S74 Hall of Fame Induction

[Victor 10,940]

Hello, hello! It is the off-season, the time of celebration, merriment, and individual awards. And what greater individual award is there than a *spoiler alert* first ballot Hall of Fame induction? We have two of those of you here today + an addition to the VHL's HOF Builders, so let's get to it.

 

 

LW - Julius Freeman, S66-S73 

 RS: 577 GP, 286 G, 307 A, 593 P, +139, 394 PIM, 916 HIT, 191 SB, 52 GW

PO: 90 GP, 39 G, 31 A, 70 P, +6, 45 PIM, 152 HIT, 30 SB, 7 GW

 

S69 Kevin Brooks Trophy (Most Goals)

S71 Kevin Brooks Trophy (Most Goals)

S72 Kevin Brooks Trophy (Most Goals)

S72 Scott Boulet Trophy (Top Two-Way Forward)

1x All-VHL First Team (S72)

2x All-VHL Second Team (S69, S71)

One Continental Cup (S67)

 

4 players in VHL history led the league in goal-scoring in at least 3 seasons. You are looking at the 4th. Julius Freeman burst onto the scene as a first-gen 2nd overall pick by the freshly relocated Vancouver Wolves, was content playing a depth role as he started his career with 2 finals appearances (winning the cup in the 2nd), before really making a name for himself as Vancouver's star forward after that. Freeman developed great chemistry with his center HHH, using that to become his generation's most feared sniper and leading the Wolves to great regular season success - sadly, they were not able to repeat their S67 heroics again before Freeman departed. He adapted very well post-trade to lead the Americans on their best playoff runs in recent history, confirming his place among the league's greats.

 

 

 

C - Jet Jaguar, S66-S73 

 RS: 576 GP, 256 G, 389 A, 645 P, +107, 541 PIM, 845 HIT, 179 SB, 36 GW

PO: 55 GP, 19 G, 36 A, 55 P, +14, 61 PIM, 94 HIT, 24 SB, 2 GW

 

S70 Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Most Points)

2x All-VHL First Team (S70, S72)

2x All-VHL Second Team (S69, S71)

One Continental Cup (S70)

 

What can I say about Jet Jaguar which I didn't already say when I inducted him into the Moscow Hall of Fame just a few weeks ago? That Jaguar fell all the way to 10th overall in the same draft was a great blessing to the young Menace franchise, of which he became the first face, on and off the ice, eventually captaining us to the franchise's first Continental Cup in S70. That was also Jaguar's most individually successful season but don't let the lack of awards fool you - what he missed out in silverware, he made up up through sheer consistency. If Freeman was the top goalscorer of the generation, Jaguar was the best pure offensive forward, shining in what has become known as a dead puck era for the VHL. His stats speak for himself and his legacy will live on in Moscow.

 

 

Player vote:

Julius Freeman - 10/10

Jet Jaguar - 9/10

----

Wesley Kellinger, Tyson Kohler, Mike Szatkowski Jr., Jakab Holik, Hunter Hearst Helmsley - no votes

 

 

And as I mentioned, we have a Builder induction as well. This one feels like it was a few seasons in the making. DollarAndADream has been in the league since Travis Boychuk joined the S37 VHL Entry Draft and he is no stranger to Hall of Fame ceremonies - he's been here before with legendary two-way forward Zach Parechkin and more recently with Sebastian Ironside, both of whom won championships (a famous 3 in Parechkin's case) with Toronto. The Legion are very much the franchise that seems to have defined Dollar's time in the VHL, as he was also their GM for most of the 50s. Since around the same point, Dollar has also been a member of the BOG and has been involved in grading, or as it became known during his time as BOG member and head grader, reviewing, and that longevity is being rewarded today. Thanks for everything Dollar and may we see many more years of your dependable service in the VHL!

 

 

Congratulations @rjfryman @gorlab and @DollarAndADream  !

 

[Spade18 1,305]

1 minute ago, Victor said:

Hunter Hearst Helmsley - no votes

 

 

[Ricer13 2,796]

Congrats everyone!

[Banackock 8,044]

Congrats

[gorlab 4,321]

TY TY

 

 

I've finally done it. The VHL HoF.

 

Thanks to 9 of the 10 voters, and thank you @rjfrymanand @DollarAndADreamfor your contributions and effort put towards making the VHL a great sim league. I suspect fryman will be seeing his builder induction sooner rather than later, along with his worthy player induction for Freeman. Great HoF class to be a part of. Let's get here again with our next gen players boys.

[Victor 10,940]

23 minutes ago, Spade18 said:

 

Hearing unconfirmed reports of Shane Mars write-in votes.

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW 

Congratulations @gorlab, and well deserved, my captain.

Of course, @rjfryman and @DollarAndADream, congratulations to the both of you as well. Neither of you may know this, but you two are among the first VHL users that I engaged with in the site, and helped in keeping me active. Rj, with your fantastic draft trackers, and Dollar, with your comments on my reviews in my first few weeks. Even just the small actions you took to make sure I knew that I was doing them right helped acclimate me to the league in a way you might not have realized. 

 

Well deserved all!

[Garsh 1,190]

55 minutes ago, Victor said:

 

 

 

Player vote:

Jet Jaguar - 9/10

 

@gorlablaunching his biggest investigation to date. NO ONE IS SAFE.  Hold you loved ones close.

 

Congrats to all 3 , very clearly deserved for both players and builder.

[BOOM 8,745]

WELCOME. 

[CowboyinAmerica 2,889]

Congrats to all, very well deserved!

[gorlab 4,321]

Oh yeah and big shoutout to all of Jaguar's teammates in MOS and DAV (besides beaviss) as they all helped the god into the HoF.

 

 

Special salute to @Victor for having the vision in S66 draft and a much less special salute to @GustavMattiasfor being cool as a GM despite doing little for my HoF resume.

[Gustav 6,407]

4 minutes ago, gorlab said:

Oh yeah and big shoutout to all of Jaguar's teammates in MOS and DAV (besides beaviss) as they all helped the god into the HoF.

 

 

Special salute to @Victor for having the vision in S66 draft and a much less special salute to @GustavMattiasfor being cool as a GM despite doing little for my HoF resume.

 

Does something for mine at least; first player I've GMed to make the HoF 

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Congrats all, all deserved in my eyes

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Wow! Thank you to the VHL for the recognition, and congrats to the HoF inductees here! It's not really something I was expecting, but I'm ecstatic to be receiving that honour. I wouldn't have had my VHL past any other way, and there's plenty of people I could thank that led me to where I am today.

[Spade18 1,305]

15 hours ago, Victor said:

Hearing unconfirmed reports of Shane Mars write-in votes.

 

I didnt want to be the one to bring it up, but it's really about time.

[Quik 4,113]

10 hours ago, gorlab said:

Oh yeah and big shoutout to all of Jaguar's teammates in MOS and DAV (besides beaviss) as they all helped the god into the HoF.

ACL TEAR accepts this acknowledgement that without him, Jaguar would not be HOF.

[bigAL 2,176]

Yessss @DollarAndADream ! I've always been curious about your story and pumped that the place I learned about it was in your HOF article! Well deserved, let's get Wolski in the Hall too!

[animal74 1,808]

Great class! All very deserving. Congrats to all three of you!