S70 VHLM Award Tracker

[McWolf 3,116]

 

VHLM Award Tracker

Preview of the S70 VHLM Award Races

     

Hi everyone, and welcome to this season’s only VHLM Award Tracker. In this article, we’ll go through the seven main minor-league awards, and see who are the favourites to come home with them at the conclusion of the season, in 10-to-12 games. I originally intended for this article to come out last week, or at least earlier this week, but with my new job as Saskatoon Wild’s GM, I kind of lacked time for this here. Anyway, here it is. Good read everyone.

 

     

Ethan Osborne Trophy

     

We start it all off with the Ethan Osborne Trophy, given yearly to the player that scored the most points in the VHLM. The four players on top of the leaderboard at the moment are all teammates with the juggernaut that is the San Diego Marlins offence. Blueliner Roque Davis leads the way with an impressive 137 points. It would be the second time in a row a defenseman wins the award after Saskatoon’s Danny DeYeeto scored 145 points. If Davis can’t keep it up, his teammates Kyl Oferson, Roadkill Steve and Uhtred are all within 10 points of him and could all swoop in and claim the award themselves. If somehow, the Marlins’ offence can’t get it done anymore, Ottawa’s Iangenere Risteneen would be next in line for the award, but he’s trailing Davis by 15 points right now, so it would very literally take a miracle.

 

     

Alexander Chershenko Trophy

     

When it comes to the Alexander Chershenko Trophy, awarded to the players who scored the most goals, the race could really go one way on another, as three players currently sit within a goal of each other at the top. Once again, they’re all San Diego Marlins. In fact, Kyl Oferson has 61 goals in 60 games at the moment, with Uhtred and Roadkill Steve both exactly at the goal-per-game mark with 60 goals. If the Marlins were to stop scoring goals until the end of the season, Iangenere Risteneen could be the one to claim the award in the end, as he trails Oferson by a mere 3 goals. Next in line is Erik Killinger of the Houston Bulls -  but he got 55 goals at the moment, so he’d need an extraordinary late-season push to come over the competition.

 

     

Vladimir Boomchenko Trophy

     

The Vladimir Boomchenko race isn’t even a race. Roque Davis, the league-leading scorer, is also leading the assists leaderboard with 106 in 60 games played, which gives him almost 2 assists per game over the course of a full season. His only rival, if we can even call him that, would be Houston Bull Hugh Jass, who sits in the second place with 84 assists, 22 behind Davis. He would basically need to notch 3 or 4 apples every game for the remainder of the season if he even wants a tiny shot at finishing on top, making this race the most one-sided of them all.

 

     

Ryan Sullivan Trophy

     

And from there, we go directly to another award for which Roque Davis of the San Diego Marlins and Hugh Jass of the Houston Bulls are the only two serious contenders. This time, however, it’s tougher to assess who the favourite is. Davis statline of 31 goals and 106 assists easily make him the best offensive defenseman in the league - if not the best offensive player in the league - but his defensive numbers (69 hits and 98 shots blocked) are lacklustre in comparison to Jass, establishing the latter’s claim to the title. In fact, Jass might not have scored as much as Davis so far this season (32 goals and 88 assists), but he really isn’t too far back from him, and he has been better defensively, accumulating 143 hits and 116 shots blocked so far. With a quick look, Davis might seem like the overwhelming favourite, but let’s not disregard Jass too quick.

 

     

Benoit Devereux Trophy

     

We continue with the Benoit Devereux Trophy, awarded yearly to the VHLM’s best goaltender. Two candidates have really separated themselves from the rest of the group by their outstanding performances. Jaxx Hextall, starting netminder for the league-leading Minnesota Storm, leads the league with his 51 wins, low 2.08 goals-against average and with his impressive total of 9 shutouts. His main competition for the award would be Stone Wolski, who trails Hextall in all three columns - though barely - but it can pretty much all be attributed to his Houston Bulls not being quite as stacked as the Storm. However, he does lead the league - and by a fair margin - with a save percentage of .917. In comparison, Hextall’s is only .901. San Diego Marlin Bruce Grimaldi might also be considered as a third option, given that he’s second in the league in wins with 48 and third in the three other stats, save percentage, goals-against average and shutouts. 

 

     

Matt Bentz Trophy

     

The Matt Bentz Trophy is given to the league’s best two-way forward, which basically means it’s awarded to the league’s best power forward, given the lack of statistics available to show the extent of the defensive performances of a player. In that case, San Diego Marlins winger Thomas Landry II, son of two-time Continental Cup winner and legendary leader Thomas Landry, is our heavy favourite as he is currently 5th in points, 7th in goals and 1st in hits among all forwards in the VHLM. The two players that could distantly give him a run for his money are Jim Bob (80 points, 278 hits) and Kristopher McDagg (85 points, 213 hits), though they both trail Landry in both most important columns - points and hits - making them serious contenders only in the event of Landry failing to keep up at his current pace.

 

     

Mitch Higgins Trophy

 

As per tradition, let’s end it by trying to determine who the favourites are for the most prestigious of all the awards named in this article, the Mitch Higgins Trophy, which is awarded to the most valuable player in the VHLM. Naturally, the players that were mentioned before are once again the favourites to be named MVP, though their chances are definitely not all equal. I’ll list five players who all excel at their position and give their team a shot at winning games every night. We’ll start off with three San Diego Marlins, Roque Davis, Kyl Oferson and Thomas Landry II. Davis leads the league in points and assists, is easily the league’s best offensive defenseman, and probably even the league’s best offensive player, all positions combined. Oferson trails Davis only by a couple of points, but he does lead the league in goals and has bodied opponents a respectable 115 times. Landry is easily the front-runner for the title of best power forward in the league, as he’s up there in points with 122, while leading the whole league in hits. The three are viable options for the MVP title, though I must say Davis is probably the best of the bunch. The last two players I’ll talk about are from the Houston Bulls, Hugh Jass and Stone Wolski. Jass is up there with Davis in terms of defensemen keeping up with forwards in the scoring race, but he has way better defensive numbers, making him seem like a way more complete, two-way blueliner. Finally, and not the least - and perhaps the better option of the two Bulls players - Wolski leads, in my honest opinion, the race for goalie of the year, thanks to a strong .917 save percentage, a number that would look good even at the next level, in the VHL. Overall, though, it is pretty hard to say who has the upper hand in the MVP race. If it was up to me, I’d say Wolski and Davis are up there, but who comes out on top? That’s a tough one. Probably Davis. He’s on pace for 150 points as a defenseman and it’s hard to close our eyes on that.

 

 

Very San Diego Marlins heavy, which makes sense when you consider that their top line has been easily the best in the league, making each of Roque Davis, Kyl Oferson and Thomas Landry II favourites for some awards. What I’m most surprised about here, is that we haven’t talked about many Minnesota Storm players, even though the team is leading the league as we are speaking. Maybe their success comes more from a team-wide effort instead of from the sticks of 3 or 4 players. Either way, good luck to all the players mentioned. The season is almost over, so keep up the pace and hope it’s enough to bring some hardware home.

     

Players mentioned: @Josh @Cran @Nykonax @stevo @leafsman @Maasa @Peace @TheFlash @ROOKIE745 @DollarAndADream @Psyduck77 @Doomsday @jRuutu @Viperxhawks19

     

VSN Writer McWolf

Edited February 24, 2020 by McWolf

[McWolf 3,116]

@Motzaburger the banner, man

[Josh 1,672]

1 hour ago, McWolf said:

69 hits

 

Nice

[Banackock 8,138]

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

storm storm storm

[Victor 11,021]

5 hours ago, McWolf said:

Alexander Chershenko Trophy

best trophy on the list

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

Tbh I think Wolski's % holds a lot of value. That's a big jump from #2 on a lower team.

I don't even like arguing for myself on awards.

[McWolf 3,116]

15 minutes ago, DollarAndADream said:

Tbh I think Wolski's % holds a lot of value. That's a big jump from #2 on a lower team.

I don't even like arguing for myself on awards.

I do too. I made up my mind about Wolski being the best goalie at the moment between writing the Devereux part and the Higgins part, though.