S57 Hall of Fame Induction

[Advantage 2,770]

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Season 57 Hall of Fame Induction announcement.  Everywhere we honour former VHL players and members by inducting them into our illustrious Hall of Fame.  This year we had only one new addition to the ballot and quite a debate over three or four different players, which led to some interesting selections come voting time.  Additionally, as a collective we agreed that we would not be inducting a Builder this season.  Therefore, lets take a look at the two newest members of the VHL Hall of Fame.

 

D- Jeff Hamilton S46-S53

RS: 576 GP, 181G, 478 A, 659 P, +194, 333 PIM, 687 HIT, 988 SB, 43 GW

PO: 54 GP, 10 G, 30 A, 40 P, -23, 57 PIM, 84 HIT, 117 SB, 3 GW

 

S50 Labatte Trophy Co-Winner (Top Defender)

S53 Labatte Trophy (Top Defender)

S50 Alexander Beketov Trophy  (Most Assists)

One Continental Cup (S51)

 

Yes, @sterling has another player being inducted into the VHL Hall of Fame.  I'm actually unsure if he has ever had a player that hasn't made it, but regardless, Jeff Hamilton was a worthy induction and one that has been looked at the past couple seasons.  Being a two-time Top Defender is usually enough to be considered a lock, but Hamilton's mix of offense and defensive play made him an absolute force throughout his eight season career.  With his only struggles coming in the playoffs, Hamilton still showed off a physical and defensively strong game when the games amped up in intensity.  On top of that he is one of the most prolific scoring defenders ever and led the league in assists in Season 50.  With just a couple seasons left in his career, Hamilton was able to secure his one and only Continental Cup.  Congratulations Sterling on the amazing career and another player in the VHL Hall of Fame.

 

The second inducted member squeezed in (which surprised me as I felt he easily should get in) but really took the league by storm throughout his career, and that player is...

 

 

LW - Pietro Maximoff, S49-S56  

RS: 576 GP, 372 G, 417 A, 789 P, +372, 167 PIM, 418 HIT, 252 SB, 63 GW

PO: 76 GP, 42 G, 42 A, 84 P, +4, 15 PIM, 62 HIT, 49 SB, 8 GW

 

S49 Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy (Top Rookie)

S51 Grimm Jonsson Trophy (Top Leader)

S52 Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Most Points)

S52 Kevin Brooks Trophy (Most Goals)

S52 Dustin Funk Trophy (Most Improved)

Two Continental Cups (S51, S56)

 

Pietro surprisingly only received 6/12 votes and barely squeaked in but I don't believe it's because of his resume.  Maximoff owned one of the best award cabinets on the ballot and some tremendous regular season and playoff numbers to boot.  I believe the biggest hesitation for most was that this was his first season on the ballot while others have waited a bit.  Nevertheless, it was just too hard to ignore his overall resume that includes a Szatkowski and Brooks Trophy and multiple Continental Cup victories.  Maximoff bounced around a bit after leaving Riga but he managed to be a dominant force everywhere he went, and to many becoming the modern day VHL player who relied on skating and scoring pretty much exclusively to get it done.  Maximoff would finish just short of 800 points for his career and was definitely living in the shadow of some of the more dominant two-way guys like Parechkin and others during his career, but that doesn't change the fact that Pietro Maximoff had the career that many would dream of and Hall of Famers are expected to have.  Congratulations @Green on another Hall of Fame player!

 

HOF Voting Results

Jeff Hamilton - 9/12

Pietro Maximoff - 6/12

Aleksi Koponen - 4/12

Tom Lincoln - 3/12

Wesley Kellinger - 0/12

Jakab Holik - 0/12

Tyson Kohler - 0/12

Mike Szatkowski Jr. - 0/12

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Wow. Im quite surprised Maximoff got in. Thanks for the votes though and sorry to dissapoint with quill and warlock

[Beaviss 4,949]

8 hours ago, Green said:

Wow. Im quite surprised Maximoff got in. Thanks for the votes though and sorry to dissapoint with quill and warlock

 

Warlock is going to be a VHLM legend

[Baozi 1,635]

Grats!

[sterling 1,990]

Thanks again

[Frank 4,772]

Congrats!

 

Quebec well represented.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

congrats to those who got in, well deserved

[boubabi 4,725]

Maximoff but not koponen? Eummmm