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Heppis · 03-11-2025, 02:33 PM

This is a hard task, there is so many good candidates in the league. Let's see what we can find.

Josie Cass, RW, SDT.

53GP and 80 points. League leader in points. This amount of points, so this is obvious choice to be one of the candidates. One notable thing about him, he has only 19 powerplay points. He has 61 evenstrenght points. That is a statement.

Ivan Ivanovitch, RD, NL.

51GP and 49 points. Those are great stats for defender, but he is also league leader in plusminus +52. Also he has only 11 giveaways and 52 takeaways, and 70 blocked shots. Those stats can tell you his value for his own team. Fun fact about him, he has 5 GWG and i give a lot of value for that.

Ela Solberg, G, QCC.

34GP and 26 wins, save% 92.2 and GAA 2.50, those stats are just amazing, but she has also 4 shutouts. Last but not least, gamerating is 80. Undoubtedly best goalie in the league and i think that she is the player, who is the most valuable player of her own team. QCC is leading the league, and you can give a lot of credits to Ela for that.

theevilisback · 03-11-2025, 11:48 PM

The MVP race is definitely going to come down to a handful of players. I do feel like there is a very clear frontrunner, but definitely not a skater.

Ela Solberg from Quebec City is winning almost every category you could be winning in. 2nd in Wins with 26 (3 behind Katharina Rosenthal), 1st in GAA with a 2.55 (.15 ahead of Katharina), 1st in Save % with a .920(!), and 1st in Goals Saved Above Average with a 27.94 (almost 14 better than Jonny Hockey in 2nd!)

Also in the running has to be Josie Cass and Ethan Cross. This combo are comfortably in the top 2 in points, with Josie having a line of 42-49-91 and Ethan having a 32-53-85 line. The only reason anyone could possibly give that would diminish these individual efforts is that they are outside the top 10 in +/-, even just for skaters. Both have respectable +24 and +22 respectively, but are over 30 behind the leaders.

I know the scorers always get the spotlight, but I feel this might be one of those seasons where a goalie should shine, and with that I would expect to see Ela win the MVP.

***jaypc8237*** · 03-12-2025, 11:50 AM

ISFL Affiliate

Gallade081 · 03-12-2025, 04:42 PM

The SMJHL MVP race is heating up as the season rapidly comes to a close. Throughout the season various players have made a case to have their name put in the record book as the SMJHL MVP in season 81. However, with under twenty games remaining three finalists have become apparent. The finalists encompass two position players and surprisingly, a goaltender.

the finalist that I will focus on is the surprise contender Goaltender.
Quebec City Goaltender Ela Solberg is leading in all but a few categories. They have been the strong back-line of the Armada for 4 years now, putting up strong numbers since their rookie season. With their level of play, its no wonder that the Armada is leading the league at this point in time.

The other finalists that are worth mentioning (though not focusing on) are:

Josie Cass (RW, SDT) leading league in goals and points
Big Sweg (LD, NL) leading defenseman in points, assists, goals, and shots.

ctots · 03-12-2025, 05:37 PM

I’d like to submit Levon Dojkic of the Queen City Citadelles for this season’s early MVP pick.

Player value is a tough thing to compare across different team strengths, positions, and other various situations which obfuscate the true nature of a player’s talent and impact on the game as it unfolds. Try as we might, fantasy points still fail to capture all of the intangibles that take place from the time the puck drops until the final goal of overtime.

There are some things we know to value highly, though. Two of the biggest impact stats in my mind are scoring opportunities and physicality. In those two metrics, Dojkic excels. He leads the league in assists, showing his hockey IQ and ability to create scoring chances. It should also be noted that Dojkic is tied for the lead in the league for short handed goals, another testament to his instinct for being in the right place at the right time. There is no better penalty killer than one who can score under that kind of pressure.

Speaking to his physicality, Dojkic is third in the league for hits, showing that he is not one to shy away from hard nosed play to battle for puck possession.

Didn’t realize I was going to have a new favorite player in the league, but now I do.

visceralpotamus · 03-12-2025, 05:48 PM

I am going with a completely unbiased selection: Jack Ellul has been the heart and soul of the Thunder Bay Walleye, and the team would not be having as much success without him. He is the points leader amongst defencemen on the team, as well as a top assist player in the league. The walleye offense has been explosive this year, and he is a large part of that. An unselfish player, he is more likely to pass the puck than to shoot, opting to hand off the glory to his team mates. Whats more impressive is that he does most of his best work at even strength, not needing to be a powerplay merchant to boost his stats. His also takes care of business on the defensive side, a top 3 player in terms of takeaways. He is also a physical dominator, leading the team with a bruising 70 hits. When considering mvp, look no further than Jack ELlul.

goldenglutes · 03-13-2025, 11:10 PM

personally i think puddles of the duckling variety is on track to win the most valuable player award now he may not have the stats and he may not be performing up to the same standard as some other players in the junior hockey league but the award is about being valuable not about being good and mr o duck ling is very valuable in fact i would say they are absolutely in the front running for the very prestigious and illustrious duck of the year award and any winner of the duck of the year is for sure valuable not only as a duck but also as a player and im sure @Z-Whiz @hotdog and @micool132 would agree with me on this statement and potentially even with the rest of what i have written here in my point task however i would not feel as sure in assuming that they would agree with me on all of those points rather than just the one about duck of the year

Signatures by Vulfzilla, Jepox, Jess, rum_ham, Ragnar, and myself
[Image: 9vAsr7c.png]

*LilGainz901* · 03-14-2025, 12:21 AM

Although I would ideally like to support one of the Kelowna Knights as an MVP candidate, I have got to be honest with my MVP predictions. I personally believe that the following players were just a class above the rest and in my opinion are most likely to win the S81 SJMHL MVP.

Shiny Rainbow

Josie Cass Tidal

Ela Solberg

Firstly, Shiny Rainbow. They have been amazing so far this season, leading the league in goals and up there with points. They have been a crucial part of the Citadelles offense and is one of the main reasons why they see themselves currently at the top of the standings. Shiny will play a crucial part in the Citadelles' offense during the playoffs for sure.

Then, we got Josie Cass who has been helping the San Diego Tidal stay competitive within this league. They have been leading the Juniors in points and have been an offensive powerhorse thus far.

Lastly, Ela Solberg has been an absolute brick wall for the Citadelles. They have the highest save percentage of all the goalies within the juniors and that is also probably why they have an extremely low goals against average. It is no wonder why the Citadelles find themselves at the top of the standings; they got the offensive dominance of Shiny coupled with the defensive game of Ela.

Deli · 03-14-2025, 05:33 AM

It has been a very hard season to be a goaltender, and to improve on your performance from last season has been a challenge for most in the SMJHL. A goalie that stepped up big for their team this season is Florence-Amelie Mackenzie of the Vancouver Whalers who has been putting up their best season so far in what has been a huge swing from Vancouver being a bottom half of the team last year to a top 5 team in the standings currently, spearheaded by a 28-14-1 record.

Jeff Kirkstone III of the Ottawa Highlanders has also had a very impressive season, with a league leading 5 shutouts (i haven't been able to put together just 1) in a nearly equally as impressive 25-14-2 record.

Katharina Rosenthal of the Newfoundland Berserkers has also been an absolute workhorse, playing nearly a league's most 48 games but notching a league's highest wins total with 33 of 48 coming home.

If the award were to be handed to a player in the paint between the posts this season, it would likely be one of the three you just read about. Good job tendies Smile

Vulfzilla · 03-14-2025, 09:39 AM

When you're voting for MVP you need to consider 3 things. First of all and probably most importantly, MERIT. MERIT is actually an acronym. Most Excellent Return [on] Ice Time. Essentially it means, who is the best player on the ice. Things like Goals, Assists, and other statistical categories mean a lot here. Secondly you're looking for TEAM SUCCESS. TEAM SUCCESS is also an acronym. Just Kidding. Thirdly, Cool/Delicious Name, in my opinion and even though I said earlier that MERIT was most important, this is acutally most important.

When you get down to it, only one person is at the top of the heap of all 3 of these. And that's HOTDOG LUNCH.

Hotdog Lunch @Papajon

Hotdog has 40 goals and 46 assists, even though you're probably like, "Cass has more!" you need to remember 1 thing. That 1 thing is the 1 shorthanded goal Hotdog scored... which CLEARLY puts him over the top.

Ottawa is currently 7 points clear of San Diego in the conference. So point 2.

And Hotdog lunch is as cool and delicious of a name as you can come up with.

HOTDOG 4 MVP. by the way MVP is an acronym for most vegan people (do not eat hotdogs)

WC: 210

SilverBlitzenAG · 03-14-2025, 12:15 PM

The Most Valuable Player award is easily one of the most contested awards given out in any sport. Every year, there are arguments for and against so many players. For instance, the NFL. A quarterback is most likely to get voted as MVP on account of how important the position is, but does the success of a team rely solely on the quarterback? Absolutely not, because if it did, there'd only be one player on the field. It is of my belief that the MVP award should go to the player that provided the most value for their team in the league. Often times, this belief and common belief overlap, as the person to provide the most value for their team will also provide the most value in the league. After all, if a player's production value is so high that you couldn't find a team that wouldn't take them, that player should be in contention for MVP.

With all that said, here are my three picks for the most valuable players in the SMJHL:

1) Josie Cass

I would be hard pressed to look at Cass's production and go "yeah, I'm not considering them for MVP". I mean, 103 points isn't something that you just do. Through 64 games, they're rocking 46 goals (leading the league), 57 assists (3rd in the league), for a total of 103 points. With only 2 games left, Josie would have to put up 10 points to tie 5th on the record book for most points in a season. You'd be hard pressed to find a team that wouldn't want Josie on their team.

2) Ivan Ivanovitch

It often feels like sports leagues and MVP voters undervalue the impact of a great defender. In football, fans say "oh, he should've thrown a better pass", or in baseball say "he should've hit it further to the side or out of the park", and in soccer or hockey or basketball say "he should've done a better move or passed somewhere else", downplaying the impact of defense to being the result of "bad offense". Well, I'm here to explain why Ivan deserves to be in this conversation.

I am not an advanced stats person. I often times think they are just an excuse to make players seem better than they might actually be. Coming from baseball, I hear "oh the spin rate, oh the LIPS, oh the wRAA" and I just think "what are they talking about." This context is important because I look at Ivan's base and advanced stats, and it just oozes productivity for his team. Considering they're a defenseman, they lead all defenders in assists, lead the league in +/- (which can be a controversial stat, but I think it works better as a complimentary stat instead of on its own), and the advanced stats show his production on defense.

3) Ela Solberg

How can I go on a rant about how sports leagues undervalue defense for MVP awards and not mention or go to bat for arguably the best goalie in the league right now. With the best Goals Against Average, Save%, Game Rating, and Goals Allowed (among goalies with at least 30 games played), it's insane to not include Ela among the frontrunners for MVP. The tandem of Ela and QCCBOT4 might very well be the reason Quebec City remains so dominant. After all, it's really easy to focus on scoring 4+ goals a game when you know way less than that will be scored on you in return.

Finally, I want to end this mini Deep Dive (lol) off with a few honorable mentions:

-Katharina Rosenthal: It has to be rough playing second fiddle to someone in your position playing out of their mind, especially when you yourself are also putting up crazy numbers. 8 games more and only 0.23 SV% behind is still really good, and I bet you'll have a tough time finding a team that wouldn't kill to have such a great goalie on their team

Dziadek93 · 03-14-2025, 04:04 PM

Four nominations from my point of view:

Josie Cass - RW - San Diego Tidal
Best goal scorer (48), best point scorer (106), involved in 39% of Tidals goals, one of the best hitters (121) and one the leaders in game winning goals (9) - simply most productive.

Ethan Cross - C - San Diego Tidal
Most assists (63), one goal from being best power play goal scorer (17) and the best on face offs among routined in this element (63%).

Hans Gronlund - LD - Vancouver Whalers
Most productive defender with 246 blocked shots, 69 hits, 49 takeaways and +20.

Matti Brynjarson - G - Great Falls Grizzlies
Most busy goalie with 1673 saves, 90,4% which place him on fifth place with last team in league is worth applauding.

My choice pretty obviously would go for Josie Cass, but some players are quiet heroes of their team and it's worth mentioning those players who bear team on their shoulders by non-standard skills and who have less luck playing in teams that doesn't belong to top.

sobrien6187 · 03-14-2025, 10:54 PM

When you think of the MVP, what do you think of? The highest scorer on the best team of course. In that case, we'd be discussing QCC's Shiny Rainbow. But what about Hamper Linthome, the league's leading scorer on team who finished a close second Newfoundland? Or Jason Bourne or Slava Kasyanenko of Newfoundland. Sure, they're great. But let me bend your ear about...goaltending. How about Ela Solberg holding down the fort for the league's best team, stopping over 92% of the shots thrown their way. An absurd 2.48 GAA with 4 shutouts and 29 wins helps bolster the case. It's worth mentioning Katharina Rosenthal from Newfoundland as well, who also has 4 shutouts and 35 wins out of an insane 51 games between the pipes. Is it feasible to take the Chris Pronger route and choose a defenseman? I'm not sure, I don't know where to begin putting that much effort for this narrowing down of candidates. Think goalie!

Solberg
Rainbow
Linthome
Rosenthal

That's my ballot.

steviey · 03-15-2025, 11:38 AM

With the regular season now over it’s time to hand out individual awards and I would hate to be a member of the awards committee who has to choose the league MVP this season but let’s take a look at three candidates for the award. My first choice is…

Josie Cass RW San Diego Tidal
Josie Cass is my best choice for MVP this season. She led the league in goals (48), assists (58) and points(106). She also had nine game winning goals and a +/- of 26. Definitely MVP worthy numbers there.

My second choice for MVP is…

Ela Solberg G Quebec City Citadelles
Ela performed outstanding for the regular season champions Citadelles this season. With a record of 29-7-1 in 40 games played. She had a GAA of 2.48 and a Sv% 0.921 which included 4 shutouts.

My third choice for MVP is…

Shiny Rainbow RW Quebec City Citadelles
Shiny Rainbow definitely had a MVP caliber season with 46 goals, 43 assists and 89 points. She had a +/- of 20 and 8 game winning goals. I had to include her in the conversation.

Jonnyhockey17 · 03-15-2025, 01:04 PM

[b]Top 5 MVP Considerations – SMJHL S81 (no specific order)[/b]

1. Josie Cass Tidal

Josie Cass finished his 3rd season with the San Diego Tidal with 48 goals and 58 assists for 106 pts and finished first in league scoring. He was +26 on the season had 140 hits showing he was a physical presence and was defensively responsible. His team, the Tidal, finished the year 36-27-3 which was good enough to finish 4th in the Southern Conference.

2. Ethan Cross Tidal

Ethan Cross had a very strong 3rd season with the Sand Diego Tidal, scoring 40 goals and tallying 63 assists for 103 pts on the year. He, alike his teammate Josie Cass, was a +26 on the year and won a whopping 63% of his draws showing he was a strong #1 center all year long. His team, the Tidal, finished the year 36-27-3 which was good enough to finish 4th in the Southern Conference.

3. Ivan Ivanovitch Berserkers

Ivan Ivanovitch was impressive this season, finishing his 4th and final year with the Newfoundland Berserkers having scored 20 goals and 42 assists for 62 pts as a defenseman. The most impressive part, however, was his +62 rating while logging an ATOI of 22:52. These numbers show how big a part of this team his, with his offensive firepower as well as the ability to shut it down when needed. His team finished the year 44-19-3 which slots them 2nd in the Northern Conference.

4. Ela Solberg Citadelles

Ela Solberg was easily the best goalie in the league this year in his 4th and final year with the Quebec City Citadelles, finishing the year with a 29-7-1 record, 2.48 GAA, .921 sv% and 4 shutouts. He also posted an UNREAL GSAx of 31.67. Just crazy stuff and shows he was just about unbeatable all year. The Citadelles finished yet another strong season with a 44-18-4 record.

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