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Dextaria · 08-13-2024, 05:08 PM

WHALEEEEE-come back to another Vancouver Whalers Awards show. It has been a while since I have hosted one, and I don't recall when was the last time that the team has had an awards show, but as I have returned to Vancouver as their events person (kind of), we will be having a nice and colourful awards show packed with player shoutouts and team pride. Of course to start, I would like to say that the S77 season had a lot of ups and downs starting off with the drafting of Ville Sato-Maki at 9th overall and Galton Woggins in the 2nd round, 21st overall, an absolute steal in the draft when we look back at it. Both have been drafted top 5 in this past SHL draft and were key contributors to this Whalers team.

In addition to Sato-Maki and Woggins, the Whalers found themselves trading with the Newfoundland Berserkers for key players in MattyJ and Olafur Atlason (I know it has an accent but to save myself time here we will keep it like this from here on out). The two of them brought chemistry and skill to the 2nd line, playing alongside the rookie Ville Sato-Maki. With their new additions, the team had a strong start to the season going 11-2-1, but after that hot start the team fizzled out a little bit before bringing it back to a respectable 35-27-4 record which placed them 6th in the overall standings and 2nd in the conference.

Now let's talk about the playoffs, because the Vancouver Whalers went to a whole other gear. They faced the Yukon Malamute to start and beat them in 5 games, then they faced what many believed to be a tough Quebec City team, but they won in a sweep. So after 2 rounds, the team was 8-1 entering the conference finals against the Regina Elk who led the conference. The number 1 seed didn't put up too much of a fight, or maybe the Whalers team lucked out because the swept the Regina Elk as well to go 12-1 heading to the final. It was as if everything just clicked like in the start of the season and the team in the finals went up 3-1 before closing the series 4-2 in the finals to claim their first Four Star Cup in over 15 seasons as well as catapulting them as the team with the most cups!

But enough about our season recap, let's hop into the awards.

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The S77 season saw the return of the Whale Haul in the regular season. The Whale Haul is ultimately a 3 star system for the team each and every game and the goal is to collect as many whales as you can. In the past, we had don the Whale Haul for both the regular season and the playoffs, but to get ourselves going again this season we have just done it in the regular season. Even so, the race was a good one with the lead switching 8 times over the course of the season between Niclas Wastlund, NoNo Jo, and Olafur Atlason. This battle will see Niclas Wastlund come out victorious with 54 whales on the season, followed closely by Olafur Atlason with 48 whales and rookie Galton Woggins with 47 whales after a strong end to the season. (@Wasty, @HabsFanFromOntario, @ConjureBones)

For the full breakdown of the Whale Haul, check out the season visualization here.

Onto our more typical awards, the first up is the Team MVP. This is awarded to not necessarily the highest point scorer (we will get to that in a minute), rather what we believe was the most valuable player on the team in terms of both offense and defense. This year, the Team MVP award goes to none other than Nicolas Wastlund in his final year on the team. Wastlund finished 2nd in scoring on the team with 64 points, but led the team in goals with 34. In addition to his goal scoring, Wastlund played on both end of the ice logging an average of 3:15 on the powerplay and 1:51 on the penalty kill and he isn't afraid to through hits, leading the team in that category. Playing on the top line and on both of the special teams, Wastlund was a key contributor to the Whaler's success. (@Wasty)

Next up is the team's Leading Scorer. Nothing much more needs to be said as Olafur Atlason, coming from a trade with the Newfoundland Berserkers, found himself on the top of the team stats with 26 goals, 49 assists and 75 points on the season. This put him 2nd in goals behind the team leading 34 goals by Wastlund, and 7 assists above fellow center NoNo Jo. Some may accredit his offensive season based on his powerplay time, or his switch to center about a quarter of the way in, but regardless of whatever combination of skill or luck you may believe led to him leading the team, it was certainly an impressive showing by a player in his sophomore year. (@HabsFanFromOntario)

On to the Top Defenseman award. This year had all of the defensemen doing exceptionally well with some exceling in the offense in Bris Kryant and and Andy Lammers, both eclipsing 30 points for a defenseman. Others excelled defensively such as the likes of veteran Groaty Bronson who had 180 block shots to lead the team in that category. However, when deciding on the winner of this award, we factored in both the defensive and offensive contribution which landed us on Trevor Lopez. Another sophomore player taking home an award and for Lopez his game on both ends of the ice paid off with 27 points, just 6 behind the leading defenseman on the team, 125 blocked shots which is good for 3rd, and 94 hits which is good for 2nd among defenseman. Now nothing stands out, but he was great in all categories and had the most TOI on the team. He was trusted on both the powerplay and penalty kill, and now he'll be trusted with the Top Defenseman award. (@tredpalo)

From defense to a defensive award, we're looking for the best Two-Way Player on the team and we didn't need to look to far as our captain NoNo Jo clearly exemplified this trait. Jo had 61 points which was 3rd on the team in offense, but on the defensive end NoNo Jo was no slouch either as Jo had the most takeaways of any forward on the team with 51 in addition to their forward leading shots blocked at 58 and their considerable number of hits. NoNo Jo played both powerplay and penalty kill, as like many of the award winners so far, and showed their dominance in the playoffs as well. (@AuggieO)

Unsung hero... what does that even mean? (no seriously, we talked about this while thinking about the award) Well to us we thought it was someone that secretly had an amazing season, but wasn't necessarily top 3. For us, we didn't have to go much further down in the points list as in number 4 we have Robo Sven, our winner for the Unsung Hero award with his handlebar moustache and all. Robo Sven had 50 points which is about 10 or even 20 off from the top scorers on the team, but Sven leads a stat that not too many look at, game winning goals. Sven had 7 game winning goals in his 19 goals on the season, compared to the next best of 5 in 34 goals by Wastlund. One can say we couldn't have done it without Sven and his tremendously great timing in goals and therefore he is our Unsung Hero. (@steveoiscool)

Nearing the end of our awards show here, we an award for the best rookie on the team. This year, we have 2 candidates in Ville Sato-Maki and Galton Woggins, but only one can take home the prize. Sato-Maki had a tremendous rookie season himself with 41 points on the second line, but this award will go to Galton Woggins who played in 40 of their regular season games and got them about 2/3 of their wins, beating the stats of their veteran goaltender in Masked Stanger who was in 38 games but only won 14 of them. This pushed Woggins as the starter for the playoffs where he put up an impressive 16-3-0 record to lift the Whalers to the cup. For a rookie to overtake the likes of a veteran goaltender, I think this award is clearly deserved. (@ConjureBones)

Last but not least, I like to acknowledge those that make the locker room a great place to be. Welcoming newcomers, chatting it up, and overall being a positive force, we have Oliver Cornwall as the winner of this award. Cornwall was there on day 1 to welcome the rookies in and to get the team excited for the season ahead. Whether we're talking about sports, the sim, or our day-to-day lives, Oliver Cornwall was always there to keep the mood light and to ensure that everyone is welcomed into the locker room. I could not have asked for a better leader and teammate so a big thanks to Cornwall for all that he has done for the team. (@HillsHaveHats)

Well that wraps up this season's Vancouver Whalers awards show! Looking back, we have a surprising number of younger players take home some hardware for the team, but of course nothing tops the likes of a sweet sweet Four Star Cup. The new season has already started as with the new Whale Haul so I'm excited to see if this team can go back-to-back, or at least have a good showing in both the regular season and the playoffs as the whole team has gotten arguably better with huge, but manageable, losses to Wastlund, Bronson, and Stanger.

As for captains, is this a captains announcement? I'm not too sure but the captains from last season were NoNo Jo with the C, as well as the following with the alternate badge: Robo Sven, Oliver Cornwall, and rookie Ville Sato-Maki. I'll assume this remains the same for this season as none of them have left! Anyways, that will be all. Thanks for tuning in!