Its nearly the midway mark of the season and that means the CMHL and ICHF All-Star Games are upon us! The All-Star GMs will be determined on January 14th but first, its time for you to have your say on the rosters by voting for the starting lineups of each team. You only get one vote, so choose wisely!

Click here to vote: https://www.cmhlhockey.ca/AllStarS21.php

Voting will close on Sunday, January 19th, 2024 at 12 PM EST. It is an expectation of every GM that you submit a vote and this will be the first check-in of the new year. All GMs who vote will receive a 500k bankroll bonus.

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While going through some of my CMHL archives this morning, I came across my Tampa Bay teams initial draft picks, commencing from the league's Inaugural Prospect Draft from Season 1 (2004).  The first player selected by the Bolts was Ryan Getzlaf, at 5th overall.

Below is my complete draft list, from my (and the league's) initial season (2003-04) through our latest draft this past summer (2023) ...

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Chicago has been busy since the off-season started.  After almost getting into the playoffs.....

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In the early 2000s, when the CMHL was just starting out, the flegling Tampa Bay Lightning hired Dave Normoyle as their General Manager.  The new GM's basket wasn't exactly flush to the top with talent, so it did not take long for him to start reaching out to other GMs around the league.

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Tampa Bay Lightning GM is back!

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There were 23 total ballots counted.

CMHL Awards

After setting a league record with 128 points, Connor McDavid of the Toronto Maple Leafs has won both the Hart Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award, making him S20's most valuable player. McDavid received 18 Hart votes and 17 LBP votes, with some GMs simply nominating "McJesus".

In an even bigger runaway vote, Mikhail Sergachev of the Winnipeg Jets won the Norris Trophy with 20 votes. Sergachev posted the 4th best offensive season by a defenseman in CMHL history this year.

Going from wide to narrow, the Vezina Trophy came down to one vote with Matt Murray of the Winnipeg Jets claiming the trophy by a one vote margin over Ville Husso. Murray had 10 votes to Husso's 9.

Sticking with goalies, Carolina's Stuart Skinner took home the Calder Trophy with 12 votes. Necas and Gustafsson evenly split the other half of GMs.

In a double-win, Aleksander Barkov of the St. Louis Blues won both the Selke and Lady Byng Trophy in landslides, taking home 18 Selke votes and 20 Lady Byng votes. This was Barkov's 3rd Selke win in the last 4 years but his first Lady Byng win.

Not to let his teammate take home all the glory, Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Conn Smythe Trophy as league MVP with 14 votes. Markstrom and McDavid evenly split the remaining votes.

ICHF Awards

Over on the farm, Anthony Cirelli of the Flaming Poo (WPG) was named league MVP, receiving 13 votes each for both the Hart Trophy and Lester B Pearson Award. Gillies and Lafreniere split the remaining Hart votes.

In a runaway, Cirelli's teammate Alex Edler of the Flaming Poo (WPG) took home the Norris Trophy with 19 votes.

Seems the goalie races were the tricky ones to win - Jake Allen of the Trail Smoke Eaters (ANA) won the Vezina with 12 votes, beating Jon Gillies (TOR) by only 3 votes.

Philipp Kurashev of the Courtenay Crusaders (OTT) pulled off a "Barkov" picking up both the Selke and Lady Byng Trophies, though the Selke was close with Kurashev winning a narrow 12-10 vote over COL's Parker Kelly. Kurashev was the runaway winner of the Lady Byng with 19 votes.

Continuing a good night for the Jets, Anthony Stolarz won the Conn Smythe Trophy for his efforts in getting the Flaming Poo on the ICHF Cup, with a 15 vote win.

GM Awards

Though he won the Cup in the other league, the habsfan93 Award for CMHL GM of the Year was given to Simon (WPG) with 16 votes. Gary was the runner-up with 5 votes.

And though he made the Cup Finals in the other league, the Jack Adams Trophy for ICHF GM of the Year was given to Gino (EDM) with 20 votes.

I guess they did good things in the leagues they won awards for too :D

Gino didn't leave the night with just one award though, as he also was awarded the AsmodeanReborn Award for League Activity, with 13 votes. Ron was the runner-up at 7 votes.

The league's GMs recognized Peter (OTT) for his commitment to submitting lines with 16 votes for the M3 Award, with Landon and Ron splitting the remaining votes.

In an extremely close contest, the Jay Award for league passion was given to myself, Mat (DAL) with 11 votes to Ron's 10 votes. I really appreciate the recognition and want to give a shout-out to Ron who is equally deserving of this award.

The Grizzlygoalie Award for decision-making prowess was given to our Cup champion Aaron (TOR) with 16 votes, with Louie the runner-up at 7 votes.

And finally, in recognition of some crafty trading, the Kookaranian Award for trading ability was given to Marty (CAR) with 12 votes, with Tyler the runner-up at 7 votes.

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The following awards have been determined based on statistics/records:

CMHL Stanley Cup: Toronto
ICHF Stanley Cup: False Creek (WPG)
CMHL President's Trophy: Toronto
ICHF President's Trophy: Longueuil (EDM)
CMHL Prince of Wales Trophy: Toronto
ICHF Prince of Wales Trophy: Grand Rapids (DET)
CMHL Clarence S. Campbell Trophy: Edmonton
ICHF Clarence S. Campbell Trophy: False Creek (WPG)

CMHL Art Ross: Connor McDavid (TOR)
ICHF Art Ross: Sam Gagner (Longueuil/EDM)
CMHL Rocket Richard: Connor McDavid (TOR) and Elias Lindholm (BUF)
ICHF Rocket Richard: Anthony Cirelli (False Creek/WPG)
CMHL Jennings: Ilya Samsonov and Carey Price (VAN)
ICHF Jennings: Charlie Lindgren (Longueuil/EDM)

Now it's your chance to vote for all the other winners! Please complete the ballot found here: https://www.cmhlhockey.ca/AwardsS20.php

Voting is mandatory - your vote is considered your check-in for the beginning of the off-season to show you are still an active member of the league.

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Let's break down how the CMHL Conference Finals are going at this point...

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The Stars pulled off a shocking double-sweep of the Canucks in both the CMHL and ICHF to advance to the Semi-Finals in both leagues. The last time the Stars had a team in the semis in either league was Season 17 when they went to the CMHL Conference Finals. Let's look at each of their matchups for this second round.

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For the second time in three years, the Dallas Stars are facing the same team in both the CMHL and ICHF quarter-finals. In S18, Dallas lost both matchups at the hands of the Nashville Predators. This year, they'll hope to flip their fate upside-down and come out doubly ahead of the Vancouver Canucks! This is the second year in a row that Dallas is facing Vancouver in Round 1 of the CMHL playoffs - last year, they lost in six games. Here's a breakdown of each of the matchups.

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