Login

***boom*** · 05-09-2024, 02:59 PM

[1142 words, ready for grading]

Shorter article, but I wanted to get something out after last season's magical awards ceremony.

---

The memories of the successful World Junior tournament for Anastasia Söderström would stick with her for a while. Even though Team Ice hadn't made it to the knockout round, Ana had proven she still had what it took after the nightmare playoff round of her rookie season. Rookie camp with the Calgary Dragons had been a success; the Dragons didn't have another goalie prospect, and she wouldn't be joining the team for a while with veteran Rebecca Montagne getting the share of the starts for the next few seasons, but it was a good way to get back into the speed of the pro game before her sophomore season came around. Ana had a lot to prove this season, and she couldn't wait to get started on working towards that goal.

One day, she was resting at home when she got a phone alert that caught her attention instantly. Anastasia Söderström nominated for four SMJHL awards, including Ideen Fallah and Raymond Lindsay, the headline read. It was a good thing she wasn't holding a drink at that moment, because she would have absolutely dropped and smashed it. She quickly read through the article, trying to get the details. She'd been nominated for Most Valuable Player, Most Outstanding Player as voted by the other players, Top Rookie, and Top Goalie. She'd also been named as the goalie for the SMJHL All-Rookie Team, the All-Defensive Team, and the First All-SMJHL Team. Ana knew these were regular-season awards and the voting had been done before the playoffs happened, and she would have been happy to be a finalist for one or two of the awards, but four, including the two most prestigious trophies league-wide? It seemed unbelievable.

The rest of the week passed in a blur before it was at last time to travel to the auditorium in Las Vegas where the awards were held every year. Ana had her smartest outfit for the occasion, which her billet family had helped her pick out; she'd never been at the height of fashion at any point of her life and had no idea of the standards that people dressed for, so she was very appreciative of the help. As a player, especially one who was nominated for four individual awards, she was seated right near the front of the auditorium. She liked this spot, as she'd be able to spend time with her colleagues and opponents that she'd built connections with across the whole season.

The first several awards were for categories like Top GM and Most Improved that didn't relate to Ana or include any of her teammates, so she had a chance to just sit back and enjoy the festivities. Her teammate Simo Jääskeläinen had been nominated for the honour of being the league's most underrated player and Emil Karlsson was nominated for the top defensive forward, and while neither of them got the win it was still exciting to see her teammates being up for the league's biggest individual accolades.

Ana's attention was captured when the presenter for the league's top goalie award came up to the stage. "The Cedric Robinson Trophy for the S75 SMJHL Season has been awarded to," the presenter started as the Falcons rookie leaned forward, "Song Ju-gong." Ana was disappointed, but she understood. Even though Quebec had a dominant offense, the older goalie had just outright had better stats, so the older goalie had made a solid case. Next up was the Esa Anrikkanen Trophy for the league's top rookie, and this was another award with stiff competition. Her Calgary prospect teammate in Anna Skovgaard had put up an exceptional offensive campaign, so the award was going to be given to an excellent player no matter what, but the trophy did end up going to the goalie. She hadn't really prepared much of a speech in case she won and her English, while improving, still wasn't perfect, so she kept it short and was mostly just complimentary of her teammates. After all, it was a strong Falcons defense that had set her up to get the stats needed to win this trophy, so it was only natural to thank them in return.

Finally it was time for the award that everyone had been waiting for, that being the league's MVP trophy, the Ideen Fallah. Ana had been surprised just to be a finalist for this award, expecially given that she was up against her future teammate Frøya Solberg and Carolina's Betzee Nickelback, who'd both put up the flashy scoring stats. That said, she'd made it this far, so nothing else was really off the table in terms of surprises.

The presenter for this prestigious trophy was handed the card that held the ultimate individual goal of every SMJHL player inside. One could hear a pin drop in the auditorium as the card was opened, and then it was time to read it. "The Ideen Fallah Trophy for the S75 SMJHL season has been awarded to," the presenter paused for effect, "Anastasia Söderström." A crescendo of shocked noises swept through the auditorium, the gravity of what had just been said sinking in over the whole room.

She'd done it. Anastasia Söderström had just been named MVP by the voting committee, being just the fifth goalie and the second rookie goalie ever to win it in the league's 75-year history. There was no higher individual honour to win at this level. Even though the shock of the victory hadn't won yet, Ana tried to remember every bit of this moment, as she wanted to hold onto it forever. Apropos to the moment, she took a little more time to bask in the euphoria and gave a special shoutout in her speech to her parents back in Sweden, who had been her first coaches and biggest supporters her whole life and to whom she'd paid tribute in an online article a couple months back.

The last award Ana was up for was the Raymond Lindsay Trophy for the most outstanding player, and to no one's surprise it went to another one of her future teammates in Frøya Solberg, who had set records for scoring prowess. At last it was the end of the ceremony, and the young goalie took some time to absorb the atmosphere once more and give congratulations to her teammates and opponents. She had an early flight back to Michigan the next morning, but she was too wired to sleep and stayed up into the night talking to her parents, her billet family, Grace, and her teammates who'd stayed up late. The next season was likely to be difficult with Detroit losing several players to the SHL, including most of that vaunted defense, but that would be a problem for another day.

*NaomiMannequeen* · 05-09-2024, 05:32 PM

Congrats on the nominations and awards! Can't wait to play with you soon!

***boom*** · 05-10-2024, 12:48 PM

05-09-2024, 05:32 PMNaomiMannequeen Wrote: Congrats on the nominations and awards! Can't wait to play with you soon!

Congrats on the Lindsay and good luck next season!

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us