Prior to to the last game of the season, the Utica Comets announced their team awards. Let’s talk about them.
The Awards
The Utica Comets announced their team awards for the season. While it was a rough year, the Comets deserve credit for making it very interesting at the end. Here are the awards as posted on WKTV.com.
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Media Choice Award: Xavier Parent
Eric Weinrich Award for Best Defenseman: Topias Vilen
Ian Anderson Award for Most Improved: Jakub Malek
Bill Horton Award for Most Heart: Ryan Schmelzer
Thomas M. Lindsey Award for Community Service: Ryan Schmelzer
Team MVP Center Kyle Criscuolo immediately stands out. On AATJ, our staff named winger Brian Halonen as the best Utica Comet this season, and honestly, the award could have also gone to team point leader Xavier Parent, or Angus Crookshank, who both won other awards. All four forwards finished the season with between 34 and 39 points and all but Criscuolo reached the 20 goal threshold. That Halonen did it in roughly 11 less games than the others due to stints in New Jersey gave him the nod for me, but all four deserve recognition.
Criscuolo is a 33-year-old 5’9 center, who played a handful of games for the Sabres, Red Wings, and Sharks throughout the course of his career, and did an honorable job in an otherwise weak position on the team. As an older veteran on an expiring contract, it’s unclear what Criscuolo’s future holds.
Another standout is Topias Vilen winning the award for best Utica defenseman. Vilen won the most-improved award last year from the team, and has continued his upwards progression, even earning a couple of games in New Jersey at the end of the season. Vilen has played in all situations for the Comets this season, filling in on the power play for injured defenseman Seamus Casey, killing penalties and leading the transition out of the defensive zone. Vilen feels like he has been in the system forever, but only turned 23 in April. Next year will be an important year to determine whether Vilen can crack a NHL lineup as a regular.
Goaltender Jakub Malek winning the Ian Anderson award for most improved was well-earned. Malek struggled out of the gate with much of the team, but was strong down the stretch, finishing the season with a GAA and SV% slightly better than veteran Nico Daws. With Daws’s future uncertain, Malek should get plenty of action in Utica’s net next season as his development continues.
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Around the Pool
As expected, goaltender Veeti Louhivaara was released from his Utica tryout to join UConn next season.
Defenseman Daniil Orlov continues to take big steps in the KHL.
Your Take
First, I’d like to thank everyone again for their kind comments after I lost our beloved labradane Hanna a few weeks ago. She was a very special dog and will be forever missed. In her memory, we adopted a sweet little Borador. Meet Luna.
This is 10-month-old Luna sleeping with her herded toys. Her collie instincts leads her to herd tennis balls and her stuffed animals together. She had a long road to travel to us from a shelter to a foster to a loving home with a daughter who was allergic to her to another loving home with a son who was allergic to her to us. Now she has a place of her own for the rest of her days. We love her.
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