S94 Vancouver Wolves Awards

[Gaikoku-hito 2,081]

S94 Vancouver Wolves Awards

 

Can I start off the S94 Vancouver Wolves Awards by saying that we better win the darn trophy this season since I don`t like having such a long boring off-season of completely doing nothing but wondering when the heat will break and when the darn season will start again so that I actually have a reason to be excited for a band new day again.. Yes, This also took longer for me to write this season due to said lack of motivation but also due to actually being busy with summer fun stuff so even though the Wolves voted what feels like a month ago now; it was only two weeks btw… we are finally here to recognize the players that made last season so successful so without much more waffling on let get to what everyone actually came for the awards….

 

 

Best Defenseman:

Vancouver Wolves started the season with a full defensive core when Left Alone made the surprise switch to back-end joining newly acquired Mark Calaway, longer term veteran Liv Slater and big bruising defender Guntis Gavilrovs so who was voted best defender by the team this season?
 

Spoiler

Mark Calaway @Beketov

19G – 57A – 76pts

 

While Calaway struggled since coming from D.C. Dragons in the off season by his standards as did most of the Wolves defensive core last season; he was still the most consistent defender on the back-end for the Wolves. And clearly his teams recognized his nightly efforts. Management will be looking for a repeat and even more from this veteran defender; if the Wolves are going to lift the Continental Cup at the end of S95.

 

(Votes: 7 – Calaway; 1 – Slater & Gavilrovs)

 

 

Little Wolf Award (Most Hits):

Spoiler

Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts

248 Hits

 

Second season in a row winning this award and actually really consistently as he had 253 hits last season. I have a feeling we are going to get used to see his name on this award and we should also start to see his name mentioned in the Jake Wylde trophy conversation sooner than later…

 

 

Unsung Hero:

I think I say the same thing every season but this season I let the team vote on this award to see who they thought was our unsung hero; the one player that might not have been the stats leader but made a huge difference when games mattered the most. And voted by the team the winner is…..

 

Spoiler

Dalkr Vidarsson @KaleebtheMighty

34 – 22 – 8       2.78GA     0.919%      5 SO

 

Not surprised by the end result of the voting as Vancouver at points this season really struggled to score meaning Vancouver played a lot of low scoring games and relied way too much on Vidarsson than I think overall the team would have liked. It was close voting as Vidarsson won by a single vote proving how tough award this is determine.

 

(Voting: 3 – Vidarsson; 2 – Gavilrovs & Wheeler; 1 – Lazaro & Kemp)

 

 

Sniper Award (Shooting Percentage):

Spoiler

Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy

10.36%

I am always surprised by this award since it not something that I follow through the season and usually determines if a player had a strong statistical season but that really isn`t the case here as Ninefingers didn`t actually improve much from S93 to S94 stat wise rather suggesting that he needs to shoot the puck more but also shows that he is bound to breakout in a massive way sooner than later… S95?

 

 

Most Energetic:

It is so great to see a active locker room again after a few season of rebuilding, dead to floor locker room. Excitement was real at the start of last season with a ton of chatter and thanks to STHS; it did slow towards the end of the season and now you can hear the knocking of everyone collective heads banging the walls as we wait for the new season to start …. I love this locker room as everyone adds great value even some of the outsiders that still prefer to hand-out with the wolves… You know who you are so I won’t tag you and shame you!! LOL!! Oh, yes!! The award goes to……

 

Spoiler

Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy & Riley Martin @Smarch

Not at all surprised that this award was shared this season since the locker room has been hugely active this past season and should actually only see more available to be nominated for this award in the future with the new rookie class already having a big presence in the room. As Wheeler keeps saying I do what I do!!

 

(Votes: 3 – Ninefingers & Martin; 1 – Kemp, Lazaro & Wheeler)

 

 

QB Award (PP Assists):

Spoiler

Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy

17 Assists

A bit surprising since this usually goes to a defender as we like to run our offensive from the back-end through the likes of Bouchard, Payne, and Slater in previous season sort of maybe kind of shows that we really struggled last season to score goals even on the power play. We need Ninefingers being a bit more selfish and shooting more; please!!

 

 

Most Valuable Player (MVP):

Spoiler

Owen Lazaro @traphag

39G – 56A – 95pts

 

Expected a really strong season from Lazaro as they came over from Helsinki in a massive three way deal seeing young defender Von Carstein and Borisyuk moved out. Did we expect an MVP season from Lazaro? Yup, as that is why we make these types of trades!! Of course not but we knew we would be getting a player that could chip in offensively and be a leader on the ice. Which is what we got from Lazaro last season so not surprised that majority of her team mates voted her MVP.

 

(Voting: 7 – Lazaro 1 – Slater & Kemp)

 

 

Tooth Fairy (PIM Award):

Spoiler

Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts

249 PIM

 

I guess if you set the tone with a ton of hits, you are also going to set the tone with your fair sahre of PIM. Won this award in a landslide with more then 100PIM more than the next player; Slater. Only seven fight majors are part of these numbers meaning it wasn`t all rock`m sock`m hockey from the big defender but clearly other teams must question wanting to dump the puck into his corner!!

 

 

Rookie of the Year/Top Prospect Award:

Since we traded away our only rookie this season and I don`t think it would be fair to award someone on another team; we will instead award this award to the best prospect as we have done in previous season. Three Prospect Pierre Marc Bouchard, Bollos De Trueno and Soju should all make the debuts this season and actually fight for this award at the season end but who gets named the best prospect this season?

 

Spoiler

Pierre Marc Bouchard @Gaikoku-hito& Bollos de Trueno @Thunder

 

Interesting tie since it is very likely that these two prospect battle it out for Rookie of the year next season as well and I won`t lie I completely forgot that I actually asked this question as part of the poll in the locker room. Two very interesting and both deserving prospects that should make a impact next season and could play a huge role if Vancouver is going to be successful; no pressure right!!

 

(Voting: 4 – Bouchard & Trueno & 1- Soju)

 

 

Always Responsible (Plus/Minus):

Spoiler

Rip Wheeler @ScottyP

Plus 31

 

When we started looking for a depth forward that had a bit of scoring upside to his game we looked at Wheeler as far back as S93 but we were unable to complete a deal with Calgary at the time so again this past off season we were looking to add more depth scoring with a bit of upside and we found ourselves once again looking at Wheeler. Add in the fact that we also consider the locker room chemistry due to friends/foes on the roster and we knew Wheeler would fit in like a OJ leather glove!! Has done everything and more expected of him since joining the Wolves so it also nice to see him get reward with an award.

 

 

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

Spoiler

Left Alone @okochastar

14 PIM

 

Last season winner but also doubled his PIM as he won this award with 8PIM last season; What a goon!! It doesn`t come as much of a surprise since Alone has been very disaplined through his career with a total of 125PIM so not really a surprise here.

 

 

Oops Sorry Eh!! (Least Hits)

Spoiler

Left Alone @okochastar

25 Hits

 

Again, winning this award for the second time in two season and once again doubled his hit up from last seasons 9 hits. I guess Alone really wanted to go out with a bang this season!!

 

 

Shoot the lights out (Most Shots):

Spoiler

Owen Lazaro @traphag

430 Shots

 

Not that big of a surprise since Lazaro lead the team in scoring and one thing that I have learned you need to shot the puck a ton if you are going to hit the back of the net. So famous quote about something and something; you miss 100% of all the shots you don`t take or something like that.

 

 

Work Horse Award (AMG):

Spoiler

Mark Calaway @Beketov

30.31 AMG

 

New captain and a new horse to ride into the ground so welcome Calaway to the Work Horse award and I am sure Slater will be happy to see management off of her back as she won this award the past two seasons. Will assume that Calaway will be ridden even hard this coming season due to running three defenders to start the season, rookie joining the backend and Slater looking for a bit of a break by moving to forward to finish out her career.

 

 

Common Coach (Least Played):

Spoiler

Martin Kemp @leafsman

1863 MP & 25.89 AMG

 

Maybe this is one aspect that management got really wrong last season as Kemp finished second in team scoring yet was the least played!! Okay, a lot of this also had to do with coming over a few weeks into the season from Riga as Vancouver was struggle and looked to shake things up by acquiring Kemp with Bouchard so really should have had higher numbers if they played the full season on one team and in Vancouver for the full season. Sad to see Kemp leave the team this off season but that part of hockey.

 

 

Bruised and Battered Award (SB):

Spoiler

Mark Calaway @Beketov

158 SB

 

Okay, I won`t lie this one surprised me as I 100% thought our big bad wolf Gavilrovs would have claimed this award again as due to the fact that he won the PIM & hits award so should have laid the body on the line right? I guess if you are in the box and not on the PK means you cannot get accidentally on purpose hit by the puck. I guess I should have been that surprised since this is actually common for Calaway to block around 160 shots per season.

 

 

Three Stars Award:

I always forget about this award until I actually get to it every season but at least I have a nice spreadsheet and quick way to come up with the data so give me a few seconds and I will be back with the results….. and no the bar isn`t on the house until I get back…… Trueno & Wheeler get away from the that bar will you two!!

 

 

Okay, I am back and I ran as fast as I could …. The winner of the Three Stars award is…….

Spoiler

Owen Lazaro @traphag

360 Points

 

With 7 First Stars, 5 Second Stars and 5 Third Stars selections this season. Once again proving that our MVP is truly Lazaro this season and actually no real big surprise here.

 

	1ST Star	2nd Star	3rd star	Total	Points
Owen Lazaro	7	5	5	17	360
Dalkr Vidarsson	7	4	3	14	320
Martin Kemp	6	5	3	14	310
Logan Ninefingers	5	4	6	15	290
The Frenchman	5	3	8	16	290
Rip Wheeler	3	9	0	12	270
Liv Slater	2	6	4	12	220
Keita Kourou	2	5	5	12	210
Riley Martin	3	2	5	10	180
Mark Calaway	1	3	3	7	120
Left Alone	1	3	1	5	100
Guntis Gavilrovs	1	3	1	5	100
Annie Oaks	2	0	1	3	70

 

Final Thoughts:

Always tough as I stated last season when a team is expecting to be much better than what the end result ended up but we have a ton of positives to look back on in this past season as we had further growth from all members of the team and brought in even more core members to hopefully push this young team over the top and towards the Finals. Three very strong rookies joining the team this season so hopefully everything comes up Wolfy this season!!

 

 

Exciting days are ahead for the Wolf Pack!!

 

@Frank@Gaikoku-hito@Beketov@leafsman@Subject056@Scurvy@ScottyP@traphag@Smarch@Thunder@Girts@KaleebtheMighty

 

Aug 11th, 18th, 25th. & Sept 1st Claims

Edited August 5 by Gaikoku-hito

[Girts 1,053]

Congrats! What a great group! 

[Gaikoku-hito 2,081]

Aug 18th

[Gaikoku-hito 2,081]

Aug 25th

[Gaikoku-hito 2,081]

Sept 1st claim

[rory 1,915]

Grat (singular)

[JardyB10 4,865]

On 8/4/2024 at 5:58 AM, Gaikoku-hito said:

C'mon Coach (Least Played):

Fixed.