THE 2013

BEST OF VEGAS HOCKEY AWARDS

There was an all-time record vote on
Vegashockey.net to determine winners
of the 2013 Best of Vegas Hockey Awards.

There was a new voting record for the
‘All Heart’ award won by Jake McKenna.

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PLAYER OF THE YEAR

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NHL/AHL

JASON ZUCKER

NCAA

CORY WARD

EUROPE

ADAM NAGLICH

WHL

ZACH POCHIRO

BCHL

MICHAEL MCNICHOLAS

USHL

JOEY SULLIVAN

NAHL

CODY MILLIGAN

UNLV

SAM BRANIFF

AAA

VITO CARLO

AA

JAKE McKENNA

Bantam

MIKEY YOCUM

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WOMAN’S PLAYER
OF THE YEAR
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MEGAN MYERS

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ROLLER PLAYER
OF THE YEAR
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ANDREW TAMURA

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BEST DEFENSEMAN
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EDDIE DEL GROSSO

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ALL HEART
New Record
Most Votes
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JAKE McKENNA

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GOALIE OF THE YEAR
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AA

CHASE SMITH

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ROLLER GOALIE OF THE YEAR
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TERRY MARTIN

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COACHES OF THE YEAR
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Europe

ROB PALLIN

AA

ANTHONY GREENER

AA BANTAM

EVAN ZUCKER

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ROLLER COACH OF THE YEAR
==========================

CURT WEIMAN

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HOCKEY PERSON
OF THE YEAR
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FRANK ‘GRAMPS’ PERONE

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BEST ARENA
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LAS VEGAS ICE CENTER

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BEST RINK MUSIC
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THE ORLEANS ARENA

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BEST SNACK BAR
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LAS VEGAS ICE CENTER

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BEST RINK COFFEE
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LAS VEGAS ICE CENTER

Las Vegas skaters are in three New Year’s Eve games tonight:

NEW YEAR’S EVE GAMES

ECHL

Las Vegas Wranglers including Chris Francis, Eddie Del Grosso and Bryce Reddick, at Utah Grizzlies, 5 pm pacific

NAHL

Minnesota Magicians with Cody Milligan on home ice vs Coulee Region, 7 pm central

Minot Minotauros with Beau Ricketts on home ice vs Kenai River, 7:35 pm central

 

The voting is closed. There were a record number of ballots and a new record was set for hits and page views on Vegashockey.net

The 2013 Best of Vegas Hockey awards will be released here on New Year’s Eve

Thank you, Lee

The ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers are on the team bus, off to Salt Lake City for the big game against the Utah Grizzlies on New Year’s Eve – Lee

Nobody asked me but….

//Rob Pallin will return and coach at Sapa Fehervar A19 in Hungary next season.

//Las Vegas goal scorer Adam Naglich will return there too.

//Chris Francis will break loose and blast in some goals.

//Jake McKenna will be the next bigtime defenseman in town

//Maybe he’ll be as good as Eddie Del Grosso who is playing his best hockey in years for the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers.

//We’ll be writing more about goalie Bradyn Mensch of the Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 16u

//UNLV’s playoff fate will be determined in upcoming home games against San Jose State and Michigan

//The AA Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 18u will go very deep at the U.S. Nationals

//There is nothing like the Jr Wranglers top line skating hard across the blue line and into attack areas.

//A year from now Ethan Montoya and many others will be in junior hockey.

//Or, they will be playing in college hockey.

//Megan Myers is the best woman’s skater of our time. Just ask the hockey folks at Utica College.

//Anthony Greener wanted to and could have played pro hockey.

//But a few years ago while playing for UNLV in a road game at Long Beach State, he was down, pinned against the rink boards and a defenseman skated in, blasted him, injurying his left knee.

//He had surgery and never played again.

//That’s his jersey – Number 96 – high on the arena wall at the SoBe Ice Arena.

//Whenever we go to LV Ice Center, we asked for a ‘half and half’ – half coffee, half hot chocoate.

//It makes some of the cold go away on the south rink.

//In the fall, there is nothing like walking into the Sobe Ice Arena with a bright harvest moon over it.

//Or looking at the Christmas tree with all of the bright lights there outside the rink doors, next to the Subway.

//You know its a big game when Frank ‘Gramps’ Perone is on the bench lining up the sticks on the bench.

//Or when Joe Battaglia is in the box, running the scoreboard and announcing the goals.

//The way hockey dad Bill Tufano did for years at Crystal Palace on North Rancho Drive.

//Or when AAA L.A. Jr Kings midget major with star players used to send its big teams into the Santa Fe Ice Arena to take on the AA Las Vegas Mustangs.

//Las Vegas hockey dad Tommy Ricketts really does have over 10,000 Topps hockey cards.

//Years ago when we saw Spike Neely play for AA Las Vegas Mustangs in 1999-2000 we knew what All Heart was all about.

//Getting over the wall, into the game and blasting down the ice like Spike did.

//He is the real reason there is an All Heart award.

//Spike was on the Triple Threat Line with Travis Roseberry and JC Caron.

//That was the first bigtime top line we ever saw in Las Vegas.

//The best player I ever saw at a practice was Cory Ward.

//There is a new wave of young players coming in.

//You don’t know their names yet.

//Some just got their first skates on Christmas morning.

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Please vote for the deserving player, coach, hockey person for the 2013 Vegas Hockey Awards. These awards means more than you know. Vegashockey.net has readers throughout the USA, Canada, Europe. Today – Monday, December 30, midnight – is the deadline.

It was minus-17 last evening there

http://www.newsminer.com/arctic_cam/

Weekend Goal Scorers

December 27-29, 2013

WHL

1 – Gage Quinney, Prince Albert Raiders

AA

3 – Ethan Montoya

2 – Steven Hoernicke

1 – Tyler Anderson

1 – Andy Aroutiounian

1 – Brandon Ladd

1 – Logan Whiteley

1 – Chris Wojotowitz

AA LAS VEGAS JR WRANGLERS 18U

Head Coach – Anthony Greener

Record – 10-22-1

TOP SCORERS

Points………..Goals/Assists

30 – Logan Whiteley 20/10

30 – Steven Hoernicke 17/30

30 – Mitchell Province 14/16

19 – Justin Battaglia 4/15

17 – Tyler Anderson 5/12

13 – Ethan Montoya 9/4

13 – Brandon Williams 3/10

10 – Chris Wojtowitz 5/5

10 – Kyro Kraemer 3/7

8 – Brandon Ladd 2/6

6 – Ian Davis 1/5

4 – Andy Aroutiounian 3/1

1 – Hayden Breceda 1/0

1 – Kentrell Harper 0/1

0 – Will Albert 0/0

0 – Brady Toy 0/0

GOALIES

Chase Smith 5-6-1, 3.40 gaa, 91.1% save percentage

TJ Yocum 2-13-0, 4.39 gaa, 86.6% save percentage

Sunday, December 29, 2013

AA 18u

Holiday Classic – The Rinks, Yorba Linda, California

BRONZE MEDAL GAME

FINAL SCORE

AA LAS VEGAS JR WRANGLERS 4

OC HOCKEY CLUB #2  5

Las Vegas scoring

LV – Logan Whiteley 14th (Steven Hoernicke assist)

LV – Steven Hoernicke 16th (Ethan Montoya, Ian Davis)

LV – Ethan Montoya 3rd (Mitchell Province)

LV – Chris Wojtowitz 3rd (Brandon Ladd)

Las Vegas goalie

TJ ‘Teddy’ Yocum

Game Details –  OC scored first two goals….Logan Whiteley of Las Vegas scored his 14th near end of the first period…OC scored two goals in second period to lead 4-1…Steven Hoernicke of Las Vegas scored at the 13 min mark of third period. It was Steven’s team-leading 16th goal….Score is now 4-2…game is over – OC wins it 5-4….Scoring details will be posted when confirmed – Lee

Here are the leaders in the voting for the 2013 Best of Vegas Hockey Awards.

Winners in all categories will be announced midnight New Year’s Eve.

Send ballots now to leesamuels07@aol.com

DEADLINE TO VOTE – DECEMBER 30

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Those marked in bold received votes in last 48 hours – Lee

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Player of the Year vote leaders (leaders in order of voting)

Cory Ward, Jason Zucker, Chris Francis, Zach Pochiro, Joey Sullivan, Michael McNicholas, Adam Naglich, Sam Braniff, Drew Bryan

AAA Midget Player of the Year – Vito Carlo, Eric Williams, Jimmy Schilletter

AA Midget Player of the Year – Jake McKenna, Steven Hoernicke, Mitchell Province, Kyro Kraemer

AA/Bantam Player of the Year – Mikey Yocum

Defenseman of the Year – Eddie Del Grosso, Eric Williams

Coach of the Year – (leaders in order)

Evan Zucker, Anthony Greener, JJ Hartmann

Goalie of the Year – Chase Smith

Women’s College Player of the Year – Megan Myers, Brittany Brooks

Roller Coach of the Year – Curt Weiman, Nick Robone, Larry Sanford, Micah Sanford

Roller Player of the Year – Andrew Tamura

Best Roller Goalie – Terry Martin

All Heart (leaders in order) –

Jake McKenna, Vito Carlo, Ethan Montoya, Justin Battaglia, Kyro Kraemer, Richie Crossley

Hockey person of the Year – (leaders in order)

Frank ‘Gramps’ Perone, George Niederiter, Matt Edlin, Tommy Ricketts, Hector Toth, Joe Battaglia

Best Arena (leaders in order) –

Las Vegas Ice Center, Sobe Ice Arena, The Orleans (quite a battle – and pride on the line – for Best Arena), Crystal Palace ‘The Little Home of Champions’

Best rink music – The Orleans Arena

Best Snack bar – Las Vegas Ice Center, SoBe Ice Arena, The Orleans Arena

Best rink coffee – Las Vegas Ice Center, The Orleans Arena

Best Website – Vegashockey.net  (not on ballot, but was added)

Best hockey writer – Lee Samuels (not on ballot, but was added)