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Dextaria · 10-06-2020, 12:43 PM

What a great season it was for the S55 Vancouver Whalers. After starting the season 7-16-2 which included a 6 game losing streak, these Whalers were able to storm back after a tough start and go 17-7-1 to end the regular season. The team was winning at an exceptional rate and this included a 7 game win streak, as well as a going 8-2-0 heading into the playoffs. This was the first time the Vancouver Whalers have played a playoff game in over 2 seasons and they started off extremely well managing to pull off a sweep against the St. Louis Scarecrows. Making it to the second round was already a great achievement for this Whalers squad and even though they lost in 4 games to a tough Carolina Kraken team, this end to the season was indicative of what was to come this season for the Whalers. As we have just finished our first week of games, it is about time for the S55 Vancouver Whaler Awards.

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In this season’s awards, you’ll be getting to see some returning faces (one of which you’ll be seeing quite a number of times actually), as well as some new faces on the block as there were 7 new players on the team! Also, this season had closer voting than the past and it is exciting to see the players being competitive with one another and pushing each other to be better. So without further wait, we are going to start off the awards with this season’s regular season and playoffs Top Whalers.

Top Whalers (Regular Season)
For the regular season we saw William Hartmann absolutely steal the top spot from Name Redacted who had that spot 2 seasons in a row. With 44 whales, Hartmann was without a doubt a top performer for the team in his final season, scoring almost 20 more points than last season. However, this is not to take away from the contributions from Nikiforov and Redacted. Nikiforov had a breakout sophomore season for the Whalers as their top centerman as he is going to be back in this role for the S56 season. Last but not least to round off the top 3 is Name Redacted who posted an incredible 0.919 save percentage; however, he was just 5 whales shy of retaining the top spot. Definitely a close race this season as it came down to the last couple of games.

Top Whalers (Playoffs)
Entering the playoffs, a new Whale Haul was created to separate the top contributors in the postseason. In the Whalers’ first playoff series in about 3 seasons, it was not a surprise to see the veterans on the team step up. William Hartmann and Bryce McMahon led the team this offseason with Hartmann even scoring the last goal for the team before the Kraken put an end to their run. Then, there was Luffy Richard who showed up as a big playoff performer especially against the St. Louis Scarecrows. His entire line played extremely well and Richard played the full 200 foot game.

Team MVP
Now onto the first real award of tonight, it is the Team MVP award. For the last 2 seasons Name Redacted was without a doubt the team’s MVP. Redacted is in the running again this season and it really came down to the wire on who was named Team MVP between Hartmann, Redacted, and Nikiforov. The votes came in and it was William Hartmann (@boom) who won the award! After being the Top Whaler in the regular season, as well as the postseason, Hartmann’s 41 point season continues to be celebrated here in this awards show.

Leading Scorer Award
Before we let William Hartmann off the stage, we would also like to present him the award for being the team’s leading scorer! Hartmann has been the leading scorer for the past 3 seasons and count it 4 times that Hartmann has been mentioned on this show. He is going to be going home with 2 awards and the recognition of Top Whaler in both the regular season and the postseason. As it was his last season on the team before getting called up by the Edmonton Blizzard, we would like to thank Hartmann for his 4 years on the team and it was amazing to see his growth on and off the ice as a leader.

Top Defenseman Award
Moving on to an award that Hartmann wasn’t nominated for, it is the Top Defenseman Award! Last season’s Top Defenseman Award winner Slimey Snail is back in the voting joined by a fellow nominee last season, Johnny Shuffleboard, as well as a new nominee in Lonnie O’Donoghue. The 3 of them play different styles; however, in the end the votes came in and Slimey Snail (@FleshBagSoup) is once again the Vancouver Whalers’ top defenseman! WIth over 100 hits and almost 100 shots blocked, Snail is without a doubt an important piece to the Whalers’ blueline.

Two-Way Player Award
On to the Two-Way Player Award, we again have the returning winner in Bryce McMahon; however this season he is joined by Devin Basher and Luffy Richard. All 3 of them put up excellent defensive numbers (having more hits and shots blocked than even some defenseman!), but in the end only one of them can be called the winner of the award. This season the winner is Luffy Richard (@Moreorless89) who led the team in hits among forwards and shots blocked among forwards.

Unsung Hero Award
With the second to last award, we have the Unsung Hero Award. This award was also a close one as this season’s Whaler team saw big contributions up and down the lineup. However, it was narrowed down to the 3 players of Wile Coyote, Jason Desrouleaux, and Zebulon Leavitt who were able to do their jobs extremely well without catching all the attention. Voting between the depth contributions of Coyote, the scoring touch of Desrouleaux, and the defensive play of Leavitt, ultimately it is going to be Leavitt (@Kraagenskul) who is going to be named this season’s Unsung Hero!

Rookie Award
Alright this is the last real award for tonight before our special addition to the awards show. This rookie award was the most competitive it has ever been in a while. The Vancouver Whalers drafted a number of rookies during the draft and picked up a couple of free agents along the way. With that, all of them (Sarah Burke, Dee Centerman IV, Valtterri Kauppinen, Zebulon Leavitt, Rikki Petrov, KnockedOut byOvechkin, and Markleesio Hopscotch) are in the running for the Rookie Award. And so, with the votes in, this season’s rookie award is going to Sarah Burke (@Kyamprac) who put up 13 points as a defenseman in her first season.

Best Locker Room Presence
Wrapping up this evening for tonight, we would like to acknowledge the player with the best locker room presence. It is not easy to leave a positive mark on the team, especially with the season starting how it did. And so, we thought we should have the team vote on who they believed best kept the spirits high and lively in the locker room this season. This player was none other than Name Redacted (@Skeleton Party). He is always in the locker room and will certainly continue to support the team on and off the ice in his final season in the SMJHL.