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S70 Hall of Fame Induction

Victor

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Victor

Victor 10,536

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Hello and welcome to the Season 70 VHL Hall of Fame induction! We have 2 Players and a Builder induction for you today/tonight.

 

First up, on the player front.

 

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LW - Oyorra Arroyo, S60-S67 :cal::tor:

RS: 576 GP, 333 G, 361 A, 694 P, +256, 137 PIM, 211 HIT, 215 SB, 57 GW

PO: 77 GP, 42 G, 36 A, 78 P, +18, 13 PIM, 21 HIT, 41 SB, 10 GW


S64 Kevin Brooks Trophy (Most Goals)

S65 Scotty Campbell Trophy (Most Valuable)

S65 Brett Slobodzian Trophy (Most Outstanding)

S65 Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Most Points)

S65 Kevin Brooks Trophy (Most Goals)

2x All-VHL First Team (S64, S65)

Three Continental Cups (S62, S64, S65)

 

 

An understated forward for most of his career, Arroyo was a first-gen in what was a barren period for that type of player. Drafted by a budding powerhouse in Calgary, Arroyo was overshadowed by some other Hall of Fame ballot mainstays (and some inductees) like Norris Stopko, Mats Johnsson, Keaton Louth, and Jasper Canmore. However, he played a key role in their 3 straight cup final appearances and Continental Cup win in S62.

 

It was after the Calgary firesale that he secured his place in the Hall of Fame, by taking a leadership opportunity in Toronto and using it to become the best forward in the league, at the same time as leading a middle-of-the-pack Legion team to a surprising back-to-back championship. Arroyo then had a quieter end to his career but finished with very respectable regular season and playoff career totals for a worthy induction for @omgitshim.

 

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D/C - Maxim Kovalchuk, S62-S69 :sea::cal:

RS (D): 432GP, 146G, 357A, 503P, +183, 790PIM, 1,094HIT, 746SB, 15GW

RS (C): 144GP, 50G, 56A, 106P, +31, 41PIM, 111HIT, 28SB, 7GW

RS (TOTAL): 576GP, 196G, 413A, 609P, +214, 831PIM, 1,205HIT, 774SB, 22GW

PO (D): 34GP, 11G, 30A, 41P, +2, 63PIM, 82HIT, 87SB, 3GW

PO (C): 33GP, 12G, 15A, 27P, +12, 6PIM, 16HIT, 6SB, 3GW

PO (TOTAL): 67GP, 23G, 45A, 68P, +14, 69PIM, 98HIT, 93SB, 6GW
 

S62 Alexander Valiq Trophy (Top Offensive Defenceman)

S64 Jake Wylde Trophy (Top Defensive Defenceman)

S65 Alexander Beketov Trophy (Most Assists)

S65 Sterling Labatte Trophy (Top Defenceman)

S65 Jake Wylde Trophy (Top Defensive Defenceman)

2x All-VHL First Team (S62, S65)

2x All-VHL Second Team (S64, S66)

Two Continental Cups (S68, S69)

 

 

We see a lot of defencemen moving to forward and vice versa in the modern VHL so it's fitting we have got our first modern position switch HOFer for them to look up to. Generally, to get into the Hall of Fame with a split career, you need to really excel at one of the positions. Fortunately for Kovalchuk, he did exactly that, being one of the dominant defencemen of the league throughout his first 5 seasons in the league, winning every trophy available to that position as the quarterback of the high-octane early 60s Seattle.

 

Given how few HOF defencemen we see these days, it was a disappointment for many including myself to see Kovalchuk switch to forward when he returned to the Bears with a few seasons to go in his career. Still, his output on defence was enough to push through as a first ballot inductee. Certainly coming back to captain his original team to a cup (and then win another one) helped elevate his slower end to his career. All in all, at last GM sacrifices did not derail a standout career for @Banackock.

 

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Player vote results:

Oyorra Arroyo - 8/12

Maxim Kovalchuk - 6/12

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Tyson Kohler - 4/12

Sebastian Ironside - 2/12

Jakab Holik - 1/12

Astrid Moon, Keaton Louth, Jasper Canmore, Jake Davis, Rauno Palo - 0/12

 

 

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Now onto the Builder. So it's a double induction for Bana! He can rub people the wrong way sometimes, including myself, but there's no denying that this is a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve and has done huge amounts in his main roles for Seattle and for the VHLM, but also for the VHL at large through sheer activity and enthusiasm. He's the longest-serving VHL GM currently, and the longest ever in the role for the same franchise, as well clocking up the miles as VHLM Commissioner in what has often been a volatile role. I'm not going to lie, I voted against him being inducted just yet, but mainly because I like inducting people after their main body of work is behind them - with Bana I feel he still has more to give.

 

Either way, a worthy inductions. Congratulations again @Banackock

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Gustav

Gustav 6,100

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4 hours ago, Victor said:

Tyson Kohler - 4/12

 

That's as close as it's ever been for Kohler. Wonder if my FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY article played into the voting at all. 

 

Should be interesting to see if he gets buried again once the S63 class becomes eligible.

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Victor

Victor 10,536

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7 hours ago, GustavMattias said:

 

That's as close as it's ever been for Kohler. Wonder if my FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY article played into the voting at all. 

 

Should be interesting to see if he gets buried again once the S63 class becomes eligible.

Really thought this was going to be his season actually, but I think he'll still have plenty of chances against the next few classes. Certainly has now become the frontrunner out of the older guys.

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Devise

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13 hours ago, GustavMattias said:

 

That's as close as it's ever been for Kohler. Wonder if my FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY article played into the voting at all. 

 

Should be interesting to see if he gets buried again once the S63 class becomes eligible.

 

Yeah it pushed me to vote for him again. Looking at Kovalchuck we also had stats wise a similar player who also position switched, and given Kohler didn't position switch and his stats come from an older era, I ultimately leaned him. Looking back through the votes too I have voted for Kohler now like 3 times. 

 

Anyway, congrats to both @omgitshim and @Banackock. Awesome to see Arroyo there after I traded for him and truly thought he was one of the more underrated first gens going. He did more than prove me right and as stated in the OP pretty helped carry TOR to the Cups we won in the era. Kovalchuck was clearly a HoF, as was Bana as builder, was just a matter of when on both cases. 

 

Also as has been noted a few times above, if it isn't clear just because you don't get selected in a given year doesn't mean your off the table. We have separate votes entirely to determine if the consensus believes enough time has passed with someone on the ballot and they should be removed. Even then, we have in the past amended that to enough of a degree that people removed from the ballot seasons ago were brought up again for consideration based on perspective granting us the ability to judge them perhaps more fairly. In the case of Kohler I feel despite him being on the ballot his argument has probably gone up because of this. When he first arrived on the ballot everyone he was competing with had stats and the award cabinets. As the award cabinets have stayed but stats have changed, his relative stats given his era and how crazy good the talent pool around him was did change how some of us have viewed him. 

 

 

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