NO LONGER LIVE! S35 VHL/VHLM Awards Ceremony

[Victor 10,536]

Hello, people of the VHL. It's the second annual (seasonal) live VHL/VHLM awards ceremony and perhaps it will be shorter than last time.

It will be shorter than last time because I'm already tired of typing and I've just begun. Gone are the days of producing 2,000 word Media Spots, I now write for the historic VHL Mag. By the way, thank you to my readers. Or reader. There's got to be one.

[Victor 10,536]

Awards then. We begin with what was decided by the almighty sim, i.e. the champions. Congratulations once again to first-time Continental and Victory Cup winners Quebec City Meute (hooray for expansion!) and first-time under their new name Founder's and Prime Minister's Cup winners Ottawa Lynx (hooray for Ice Dogs!).

Yes, there are no VHLM logo emoticons on this site yet for which I have no excuse. All those responsible shall be reprimanded. For now, we'll have to cope.

[Victor 10,536]

Imagine having to go through the whole first part of the awards ceremony without any logos. Oh, that's what is actually going to happen. Bear with me as I quick pace my way through the VHLM awards. All deserving winners of course, let that not be forgotten, though ultimately, this will be their stepping stone to much more memorable glory.

Now that I have completely destroyed all merit of winning a VHLM award, let's commence with the Ken Holland Trophy, awarded to the VHLM's top executive. At the inaugural live VHL/VHLM award ceremony, this award went to Jordan Eng, who led the Yukon Rush to their 2nd championship in just 4 seasons of existence.

This off-season, Eng has stepped down with Austin Gow being appointed Yukon's GM. This season, Gow's client Robert Gow III played alongside 'cousin' Robin Gow and won the cup with Ottawa, GMed by Austin's actual brother Jim Gow. Yes, the Gows are taking over. To the extent that Jim Gow is the front-runner for this award. Up against him are Jack Sixten (Jackim), who led to the Saskatoon Wild to a valiant defeat by Ottawa, Thomas Landry (Doomsday), manager of finalists Oslo Storm and Sebastian Ball, GM of Europe's best regular season team - the infamous Vasteras IK J20, now looking for their seventh straight playoff appearance, almost unheard of in the VHLM.

[Corco 1,124]

Awards then. We begin with what was decided by the almighty sim, i.e. the champions. Congratulations once again to first-time Continental and Victory Cup winners Quebec City Meute (hooray for expansion!) and first-time under their new name Founder's and Prime Minister's Cup winners Ottawa Lynx (hooray for Ice Dogs!).

Yes, there are no VHLM logo emoticons on this site yet for which I have no excuse. All those responsible shall be reprimanded. For now, we'll have to cope.

Don't be too hard on yourself.

[Victor 10,536]

And the winner of the S35 Ken Holland Trophy is....

JIM GOW!

For the 17th straight time, the VHLM's top GM is the GM of the winning team. There's no building for the future in the VHLM, well, there is, but it is only recognised when that future becomes a successful present. Jim Gow now joins an impressive list of GMs who succeeded and takes 9 out of 10 votes to win this award.

[Victor 10,536]

Don't be too hard on yourself.

I like going hard on myself.

[Victor 10,536]

The Yzerman Trophy is awarded to the VHLM's top two-way forward and this season has a few strong candidates. Here is what GMs had to pick from on the ballot...

SAMUELSSON, Jeevan (YUK/OTT) 71GP, 74G, 96A, 170P, +108, 45PIM, 174HIT, 219HTT, 31SB, 15GWG

XIAO, Xin Xie (SSK) 72GP, 86G, 42A 128P, +52, 173PIM, 387HIT, 208HTT, 15SB, 14GWG, 50.35FO%

LESKOWSKY, Aelred (MIN) 72GP, 52G, 42A, 94P, +42, 65PIM, 192HIT, 201HTT, 7SB, 11GWG, 51.21FO%

MCQUEEN, Brennan (OTT) 72GP, 49G, 35A, 84P, +42, 183PIM, 410HIT, 96HTT, 10SB, 7GWG

Jeevan Samuelsson is the modern VHLM great, joining the likes of Tyler Vassell, Samuel Grabovski, and Evgeni Galchenyuk. Like those others, he's a mainstay in the VHLM scoring charts and has claimed this award before, back in Season 32, and this season won his second straight Founder's Cup. But was his scoring prowess sufficient to overcome his rivals' more prolific hits totals?

Xin Xie Xiao, or XXX as he is better known, became best known for his insane playoff campaign despite a failure to make it to the finals. But he was no slouch in the regular season either, with 387 hits being more than all but one Yzerman Trophy winner in the past. Despite his on-ice performance, XXX almost fell to 4th overall in a top-heavy draft, going 3rd to New York in the end.

Davos prospect Aelred Leskowsky is the dark horse for this award, similar to his position in the Dynamo's prospect pool. Neither a stand-out offensively or defensively, he was consistent which may be enough to win it.

Brennan McQueen graduates to the VHLM with disappointing offensive achievements, but looks a force to be reckoned with physically. 410 hits trumps XXX, though still not Dave Mustaine's record, and such a pace in the VHL would set records, even with an extra VHLM season.

[Victor 10,536]

Did I say I would make this short?

I lied.

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

Gratz Jimmy

[Victor 10,536]

And the winner of the S35 Yzerman Trophy is....

XIN XIE XIAO!

The highly-touted Asian had a glorious season capped off here at this awards ceremony. He's vying for more awards, but one is already an achievement, plus it was a close battle, XXX getting 50% of the votes, with 3 going to McQueen and 2 to the veteran Samuelsson.

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

XXX, you beast

[Victor 10,536]

And we have one fan ladies and gentlemen. Please put your hands and feet together for DAVEEYYYYYYYY JOOOOOOOOONES

[Victor 10,536]

The Sawchuk Trophy has gone to some great goalies, even Hall of Famers, in the past and a couple other future stars are vying for this award in S35.

CUMBERBATCH, Que (MIN) 55-12-5, .914SV%, 2.11GAA, 9SO, 1773SA

SZATKOWSKI JR., Mike (OTT) 60-8-4, .908SV%, 2.16GAA, 7SO, 1704SA

WAHL, Brick (SSK) 41-22-9, .909SV%, 2.57GAA, 7SO, 2062SA

However, Brick Wahl and Mike Szatkowski Jr., now the future of the New York Americans and Riga Reign, respectively, may have the activity and the agents (two VHL GMs) but the stats back up the lifetime VHLMer and recently retired Que Cumberbatch. Do stats or activity prevail in today's VHLM?

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

Thank you. Thank you.

[STZ 5,280]

Samuelsson is three straight, I believe.. Maybe even 4 lol!

[Victor 10,536]

And the winner of the S35 Sawchuk Trophy is....

QUE CUMBERBATCH!

Stats it is then. Munk has apparently returned to the league with a new player, but Cumberbatch will definitely go down in history alongside the likes of Pavle Buric, Erich Schomann, and Zach Fucale, rather than Daisuke Kanou, Marek Van Urho, and CAL G. It wasn't much of a competition either, 7 votes for Cumberbatch, 2 for Wahl and just 1 for regular season and playoff champion Szatkowski Jr.

[Victor 10,536]

Samuelsson is three straight, I believe.. Maybe even 4 lol!

I didn't find him on the Bratislava Founder's Cup thread.

[STZ 5,280]

I didn't find him on the Bratislava Founder's Cup thread.

 

He was on the team.. I traded him and Jones to Yukon in a package..

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

He was on the team.. I traded him and Jones to Yukon in a package..

 

He sure did.

[Victor 10,536]

He was on the team.. I traded him and Jones to Yukon in a package..

My advanced statistics guys report he was plying his trade on the Quebec City Meute in S33... http://vhlsim.net/File/13-RegularSeason/VHL33-ProTeamScoring.html#Meute

before they were good

[Victor 10,536]

The stats vs activity debate continues with the Bourque Trophy, awarded to some great defencemen in the past. This season, the two favourites have to be Razzle Dazzle and Conner Low, both on strong teams but one inactive and another the future of New York's blue line.

DAZZLE, Razzle (MIN) 72GP, 41G, 79A, 120P, +65, 96PIM, 234HIT, 141SB, 6GWG

LOW, Conner (OTT) 72GP, 33G, 76A, 109P, +43, 106PIM, 140HIT, 127SB, 6GWG

PRIKULIS, Lauris (BRT) 72GP, 15G, 70A, 85P, -20, 165PIM, 301HIT, 176SB

Dazzle has the stats, though the underdog here is Lauris Prikulis, a rare Latvian in the VHL universe. The Cologne prospect has flown under all radars so far but has a superior defensive game to his two rivals, although he was possibly helped there (but hindered in other aspects) by playing on the woeful Bratislava Watchmen.

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

And the winner of the S35 Sawchuk Trophy is....

QUE CUMBERBATCH!

Stats it is then. Munk has apparently returned to the league with a new player, but Cumberbatch will definitely go down in history alongside the likes of Pavle Buric, Erich Schomann, and Zach Fucale, rather than Daisuke Kanou, Marek Van Urho, and CAL G. It wasn't much of a competition either, 7 votes for Cumberbatch, 2 for Wahl and just 1 for regular season and playoff champion Szatkowski Jr.

 

Disappointed that this went to an inactive.

[Victor 10,536]

And the winner of the S35 Bourque Trophy is....

CONNER LOW!

So perhaps activity does influence the voters. A great victory for Low, taking 7 votes to Dazzle's 3, despite the clear disadvantage in terms of raw numbers. Low has a VHL future and Dazzle does not, plus Low's agent Smarch helped the league out a lot in transferring between websites prior to S35.

[Victor 10,536]

We're heading into the final stretch here for the VHLM. I've tried to limit the facts, but I hope this has been an insightful recap of the minor league which most VHLers pay little attention to, even when they're part of it, myself admittedly included.

What did catch my attention though was the stat line of one player in the recent VHLM playoffs, shown below.

XIAO, Xin Xie (SSK) 10GP, 22G, 11A, 33P, +14, 24PIM, 54HIT, 2GWG

LOW, Conner (OTT) 9GP, 4G, 19A, 23P, +10, 25PIM, 44HIT, 15SB

MCQUEEN, Brennan (OTT) 9GP, 13G, 2A, 15P, +10, 20PIM, 55HIT, 4GWG

Playing for the absolute underdog, XXX led an offensive onslaught against Minot and Que Cumberbatch (the top goalie if you recall) to deliver a 2.2 goals-per-game pace, a 3.3 points-per-game pace and just an unbelievable performance on the whole. This includes 5 games against the clearly superior Ottawa Lynx, who themselves have two worthy candidates for the award. Low and McQueen have already featured on ballots tonight and will their part in the actual cup-winning roster reduce Xiao's accomplishments? Remember, last season, Matteo Gallo, in similar circumstances, didn't claim the trophy after his team went out in the conference finals, although his stats were not as impressive.

[Victor 10,536]

And the winner of the S35 Esposito Trophy is....

XIN XIE XIAO!

History has been made! A non-finalist has been crowned playoff MVP, a feat made possible by the introduction of a 3-round system and a bye to the second round for each conference's regular season champion. This year's 3rd overall pick claims his second award of the night, this one a landslide, with 9 votes to Conner Low's 1. His 33 points are second to Niklas Lindberg's 34 in S33, but that was in 17 games.