With the 24th regular season of 239 in the history books, I felt now was a great time to take a sneak peak at the finalist and eventual winners of each award to be handed out. This is completely my sole opinion and in no way should this reflect or influence any other persons vote. With that said... if you're smart, this is how YOU will vote! Hart Memorial - Given to the MVP of the league. Nominees: -Veds (The Meow Shop): Without a shadow of a doubt Veds proved his case to be the best player in the league this season. Not only did he prove his value on the ice by finishing with 99 pts (league leader), a +57 (league leader), and 63 assist (league leader) in only 27 GP, he put on his detective hat week 2 of the year and busted the biggest cheating scandal in 239 history. Like him or hate him, you can not deny this man the Hart. Winner: Veds. Without sounding too bias as his teams captain, no one else had the type of season Veds had and thus no one else deserves to even be mentioned imo. Lady Byng - Given to the player deemed to have outstanding sportsmanship while also performing at a high level on ice. Nominees: -Cob13 (Peaky Pickles): After a season of bouncing around teams and in and out of starting lineups, Cob found his home with his friends at Peaky Pickles. Quietly, the team voted preseason as dead last, with some even suggesting the worst team in 239 history, Cob put up 60 pts (29 goals, 31 asst) while helping lead his team to a #3 seed overall. He also managed to finish with only 12 PIMs while collecting 109 hits, 4 GWGs and generally being one of the nicest guys you'll meet on Xbox. -Lemanski (Mystery Alaska): Another surprise playoff team, Lemanski collected 47 pts (24 goals, 23 asst) while pulling off a shocking 8th seed playoff appearance with his team Mystery Alaska. While being a high end goal scorer, you'll find not many who has a bad thing to say about this guy. He carries himself with class while performing at a elite level on ice. -Disnub (Jealous of my QC ping): Always a jack of all trades, this season Disnub proved exactly how versatile he is. Splitting his season up between LW and LD, he finish the season with 12 GP at LW closing up with 17 pts (8 goals, 9 asst). He also contributed on the back end playing 15 games at LD, collecting 7 assist while posting a +16 while playing on the backend. Combine this with being one of the more laid back, nicest guys in the league. Winner: Cob13. While all 3 of these guys are more than deserving of the award, Cob really stood out on the ice this year posting amazing numbers to finish in the top 10 in the league in points, while continuing the be a shining example of how to conduct yourself off the ice. Vezina Trophy - Given to the best goalie in the league Nominees: -Renfri (Cervix Busters): Making a switch over to goalie after 275 GP as a LD, Renfri showed she is an elite player at any position. Starting in 30 games this season, she posted 3 shutouts (tied-2nd most in league),and a .816 save % along side a 2.63 GAA. She did this while facing the most shots of any goalie in the league (441, next closest 413) and making the most saves of any goalie in the league at 360, 37 more than the next highest. Her amazing season between the pipes help lead the Cervix Busters to a 2nd seed. -Oilstain (#1 Power Rankings/The Meow Shop): A mid-season trade found Oilstain making his way from Pale's #1 Power Rankings squad to The Meow Shop. His first impression with the new team? 6 shutouts in his first 9 games. He would finish the season with a league leading 8 shutouts, a league leading 2.01 GAA, and a league leading .821 save % through 33 GP between his 2 teams. This performance help spur on his team Meow Shop to win the Presidents Trophy and top seed. -Xx of a Kind (I don't care, blame Kelch): Coming off a great season and a finals appearance, Kind followed up with another solid campaign in net. Through 28 GP (with current stats in), Kind finished with a 3.11 GAA (5th in league), a .782 save % (3rd best in league), and 3 shutouts (tied-2nd in league). His team fell just short of the final playoff push, just missing out by a point in 9th place, but most would agree a large part of the success of the team making it that far came from Kinds exceptional play. Winner: Oilstain. This is a closer race than I imagined before looking at the stats. With 8 shutouts, and a league best in the 3 major goaltending stat categories it seems like a slam dunk. But truly honorable mention needs to be given to Renfri here for the season she amassed in her first year in net. Facing more shots than any other goalie while finishing top 2 in basically every category shouldn't go unnoticed and it hasn't. But Oil had a special season and that too cannot be overlooked. He led every single major category a goalie can be asked to lead and really made some big stops along the way to putting up those numbers. Calder Trophy - Awarded to best rookie Nominees: -Oilstain (#1 Power Rankings/The Meow Shop): Read above in Vezina category for stats and praise. All that and yes, this was his rookie season in 239 despite being a grizzled chel vet. -Sportsxx (Peaky Pickles): While only playing in a total of 24 games, his impact in his rookie season cannot be denied. Helping push his team to a 3rd seed, Sports finished top 10 in scoring with 57 pts (25 goals, 32 asst), 2nd in pts on his team only behind his teammate Cob who finished with 3 more pts in 6 extra GP. Playing a dynamic style on the wing, Sports gave Peaky the extra fire power upfront the not only be able to survive, but thrive against the best teams and players in the league nightly. -Hylightt (I don't care, blame Kelch): Coming into the league as a A1xFreak referral put a bunch of pressure on this rookie and he didn't disappoint. Finishing the season top 15 in league scoring with 46 pts (26 goals, 20 asst), he played as A1's right hand man on the wing. He flipped between RW/LW (mostly RW) showing his versatility being able to switch sides if called upon. Winner: Sportsxx. Again another award with 3 very deserving candidates, but someone has to win. In this scenario, I give the nod to Sports for his incredible rookie year finishing top 10 in pts and helping lead a team no one believed in to a top seed.
Selke - Awarded to the best defensive forward Nominees: -YoungBuffalo88 (The Meow Shop): After taking a season off, Youngbuff returned with little fan fair. He went for his lowest bod amount in his career at only $4 (in large part because yours truly bid a fraction of a second late...yeah, I suck) spending the 1st week sitting in exile on Peaky Pickles bench. But at last, a trade was worked out sending Buff to the Meow Shop following week 1. In 25 GP, he would finish with 51 pts (20 goals, 31 asst), a +47 and 4 GWG (1 off the team lead). Defensively he was a stud as usual, making things extremely hard for opposing teams offenses, a large contributing factor to Oilstains league leading 8 shutouts. -Abutt218 (Jealous of my QC Ping): A consistent league star, Abutt continued his dominance in the league posting another year of amazing numbers across the board. Playing in all 30 of his teams games, he finished the season with 76 pts (20 goals, 56 asst) combined with a 49.2% faceoff win rate and a +14 on the year. His offensive output in never in questioned and neither is his defensive prowess as a continual Selky candidate yearly. -Adrenaline15 (Peaky Pickles): In my opinion another member of Peaky up for an award, not surprising considering this teams play all season. Playing the dot for all 30 of his teams games, he finished up with 16 goals, 29 assist for a total of 45 pts with a +9 and a 48% FO win rate. His strong play down the middle not only set the tone for his team to counter offensively, it forced opponents to slow down their own advances making it easy for Peaky to close lanes and win games. Winner: YoungBuffalo88. Bias? Maybe. Deserving? Absolutely. The numbers speak for themselves and everyone in the league knows YoungBuffalo as a defensive ace. His defensive end play helped open the offensive flood gates for Veds and Cee to run wild all season, including allowing the defense to freely jump in and out of the offensive rush at their leisure. Norris - The best defenseman Nominees: -Barrett50Cal (Mystery Alaska): "I want to play D" - "But you're a center"... a conversation between myself and Barrett a few years ago. If there was ever a season for him to say "Told ya so", this is that season. Barrett had a spectacular year posting 34 points (6 goals, 28 asst) in 28 GP on defense. He also put up a respectable +9 that put him tied for 9th overall in defenseman for +/- on the season. -YoungKelch (The Meow Shop): Everyone's favorite pick as "Most improved player", this year Kelch took a step towards a different tier. He led all defenseman with a +55 (the best in league and best of any defenseman on his own team... yeah, I'm looking in the mirror at you, self). Besides the GOD-tier +/-, he finished 5th in defensive points with 30 (9 goals, 16 asst) while doing it in 24 GP on the backend (lower GP than anyone above him in stats at D). Hall of Fame (Jealous of my QC Ping): Always a Norris front-runner, Hall had yet another outstanding performance on the backend leading his team. Finishing the season 3rd in defenseman points with 33 (2 goals, 31 asst), he also posted a +13 (6th best amongst defensemen). Much of the success of his team and Disnubs foray into defense going smoothly can be attributed to Hall's amazing play and leadership. Winner: Tie... Barret50Cal & YoungKelch. I am prepared to take heat for this pussy of a pick. I just can't pick between 2 guys who deserve it so much. You may also ask "BLK, you led the league in points from defense... where are you?". My answer... did Barrett get to be carried by Veds, Cee and Buff? Did Kelch get to comfortably sit at D all year and produce? No and No. I got spoiled folks. I played with 5 of the best players in the league creating something out of the nothing I gave them. I played D all year while Kelchy was asked to play LW, LD, than a series at LW again, and then back to LD. All without skipping a beat and continuing to be consistent and great in all areas. Barrett didn't have the roster I had (no disrespect at all to Mystery Alaska or their players). Barrett was the driving force behind that team. Don't believe me? Watch a stream of their team play and watch Barrett create magic skating the puck up and breaking into the zone at will. If there has EVER been a year for a duel-Norris winner... I say let this be that year. Jack Adams - Awarded to the best captain Nominees: -Kaberle (Cervix Busters): Individually Kabs had a amazing season, racking up 70 pts (47 goals, 23 asst) good for 5th most in the league and 2nd most goals scored in the league in 30 GP. He captained a team many thought would fail and finish near the bottom of the standings coming out of bidding. But throughout the season, Kabs team stayed at the top of the standings with the final result being a 2nd seed. He made notable moves throughout the season as well to help push his team to success, moves that included acquiring Dvetts, Roman and Ronin. -Potshot (Peaky Pickles): Finishing the season tied for 8th in defenseman points with 21 (5 goals, 16 asst) and a +8, Pot helped guide his team to an impressive 3rd seed. Coming out of bidding you heard things said about this team that ranged from "they're a bottom team" to "they are the worst team in 239 history". Well what a difference a month makes, eh? Not only did his team utterly and completely destroy all critics remarks, they did so while competing for a top 2 seed down to the final night of play, just missing out but finishing up 3rd overall. Pot didn't listen to critics, instead he rolled with his plan and his guys and proved to all why they should have never slept on the Pickles. He also made the highest bid claim to land Marty McFly in the OOcky Way fall out draft, further solidifying his team and showing he has the knowledge of building a winner. -Bluelineking7 (The Meow Shop): As much as I would love to tout my stats (#1 point getter on d here, no big deal) and the fact I captained a team to the finals last season and a Presidents Trophy this season, I simply won't bore you with the details I'll just say in all honesty, I really like the team I built, I think I made some risky moves that most people didn't believe in (dropping a stud in Kin for Supe, than trading Supe and King Almighty for Oil; adding YoungBuffalo via trade and risking disrupting a offense that was already buzzing) but I felt it would and should work. I'm proud to be able to sit here today as the Presidents trophy winning captain and can easily say I wouldn't change a thing with a single guy on my roster. Winner: Bluelineking7. Picking myself? Yup. I mean, I was pretty classy with Norris right? Gotta give credit there lol. So I feel I have carte blanche here to take some liberties and toot my own horn...so beep beep mother fuckers. 18.5 Award - For best PT player Nominees: -zer0 pain (I Don't Care, Blame Kelch/#1 Power Rankings): A great season lost on a not so great roster in the end, zer0 played his full 18 game PT slate and finished with 46 pts (27 goals, 19 asst) good for 15th overall in the league for points and a +9. While his team didn't end up where they wanted by the end, individually he put up outstanding numbers and led all PT players in points. -Hammerman705 (Cervix Busters): A rookie PT player can be a tough role, especially when you're a rookie PT player on a team in the top 2. But Hammerman lived up to the test and thrived on a team fighting to carry the regular season momentum further into the playoffs. He played in 15 games, all at Center, and finished with 45 pts (14 goals, 31 asst) and a +15. Finishing 2nd in all PT players in points while playing in 3 less games. A vital part to the success of the Cervix Busters. -Dpittman12 (Cervix Busters): Yet another PT rookie brought in by Kabs to help the Busters stay at the top of the standings. And just like Hammerman, Dpitt lived up to any expectations throughout his season. Playing all 15 of his games exclusively at RW, he finished the season 3rd overall in PT player scoring with 34 pts (19 goals, 15 asst), a +16, and a final record of 11-1-3 (.733 win%) while on the ice.1 of only 3 PT players to finish in the top 31 in points overall for the league. Winner: Hammerman705. It's a great story, a rookie PT player helping lead a team that was doubted by almost all finish in the top 2. But besides just the feel good story, Hammer had a fantastic rookie season regardless. Averaging 3 PPG while rotating in and out is not a easy thing to do, and not only did he do just that, he also did it while helping his team win lots of games. Hope you guys enjoyed it, my hand is crushing me now... never again lol, next time this will be audio version... best of luck to all teams in the loffs' and congrats to EVERYONE on a great season, including those mentioned above and not mentioned!
