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***hhh81*** · 06-02-2020, 07:06 PM

Hello SHL community! It is I, your friendly neighborhood SMJHL Awards Committee Head. With @39alaska39 ’s resignation I am now the longest tenured member of the committee. I joined in S45 or S46 and became the interim (then full) committee head in S48. With some transitions with the people on the team, the shift to FHM, and some other stuff, I’ve been taking a deeper look at SMJHL Awards—what we do, what we can do, and how we got to where we are. While I’m excited and hopeful I’ll be able to share some new stuff soon (hold tight), in the meantime I wanted to share the results of my research.

Last week, I set out to learn a little more about the players our awards are named for, who the users were behind the players, and how they’ve served our community over the years! I've compiled many, many hours of research into a set of profiles of the players who grace the names of the league awards. I'll be dropping the rest of it in a few hours. Until then, I wanted to drum up some attention!

Methodology

I’ve probably spent probably 15-20 hours digging through old posts and information on the site to track down (1) who the users behind the players were, (2) what they did, and (3) where they are now. Thanks to @Tomen, @JayWhy, @RomanesEuntDomus and @"luketd" for their help with some context as well as luke’s great databases (and collab between us on the Historian Committee). Also, thank you as always to @.bojo and @DrunkenTeddy for the bojobox, helping me to find info on player stats much more quickly.

Without further ado, here is what I’ve learned.

Laurifer, Occasus, and Oriens Trophies
Believe it or not, these three awards aren’t named after former players, but are just random Latin words for victorious, west, and east, respectively. They are fine awards, and the names make sense, but these are a clear missed opportunity to recognize more of the best the league’s had to offer over the years by naming them after past players, coaches, managers, or league administrators.

Elias Armia Trophy – Award in Excellence Given by the League Commissioner
This award is one of the more interesting, in my opinion! For a long time, the award was treated as the Commissioner’s MVP. During the Nobody era, it seems the award shifted to less “best player” to more of an unsung hero, recognizing the best of what the site users (rather than players) had to offer. Recent winners include @BadWolf, @Segi, @SpartanGibbles, @NONAME, @Fitted2106, @Mutedfaith, @RedCapeDiver, and our beloved @Kalakar, to recognize and showcase all the great things these users do to help the SMJHL be the best it can be.

The player behind the award, Elias Armia, was active in the SHL from S7-S16 with Edmonton and Texas. He compiled an impressive 508 career points, including a 20 goal, 60 assist campaign in S11 that is still a league record in any era. Armia won a single Challenge Cup, was named to three All Star teams, and won a wide range of SHL awards (Ron Mexico twice, Ryan Jesster, Sarmad Khan, Sergei Karpotsov twice, and the Jay McDonald once). In the NWJHL, he won the Commissioner’s Award (later renamed to commemorate him), the Ron Bolt, and the Raymond Lindsay as People’s MVP (shared with Tobias Funke).

Armia was the player of wadeyb/@Wadester, who was a major player in the league early on. Wadester was GM of Texas from S10-S18. He also…. did a lot of other things. I couldn’t get a clear, straight answer from past posts, but it’s pretty clear the man did a ton for the site. He was very involved in management of the NWJHL for a long time, including renaming the league to the SMJHL. He also hosted several juniors award shows, and even simmed a few seasons of the league! He may have been league commissioner, or something higher than that (as he hired Toast as SMJHL (Co?)Commissioner at one point!) Early SHL/NWJHL management/commissioner structures are hard to make sense of from posts alone, but it is clear Wadester deserves to have an award commemorating him simply off his long time overseeing the league.

Wadester recreated in S43 as Elias Armia, Jr., but went inactive before hitting 200 TPE. He last visited the site in July 2018.

Raymond Lindsay Trophy – Award Given to MVP as Voted by Fans
The people’s champion! In many circles, recognition from your peers carries more weight and pride than the other MVP awards, and for the SMJHL that is the Lindsay.

Raymond Lindsay was active in the SHL from S3-S14 with Hamilton and Calgary, winning the Challenge Cup in S11. He scored 427 career points, was named to one All Star team, and won the Ryan Jesster Trophy in S3 over fellow Hall of Famer (and MVP namesake) Ideen Fallah. He is the first of two Hall of Fame players created by the legendary @raymond3000, who is still active today. His current player, Andreas Kvalheim was recently named captain of the Texas Renegades, and looks to lead this current era of Texas forwards as one of the league’s best two-way players.

Raymond is no stranger to league management, further cementing the naming of the Lindsay. He served as general manager of the Prince George Firebirds from S4-S5 and then took over as GM of the Hamilton Steelhawks from S5-S8. PGF won the Four Star Cup in his first year, while Hamilton made the Challenge Cup Finals in once, falling in a sweep to the Winnipeg Jets in S7. I am sure that Raymond has done a great deal more for the site than I could find in my several hours’ scouring of old posts/threads.

Ideen Fallah Trophy – Award Given to MVP as Voted by Awards Committee
This is the first award that carries some controversy. Ideen Fallah was a great player. Fallah was active S3-S14 with West Kendall, Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Edmonton, scoring 364 career points. He was named to three All Star teams, and won zero individual awards. Fallah played in three Challenge Cup Finals (S4 with West Kendall, S6 with the champion Los Angeles Panthers, and S13 with Manhattan). Fallah was never inducted into the Hall of Fame, however; one of the few players on this list not to be.

The user behind the player is Deener aka Deenerys Targa-rene. You might remember him from his many recent trolling outbursts and friendship with Carlz. For my well-being and yours, I didn’t bother digging deeper into some of the more sordid details of Deener’s past. I’ll stick to the nicer highlights. He was an SHL GM for a good bit of time, leading Los Angeles from S5-S7 and then Texas from S24-S29. He was a finalist for the Lance Uppercut Award (Best GM) three straight years (S26-S28), winning in S28. Beyond that, there’s not much else to say. He has recreated several times since Fallah, and none of them could measure up to the original player.

Mathias Chouinard Trophy – Award Given to Top General Manager
Chouinard himself wasn’t all that impressive a hockey player. He played for three seasons (S3-S5), all with Manhattan, scoring a total of 30 points in 120 career games. He was more of physical defender, racking up 327 PIMs, 264 hits, and 151 blocks, averaging almost 25 minutes a night.

This is an award that comes down to Spangle’s role as builder. No site commissioner until Eggy held the position as long as @Spangle, nor can many users claim more of an impact in growing and driving activity on our fair site. I wasn’t able to find specific figured for how long Spangle was Commish, but it had to have been a very long time to warrant two awards named after him (the Chouinard is also awarded to the Eastern Conference Champions of the SHL).

Zach Miller Trophy – Award Given to Most Dedicated Player
Putting aside the jokes many have made and will continue to make, this award is rightly named. Zach Miller had an impressive SHL career, scoring 327 points in only 357 career games (S6-S12), winning two Challenge Cups. While MIller never won an individual award, he was named an All-Star three times, and was a finalist for a number of awards. After his retirement, he thrice was named a finalist for the Lance Uppercut Trophy in S29 (Portland), S40, and S42 (the latter two while helping to manage the Texas Renegades), and also won the Joe McKeil (best coach) award in both S40 and S42.

Prior to that, @JumpierPegasus was a legendary GM in the SMJHL. JP won four Mathias Chouinard trophies for Best GM, which is tied for the most in league history, including three straight with St. Louis. He won two Four Star Cups (Prince George in S8 and St. Louis in S20). In between his two stints as GM (PGF S8-S9 and STL S18-S23), he took a break to be SMJHL Commissioner from S10-S17. He also served as a past Head Office member for the SHL (including some scandal, I hear), as well as spending time as General Manager of Minnesota in S9 and founding the Portland Admirals, leading them from S25-S30. Portland was relocated in S37 and became the San Francisco Pride.

While not as active as Miller, JP’s current player, Jean-Pierre Gay, plays for the Texas Renegades currently, after also spending several seasons with Hamilton. Few embody the length of commitment and dedication to this site like JP. Thanks JP!

Quilha Agante Trophy – Award Given to Top Defenseman
This was an especially hard award to find a lot of information about. Without JayWhy, I wouldn’t have found much of anything. Agante’s original username was Hornsby, but quickly changed to @diamond_ace. Agante played five seasons in the SHL with Manhattan and Las Vegas (S5-S9). More of a shutdown player, he compiled 76 points, 543 hits, and 349 blocked shots in 255 games. He was named an All Star once and was a finalist for the Scott Stevens trophy twice, but never won.

Diamond_ace also was the GM for the Manhattan Rage from S6-S15, leading the Rage to the Challenge Cup Finals in S13 (where they fell in 5 games to Edmonton). While diamond_ace hasn’t made a post since 2017, they were actually online earlier this month (5/11/20). While their time on site doesn’t have the longevity or wide-impact as some of his peers, his tenure is still a solid one in site history.

Brandon Holmes Trophy – Award Given to Top Defensive Forward
After Jeff Dar, Holmes is the name that comes to mind from days’ past for excellent two-way forwards. The first of @Brandon's many players was active from S3-S6 with West Kendall. During his four season career, he scored 107 points, won two Challenge Cups, was named an All Star three times, and was a two-time finalist for the Ron Mexico Trophy. All that success saw his induction into the Hall of Fame in the inaugural S7 class.

Beyond the player, Brandon himself is a legend in his own right. He was GM for Prince George in S2-S3, GM for West Kendall in S4, and then returned to management in S25 as founder and first GM of the Buffalo Stampede (John Deere Gang rise up!). He served in that role from S25-S32 before stepping down. He’s back in the league with his newest player, Ryan Rieley, currently a rookie for the Colorado Raptors.

Tom Corcoran Trophy – Award Given to Top Goalie
Active S6-S13 with Hamilton and Edmonton, Corcoran is one of the greats in league history between the pipes. He racked up 216 career wins, 22 shutouts, 25 assists, a 0.913 save percentage and 2.44 GAA in 377 career games. He also was named an All-Star three times.

While with Hamilton, Corcoran unfortunately lost in the Challenge Cup Finals in S7 and S9, before finally winning the Challenge Cup in S13 for Edmonton, his final season. He also won the John McBride Trophy, Sarmad Khan, and was a finalist for both the Aidan Richan and Ron Mexico in that final season. he was a finalist for the McBride twice earlier in S7 and S10, and won the Mike Honcho in S10. All this was enough to be inducted in the Hall of Fame with the S20 class.

After Corcoran, @Corco never found the same level of success with his other recreates. He last recreated in S35, with Niklaus St. Croix, and hasn’t been heard from since 2017.

Esa Anrikkanen Trophy – Award Given to Top Rookie
Has enough been said about Esa Anrikkanen? Maybe not; for the newer users who have come on the scene since his retirement in S46, let me educate you on the strange, insane career of this player.

Anrikkanen was active in the SHL from S17-S46 (yes, you read that correctly), all with Calgary/Jakarta. He is very recently a Hall of Fame inductee, surprising no one. He scored 1063 career points in 1458 career games (holy shite), won 5 Challenge Cups, and was 3rd Team All-League thrice. While he never won an individual award in his SHL career, he had one of the SMJHL’s best rookie seasons in S17, where he scored 22 goals and 38 points on his way to both the Elias Armia and Ideen Fallah trophies. He was also twice a finalist for the Dar and once for the Razov during his 29 season career.

During much of that time, @Steelhead77 was also acting as General Manager for the Dragons; from S24 until today, Steelhead has steered the Dragon ship. He is a six-time Challenge Cup Champion (S27, S29, S32, S40, S42, and S50). Steelhead been nominated for the Joe McKeil Award (Best SHL Coach) 10 times, winning in S26, S30, S33, and S39. He has also been nominated for the Lance Uppercut Trophy four times (S33, S35, S36, and S49), winning once in S36 for his work as GM. In S45, the league recognized Steelhead as one of only ten users to ever win the Vidrik Onoprienko Lifetime Achievement Award.

With all this in mind, it should be no surprise to see the best rookie award in the SMJHL carry Anrikkanen’s name.

Ron Bolt Trophy – Award Given to Most Sportsmanlike Player
As I researched, this award seemed strangely named. Later on in his career, Ron Bolt was definitely a gritty, two-way player (not the sort that usually is nominated for the award nowadays). However, it made more sense as I dove deeper.

Ron Bolt the player was active from S3-S12 with Hamilton, Los Angeles, and Calgary. The S13 Hall of Fame inductee scored 341 points in 485 career games. He was named to four All Star teams and won three Challenge Cups (S6, S8, S9). Despite those solid numbers, he was never nominated for any individual awards as a player.

The management side is where @lightningbolt444 shined, however. He was GM for Hamilton for S3 and S4, and was nominated for the Lance Uppercut in S4 and S5—I wasn’t able to track down what team he was GMing in S5, however. He won the Littleton award in S6 and was a nominee in S9. This raises the question… why? From a quick gander at old threads, it looks like he was in some sort of league head office role, posting several suspensions for improper user conduct. In a way, isn’t that sportsmanship: upholding the standards and values of the site? From my research, Head Office transparency was far less than it is today, so his larger role is less clear. Still, he seemed to do some good stuff.

Beyond that, he retired in February 2013 and was never heard from again.

Vyacheslav Onoprienko Trophy – Award given to the most underrated player
A legend in our site’s history, this is one user I knew almost nothing about. After doing some research and speaking with some of the old guard, I think it imperative to talk about @JackCross . He revolutionized the simmer position, and was the first simmer to last more than 2 seasons. To quote my conversation with JayWhy over the weekend:

“He set up scheduled sims and simplified the process for streaming them. And he was doing it for both the SHL and SMJHL with manual updates, lines, etc while only being paid 8M total per season, 4M per league. He had parts in like HOF committee, awards committee, did updates and was someone similar to me who was very adamant about doing things in a way that allowed as many TPE opportunities as possible. He was simmer of both leagues for 11 seasons I believe.”

That alone is incredible. Imagine simming both the SHL and SMJHL with all manual updates for 11 seasons? C’monnn.

The first Onoprienko was a journeyman defenseman. He played from S4-S15 with seven different teams (TOR/CGY/HAM/TEX/WIN/LAP). Over that 12 season span, he compiled 172 career points, 906 hits, 646 shots blocked, and won a single Challenge Cup (S11 with Hamilton). He was also a finalist for the Stevens award in S7. The high level of player movement is uncommon for the SHL in general, and especially weird for the era, but it worked out.

JackCross inaugural winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, named after his second player, Vidrik Onoprienko). He won the Damian Littleton Trophy (Most Dedicated) a (I believe) record SIX times (S18, S19, S21, S24, S25, S26), and was also a finalist in S22.

He was last active in 2017; his experience and existence on the site speaks for itself. SHL would likely not be what it is today without his efforts early on.

Jared Hanson Trophy – Award Given to League Points Leader
Hanson was active from S3-S14 with Toronto, Calgary, West Kendall, and Las Vegas. He scored 298 career points. I didn’t find much on this player or user. @Hanson94 recreated in S45 as Gunnar Petrov, but unfortunately went inactive again. Petrov had a decent 5-year career with Anaheim, scoring 128 points in 250 career SMJHL games. He didn’t have much of an impact on the site at large in either his first or second rounds on the site. This is a weird one for a league award; he may have led the NWJHL in scoring for its the first season? I don’t know.

Roberto Martucci Trophy – Award Given to League Goals Leader
Martucci was a forward active from S3-S13 with Hamilton and Texas. He scored 467 career points in 494 career SHL games, including three straight 60+ point seasons, which is impressive. Martucci was on the S11 Challenge Cup champion Hamilton Steelhawks. He was named to five All Star teams and won zero awards, but he was nominated for the Ron Mexico, Jeff Dar, and Razov twice. This career was strong enough to be elected to the SHL Hall of Fame in S17.

The user, @Otrebor13, is active again with Theo Morgan of the Los Angeles Panthers, an S47 draftee. Otrebor was GM for Vancouver in S9, winning the Chouinard in his one season at the helm. He’s going in waves of activity and then inactivity, and seems to have a groove right now doing some fun SHL media. Speaking for myself, it’s exciting to have a user from S3 still around on the site!

Ronan O’Keefe Trophy – Award Given to Playoffs Points Leader
O’Keefe was a solid player. He was active from S6-S13 with Vancouver (Nightmare), Hamilton, Edmonton. In 360 games, he scored 257 points and racked up 860 hits (including back to back 50 point seasons in S10 and S11. O’Keefe was on the S13 Challenge Cup squad with Edmonton, while also making the finals in S7 and S9 with Hamilton.

Believe it or not, @stud was briefly in team management! Records show he was Hamilton’s GM for some/all of S9, though may have gone inactive and was replaced by @Jorec.

Honestly, as I researched stud my head starting hurting more and more. Dude’s posted a LOT of threads and over 10,000 posts, which is crazy, though it’s not entirely clear how much value came from those posts. The best way I can make sense of him is @stud was @GeckoeyGecko / @Pingy Pingu before there was a Geck or Pingy. Older users have said he was a “good guy… funny as hell” who kept things from getting too serious. A walking meme incarnated, he’s off and on had an active player for a long time. After O’Keefe came Belial, then Potato Chips in S26 (a good SMJHL player), a joke player in S33 not worth discussing, and then Khan Smeb in S47. Since then he’s gone inactive again, but can we expect anything else from the mercurial troll that is stud?

Brodie Witzel Trophy – Playoffs MVP
Ooh baby Witz. Witzel was active from S5-S12 with Minnesota and Hamilton. He racked up an impressive 422 career points and 88 playoff points, and won a lot of stuff, including a Challenge Cup in S11, the Ron Mexico, the Dar, a Razov, the Sarmad Khan, and made three All Star teams. It makes perfect sense why he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in S22.

@Witz retired in March 2013 and never returned.

That’s it! That’s the show! Wasn’t that exciting?

Keep your eyes open for the Phase II of my project… more to come soon.

Quote:This has been a major project for me. I've probably put 25+ hours into this over the last week and a half or so. 3555 words ready to grade!

***luke*** · 06-02-2020, 07:09 PM

I thought this was the full thing and was ready to read

***39alaska39*** · 06-02-2020, 07:21 PM

06-02-2020, 07:09 PMluketd Wrote: I thought this was the full thing and was ready to read

RT

Alex Winters (retired)
Matej Winters (retired)
Dominik Winters
S45 Jesster Trophy Winner
Challenge Cup Winning Goal Club: S52

***hhh81*** · 06-02-2020, 07:27 PM

06-02-2020, 07:09 PMluketd Wrote: I thought this was the full thing and was ready to read

Got build some tension (and proofread more/make dinner).

Your patience will be rewarded Smile

Snoopdogg · 06-02-2020, 07:59 PM

Interesting.

***hhh81*** · 06-02-2020, 08:10 PM

It is arrived.

raymond3000 · 06-02-2020, 08:27 PM

06-02-2020, 07:06 PMhhh81 Wrote: I am sure that Raymond has done a great deal more for the site than I could find in my several hours’ scouring of old posts/threads.

Nope that's pretty much it.

And the awards were originally named after the players who won them in S1 but most of them got renamed in S6(?) to replace inactive users, which is why someone like Hanson has an award named after him.

***hhh81*** · 06-02-2020, 08:32 PM

06-02-2020, 08:27 PMraymond3000 Wrote:
06-02-2020, 07:06 PMhhh81 Wrote: I am sure that Raymond has done a great deal more for the site than I could find in my several hours’ scouring of old posts/threads.
Nope that's pretty much it.

And the awards were originally named after the players who won them in S1 but most of them got renamed in S6(?) to replace inactive users, which is why someone like Hanson has an award named after him.

Good to know. Thanks!

Snoopdogg · 06-02-2020, 08:45 PM

Dam that is a lot of research, thanks was good to get to know a little bit of the past.

***hhh81*** · 06-02-2020, 08:55 PM

06-02-2020, 08:45 PMSnoopdogg Wrote: Dam that is a lot of research, thanks was good to get to know a little bit of the past.

Happy to do it--I think it's really helpful for some of the newer folks (like yourself) to get a feel for the bigger picture of the people from which we've built this community.