Malmo Nighthawks All-Time Award Winners

[animal74 1,809]

Malmo Nighthawks All-Time Award Winners

 

The Malmo Nighthawks have had some very high highs and fairly low lows since joining the VHL in S66. In spite of their inconsistent success, Malmo players have won a large amount of VHL awards over the years. With the Nighthawks clinching their second ever Victory Cup with the best record in the VHL for S79 and the surprising run of awards garnered by Malmo’s players last season, I would like to present a rundown of the awards the franchise has won and the team’s most decorated players.

 

Team Awards:

As is fair to a team that is only in its 14^th season in the league, Malmo’s list of Team Awards earned is short but unfortunately, much shorter than some of their contemporaries. However, the Nighthawks look poised for some sustained success under the guidance of GM @hylands who, with much skill and some luck, has assembled an offensive juggernaut just reaching its prime.

 

Terence Fong Trophy (European Conference Finalists – Playoffs)

2x – S68, S75

 

Victory Cup (Best Regular Season Record)

1x – S68

 

Continental Cup (VHL Champions)

1x – S75

 

Individual Awards:

One player is responsible for winning most of these awards and anyone around the VHL the past 10-12 seasons know who that is. Defenseman Condor Adrienne was inducted into the VHL Hall of Fame immediately after a brilliant and enviable career which culminated in and ended with Malmo’s first Continental Cup in S75. He played his entire career for the Nighthawks and is the franchise leader in most categories.

 

Jake Wylde Trophy (Top Defensive Defenseman)

5x – S66 (Tie) (Basaraba Moose @Toasty), S70, S73, S74 (Tie) (Condor Adrienne @OrbitingDeath ), S78 (Randy Marsh @oilmandan)

The award most won by Nighthawks over the years, the Jake Wylde Trophy has been awarded to three different defensemen on five different occasions. The first Nighthawk to ever win an award was Canadian rookie Basaraba Moose who showed poise on an expansion team with an even plus/minus and 174 shot blocks (2^nd in the league). He shared it with Seattle’s Samuel Gate @scoop. Then came the dominance of Condor Adrienne which will be a common theme in this article. Adrienne won the Wylde Trophy three times (the only player to have won three) in five seasons being Top-6 in shot blocks twice and Top-4 in penalty minutes three times. Then S78, Randy Marsh capped off a rambunctious career by leading the league in penalty minutes, being 4^th in hits, posting a +19 and 162 shot blocks for a surprise win.

 

Alexander Valiq Trophy (Top Offensive Defenseman)

3x – S72, S74, S75 (Condor Adrienne @OrbitingDeath )

In the three years that saw Adrienne win the Valiq Trophy as the league’s top offensive d-man (a feat no one has matched), he led the league in points once, assists once, was third in assists the other two seasons, and led the league in power play goals once. He led VHL blueliners in points all three seasons and goals twice and was Top-10 in many other categories.

 

Credit: @DollarAndADream

 

Sterling Labatte Trophy (Top Defenseman)

3x – S72, S74, S75 (Condor Adrienne @OrbitingDeath )

In S72, Condor Adrienne led the league in points, power play goals and shot blocks. In S74 Malmo’s future HOFer became the first defenseman to win the Wylde, Valiq, and Labatte in the same season. In S75, he led the VHL in assists and all defensemen in points.

 

Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy (Top Rookie)

1x – S73 (Chris Hylands @hylands)

Malmo’s 14^th overall pick in the S72 draft set the VHL on fire in his first season scoring 34 goals (second among rookies), 42 assists (tied for second among rookies) to lead all rookies with 76 points, a total he would never stoop below the rest of his career. He was 9^th in the league in minutes played and shots while leading the VHL with six game-tying goals.

 

Dustin Funk Trophy (Most Improved Player)

2x – S73 (Ray Sheilds @Zetterberg), S78 (Brendan Telker @Telkster)

Two Nighthawks have been chosen as the VHL’s Most Improved Player both in their sophomore season. First, Ray Sheilds posted a 66-point increase with 85 points with Malmo after a 19-point rookie season with Seattle. Then most recently, S77 5^th overall selection Brendan Telker improved on his 50-point rookie season with 90 points in S78.

 

Brett Slobodzian Trophy (Most Outstanding Player)

2x – S68 (Matt Thompson @Beketov), S72 (Condor Adrienne @OrbitingDeath )

Malmo has been fortunate to have two players within a span of five seasons win the Slobodzian and Szatkowski Trophies. In his swansong season, Matt Thompson came to Malmo to chase a championship. While that dream didn’t come true, one of his finest seasons did as he won the Most Outstanding Player by his peers with the most votes in VHL history at the time. He led the league in goals and points (by a wide margin) and plus/minus and shooting percentage. In S72, Adrienne’s legend began to grow as he earned a few more votes than Thompson had while leading the VHL in scoring near the end of the dead-puck era.

 

Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Points Leader)

2x – S68 (Matt Thompson @Beketov), S72 (Condor Adrienne @OrbitingDeath )

Matt Thompson had his second best season in his last year as he posted 60 goals and 122 points which led the VHL by 10 (goals) and 17 (points).Then in S72, Adrienne became only the second defenseman ever to lead the VHL in scoring as he was the only player to reach 100 points including an astounding 35 goals on a last-place team!

 

Scotty Campbell Trophy (Most Valuable Player)

1x – S68 (Matt Thompson @Beketov)

It was pretty much assured that after a 60-goal campaign (which was 27 more goals than his next closest teammate) that saw him dominate all areas of the ice and lead Malmo to the playoffs that Thompson would earn the first MVP trophy of his career.

 

Alexander Beketov Trophy (Assists Leader)

1x – S75 (Condor Adrienne @OrbitingDeath )

In his final season, Condor Adrienne became the first Nighthawk to win the Beketov Trophy when he narrowly led the league with 70 assists after being in the Top-8 in assists the previous three seasons. It was his second straight season with 70 or more assists (82 in S74).

 

Kevin Brooks Trophy (Goals Leader)

1x – S68 (Matt Thompson @Beketov)

Nowadays, reaching the 60-goal plateau almost guarantees you the Kevin Brooks Trophy as the league’s top sniper. Thompson hit the mark for the second time in his career earning him his third Brooks Trophy on his way to becoming only the seventh VHL player to reach 400+ career goals.

 

Daisuke Kanou Trophy (Playoff MVP)

1x – S75 (Chris Hylands @hylands)

After coming so close with Matt Thompson in S68, Adrienne and the Nighthawks finally reached the pinnacle of the VHL becoming Continental Cup Champions in S75 defeating the D.C. Dragons in six games. Chris Hylands took flight tying for the playoff lead with 14 goals including a league leading four game-winners as he showcased his all-around brilliance leading the Nighthawks in ice time and his 27 points were one off the league lead.

 

David Knight Trophy (Top General Manager)

1x – S68 (Chris Miller @Advantage)

Chris Miller won the Top GM award after Malmo’s best season to date. After only being in the league for two seasons, Miller’s astute drafting, trading and the signing of Matt Thompson, pushed the assembled veteran talent up front, rising defense core and hot second year goalie Michael Johnson @fonziGG, to the league’s best record and a trip to the Cup Finals.

 

Trophies by Player:

 

Condor Adrienne (12)

Matt Thompson (4)

Chris Hylands (2)

Ray Sheilds (1)

Basaraba Moose (1)

Brendan Telker (1)

Randy Marsh (1)

Edited September 7, 2021 by animal74
Added tag

[Beketov 9,025]

7 minutes ago, animal74 said:

In his swansong season, Matt Thompson came to Malmo to chase a championship.

To be fair I was mostly chasing 400 goals. Thompson had a cup by the time he joined Malmo and while we played better than anyone expected I didn’t join up with cup expectations.

[v.2 1,406]

Excellent media spot, being on the team and having hardly any prior knowledge of Malmo's history it was nice to read this and learn a bit about the teams short past.  Clearly you put some time into this researching past award winners, formatting, and tagging everyone.  Insightful stuff!  Hopefully one day Deathwalker and Sova will be on the list .  Overall rating 10/10.

[fonziGG 1,068]

No top goalie huh?

Edited August 31, 2021 by fonziGG

[animal74 1,809]

10 hours ago, fonziGG said:

No top goalie huh?

Had some good ones but not yet. Maybe this year, eh @Molholt?

[animal74 1,809]

Claim 2/2 (1200+ words)