S93 Vancouver Wolves Awards

[Gaikoku-hito 2,069]

                                        Vancouver Wolves awards                                            

 

 

After a season break the most important and the only awards that matter are back!! Season 93 seen great growth and the future arrive this season in Vancouver but in the end, there was too much of a learn curve or simply a learning season for the Vancouver Wolves. Vancouver was hopeful of making the playoffs this season but in the end missed the playoff by three points; which seems closer than it really was. The Awards are a great time reflect on the past season while recognizing the players that made a difference one way or another for the Wolves this season. Enough waffling about and let’s get onto the awards, shall we?

 

 

Best Defenseman:

Vancouver Wolves started the season with five defenders with two veterans in Liv Slater @Subject056 and Jens Lekman @Bobcat, who were tasked with leading a rookie back end with new comers Vlad Von Carstein @Dom, Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts and DB IV @wcats. A quarter of the way into the season it was clear a five man system just wasn`t going to help the development of the younger defenders so out goes Jens Lekman @Bobcat to Calgary giving more minutes to the rookies and more of a opportunity so who at the end of the season was Vancouver Wolves best defender?

Spoiler

Liv Slater  @Subject056

28-59-87pts

There is a huge reason why Vancouver has never traded (sort of) Slater as she continue to lead the Vancouver Wolves as the teams captian on and off the ice; not to mention a league award winner with Alexander Valiq Trophy, Jake Wylde Trophy and Sterling Labatte Trophy. Once again she should have her name mentioned with these awards and will be interesting to see if she can retain one of them this season.

 

 

Unsung Hero:

Every time that I have these awards to handout you would think it would get easier and easier to determine some of them but the Unsung Hero award is one of the hardest one to give out since it is hard to define what is a unsung hero, I usually think of someone that might have gone under the radar a bit and played an important role for the team but might not get as much credit as they deserve. This season unsung hero is…..

Spoiler

Dalkr Vidarsson @KaleebtheMighty

0.913% & 3.08GA

It must feel like forever for Vidarsson since he has had a strong defensive core in front of him, this again wasn`t the case this season. While his numbers are very similar if not slightly weaker than last season he was a big reason why Vancouver was in most games this season and again will play a much larger role should the Wolves win a Continental cup in a few season. As the team gets stronger around him so should his overall numbers improve.

 

 

Most Energetic:

Welcome back Vancouver after two season of a rather quiet locker room where a pin being dropped would echo throughout; this season seen the locker room come back to life in a big way with general excitement being feed off of the fans and the city with seven rookie, four veteran players arriving from other teams. General feeling that Vancouver would be a much better team and have a chance at the playoffs. While that excitement might have dropped off as it became clear that Vancouver wasn`t likely to make the playoff; it still gave the locker room and the fan bases much to cheer about; not to mention cheering for rival teams and against Calgary when it came clear that Vancouver might get extremely luck and land two lottery draft picks this season. So, who lead the charge in the locker room?

Spoiler

Logan Ninefingers  @Scurvy

32-31-63pts

Joining as 1^st overall selection and one of the favorites to start the season to win the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year. Ninefingers struggled out of the gate and could have easily folded to the pressures of playing in Vancouver as rookie instead the Rookie stayed positive always chatting after every game in the locker room and trying to keep everything positive despite his own struggles. What he lacks in a complete set of fingers he doesn`t lack in team spirit!!

 

 

Most Valuable Player (MVP):

I can waffle on and on but I think this award is rather clear who is the team MVP this season and really has been for the past three or four season so let just pull the band aid off quickly shall we….

Spoiler

Liv Slater  @Subject056

28-59-87pts

 

 

Clearly the class of the team this season with 16pts more than any other player and finished 4^th in goals on the team as a defender; top three in SB and a huge reason why Vancouver has kept this player around through the rebuild. If Vancouver wins a cup in the next few years it will be due to Slater playing a large role.

 

 

Rookie of the Year:

Seven rookies started the season for the Wolves and through a ton of hard fighting, blood, sweet and tears we have to award one of the seven with the Rookie of the year. Throughout the season we seen different rookies really take the rein and rather impress from Vlad Von Carstein @Dom, early hot start to the season being second in the league rookie scoring, Mikko Borisyuk @Minebro rather impressive half a point per game pace, Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts physical presence and defensive ability, Riley Martin @Smarch high shooting percentage on his way to just missing thirty goals this season and Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy turn around to finish with sixty-three points. So Who is the ROY for the Wolves?
 

Spoiler

Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy

32-31-63pts

 

 

Ninefingers at the end of the day really showed why he was drafted 1^st overall and Vancouver was able to get closer to the playoff after trading away veteran players earlier in the season. He led the team in game winners with six and finished third in the teams scoring. The league should take notice as he should be much better next season as he continues to develop.

 

 

Little Wolf Award (Most Hits):

Spoiler

Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts

253 Hits

Two rookies lead the way in hits this season but in the end it wasn`t a huge surprise that massive 6’8” 250lbs defender ended up winning this award. Again, another rookie putting the league on notice that they will be punished when playing Vancouver for seasons to come. Is a Jake Wylde trophy in Guntis Gavilrovs future? Only time will tell!!

 

 

Sniper Award (Shooting Percentage):

Spoiler

Mikko Borisyuk  @Minebro

9.85%

 

A bit surprised but I am usually surprised by this award but to see another one of our seven-rookie claiming an award is rather impressive. While Borisyuk only finished with 13 goals, it rather suggests he either needs to shoot more or get some more playing time as he can score more if he continues to have a similar shooting percentage in the future.

 

 

QB Award (PP Assists):

Spoiler

Liv Slater @Subject056

13 Assists

 

While I am not surprised Slater won the award as I rather expected it. I was however very surprised by how close it was with Martin (12), Ninefingers (11) and Alone (11). Shows that the power-play was able to move the puck around nicely and should only get stronger as the team builds more chemistry.

 

 

Tooth Fairy (PIM Award):

Spoiler

Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts

191 PIM

 

Not at all surprised after I had award the Little Wolf award to this player for having the most hits. While we like his aggressiveness it might be something that he might need to work on a bit but with twenty-five of these coming in the way of fighting majors and unable to determine the minutes due to game misconducts. I think we rather like it more when a player stands up for his team mates!!

 

 

 

Always Responsible (Plus/Minus):

Spoiler

Liv Slater @Subject056

+ 5

At the end of the season, we only had two player finish with a positive plus minus with Zyn Westwood @Sullvino being the other at + 3. It rather shows that we did struggle slightly this season with a rookie line up at keeping the puck out of our own net as we had a -36 GDIFF at the end of the season. Two other veteran players also had positive numbers but didn`t play the full season for the team and didn`t complete the season for the team.

 

 

Oops Sorry Eh!! (Least Hits)

Spoiler

Left Alone

@okochastar

9 hits

Won this award by a landslide as the next close player that played a full season with the Wolves was Riley Martin at 65hits. Most other players were somewhere around a hit per game while Alone was around 0.125 hits per game. To be fair we didn`t acquire him for his physical abilities but rather his leadership and ability to provide offense.

 

 

It wasn`t me!! (Least PIM):

Spoiler

Left Alone

@okochastar

8 PIM

 

 

Not at all surprised since if you really don`t play a physical game than you are unlikely to get called for PIM unless you are fighting a ton. Again, the Martin @Smarch was the closest to him with 19 PIM and maybe should have won this award based on the fact that Martin fought once and looks to have been given a game misconduct accounting for 15 of his 19 PIM. It will be interesting to see if these two can stay as disciplined next season with the team play hopefully more meaningful games down the stretch.

 

 

Shoot the lights out (Most Shots):

Spoiler

Left Alone

@okochastar

495 Shots

 

It seems like someone likes the stage as he has now claimed the last three awards but also shows why we traded for the player as he really does seem to have gone under the radar as one of the team leaders this season; but at the end it was very disappointing that he didn`t hit the 500 shot mark. Common shoot more!! LOL!! Next closest was Ninefingers @Scurvy at 364 shots and Martin @Smarch at 321 shots

 

 

Work Horse Award (AMG):

Spoiler

Liv Slater

@Subject056

30.09 AMG & 2166 MP

No surprise here as Slater is a huge minute munching defender and played 20 minutes more than the next closest player in Ninefingers @Scurvy, which I won`t lie is a bit of surprise that he played as much as he did. Also seems to be runner up a lot for these awards! Hmmm!!

 

 

Common Coach (Least Played):

Spoiler

DB IV

@wcats

21.60 AMG & 1555 MP

This one after thinking about isn`t that surprising since the rookie defender started the season as fifth defender but slowly earned more playing time after a trade seen the Wolves go back the traditional four defender set. DB IV should see a ton more ice time next season unless Vancouver once again starts the season with extra defenders; which I think is unlikely!

 

 

Bruised and Battered Award (SB):

Spoiler

Guntis Gavilrovs

@Girts

164 Shots Blocked

This was why above I mentioned or asked if we can see Jake Wylde trophy in his future as combined with the hits and now Shot blocked all this player is missing is being a top five or six defensemen in scoring to see himself nominated. Gavilrovs lead home all four defenders head of Vlad Von Carstein, Liv Slater, and DB IV. Top forward was surprisingly Left Alone with 43 shots blocked.

 

 

Three Stars Award:

Ah, Poopy!! I forgot to collect the data again for the three Stars so give me a second and have a drink or two at the back of the room while I go get the data!!

Spoiler

Logan Ninefingers  @Scurvy & Dalkr Vidarsson @KaleebtheMighty

300 Pts

A bit surprise that Ninefingers and Vidarsson tied for this award as I would have thought 3rd placed Liv Slater @Subject056 would have ran away with this award this season but I guess it is starting to show a shift in leadership and overall strength of the Vancouver Wolves. While Slater did finish with most overall 3 star selection at 17, she missed out on the award based in points by 10. I believe this is one of the closest 3 Star awards we have ever had.

	1ST Star	2nd Star	3rd star	Total	Points
Logan Ninefingers	6	5	2	13	300
Dalkr Vidarsson	5	5	5	15	300
Liv Slater	4	4	9	17	290
Left Alone	3	5	6	14	250
Riley Martin	3	3	4	10	190
Mikko Borisyuk	3	1	3	7	140
Guntis Gavilrovs	2	1	1	4	90
Vlad Von Carstein	1	1	2	4	70
Zyn Westwood	0	0	0	0	0
Thor Odinson	0	0	0	0	0
DB IV	0	0	0	0	0

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Always a tough season when you believe the team should have made the playoff and as management you put a team together that you think should give the team a chance to play competitive hockey down the stretch. In the end that wasn`t the case this season but it was a huge move in the right direction giving much more hope, continued excitement as we build a contender. This off season should keep the excitement high as two more really good prospect should join the prospect pool; only making the potential of this team that much stronger. With a few holes within the roster needing to filled I would expect Frank will be active this off season trying to bring in players to help the team make another jump forward. I am also not forgetting the exciting debut of another rookie next season in Annie Oaks. It is going to make this off season once again feel like is it going to last forever since I am ready to get the new season started now!!

 

Exciting days are ahead for the Wolf Pack!!

@okochastar@Frank@Gaikoku-hito@Scurvy@Minebro@Smarch@GoalPlays@Sullvino@Subject056@Dom@wcats@Girts@KaleebtheMighty@Trepagoat@Demko@Noodle Enjoyer

Edited April 30 by Gaikoku-hito

[Girts 1,046]

Congrats to everyone on the awards! Honored to have won mine, thanks! Next year we win the Cup!