not sure how the vote will go, I hope this becomes the end result because that kind of elite statistic in a league full of as much parity as the VHL has, would deserve such a prestigious honour in my opinion.