{"id":559465,"date":"2026-03-25T09:50:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559465\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T09:50:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:50:22","slug":"vancouver-giants-team-awards-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559465\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver Giants Team Awards 2025-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vancouver Giants Team Awards 2025-26<\/p>\n

Langley, B.C. \u2013 The Vancouver Giants are pleased to announce their Individual Award winners for the 2025-26 season, which were announced prior to the club\u2019s regular season finale on March 21.<\/p>\n

P.C. Toigo Most Valuable Player: Ryan Lin (53GP \u2013 14G \u2013 43A \u2013 57PTS)<\/p>\n

Lin led the Giants in scoring with 57 points, becoming the first Giants defenceman ever to record 50 or more points in both his 16-year-old rookie year and his 17-year-old NHL Draft season. His 14 goals this season were nearly triple the five he scored in 2024-25. Lin\u2019s offensive totals are one thing, but he was also 4th amongst all WHL skaters in average ice-time per game (25:58). Without Lin in the lineup from January 16 until February 21, the Giants went 3-11-0.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gordie Howe Top Scorer: Ryan Lin (53GP \u2013 14G \u2013 43A \u2013 57PTS)<\/p>\n

Lin\u2019s 1.08 points-per-game this season were the third-highest by a Giants defenceman in franchise history, trailing only Jonathon Blum (1.29 in 2008-09) and Mazden Leslie (1.09 in 2024-25). If he had been able to play a full season, he certainly would have challenged Leslie and Kevin Connauton for the Giants single season points record by a defenceman of 72.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pat Quinn Defenceman Of the Year: Ryan Lin (53GP \u2013 14G \u2013 43A \u2013 57PTS)<\/p>\n

Lin winning MVP meant he was a lock for the Pat Quinn Defenceman of the Year. He was valuable all over the ice, ranking 4th amongst WHL defencemen in controlled exits per game (5.58), 4th amongst WHL d-men in average puck possession per game (2:20) and 5th in successful pass completions per game (37.8).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Player\u2019s Choice Award: Ryan Lin (53GP \u2013 14G \u2013 43A \u2013 57PTS)<\/p>\n

Given his impact on the team at just 17, Lin was also the winner of the Player\u2019s Choice Award.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bruce Allen Inspirational Leadership Award: Mazden Leslie (66GP \u2013 21G \u2013 51A \u2013 72PTS)<\/p>\n

Ethan Mittslsteadt led by example both on and off the ice for the Giants this season, showing the younger Giants what real commitment looks like in practice, in the gym and academically.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Most Improved Player: Brett Olson (68GP \u2013 11G \u2013 19A \u2013 30PTS)<\/p>\n

Olson jumped from four goals and 15 points in his rookie season to 11 goals and 30 points as a 17-year-old, while taking on an increased role. The right-shot centre averaged 20:08 of ice time per game after the January 8 trade deadline, while also taking more face-offs, finishing second to Misha Volotovskii on the team with 396 face-off wins. The Spruce Grove, Alberta native was second amongst Giants forwards in even-strength points with 24.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Milan Ilich Rookie Of The Year: Blake Chorney (64 GP \u2013 8G \u2013 12A \u2013 20PTS)<\/p>\n

Chorney\u2019s point totals don\u2019t do justice to how effective he was as a 16-year-old rookie. He impacted the game in different ways and got significantly better as the year wore on, collecting five points in his final eight games. His 20 points did rank 10th in the WHL amongst 16-year-old rookie forwards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unsung Hero: Misha Volotovskii (61GP \u2013 17G \u2013 17A \u2013 34PTS)<\/p>\n

Volotovskii only had nine points in 25 games as a Giant (6G-3A), but he did everything the right way: practiced the right way, trained the right way and played the right way. He was a massive part of the Giants\u2019 improved penalty kill, which had a 76% efficiency since his arrival on January 8, and he averaged over 20 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

White Spot Humanitarian of the Year: Torretto Marrelli<\/p>\n

Marrelli played a key role in the Vancouver Giants\u2019 community outreach, generously volunteering his time at elementary schools through the \u2018Be a Giant\u2019 initiative, assisting at the Giants hockey school and all-day Timbits jamboree, and consistently going the extra mile at post-game skates, which were held eight times this season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bubl\u00e9 Iron Man Award: Brett Olson (68GP \u2013 11G \u2013 19A \u2013 30PTS)<\/p>\n

Olson was the only Giants play in all 68 games this season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Most Sportsmanlike Player: Jakob Oreskovic (67GP \u2013 12G \u2013 28A \u2013 40PTS \u2013 26 PIM)<\/p>\n

Oreskovic went the first 18 games of the season before taking a minor penalty. Given his hard, two-way game, 26 penalty minutes is pretty impressive for someone who played in 67 games. He was one game shy of suiting up in all 68 games, missing just one game on March 7 in Kamloops due to illness.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sultan Thiara Plus\/Minus Award: Kaleb Hartmann (+3)<\/p>\n

Heading into the final weekend of the season, Hartmann was the +\/- leader by a fair margin at +8. By the end of the season, he was +3, which included six points (3G-3A) and a +1 rating with the Giants in 19 games post trade deadline.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Save-On-Foods High School Scholastic Player of the Year: Blake Chorney<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan-raised Chorney balanced Grade 11 studies at South Delta Secondary with his first season in the WHL, suiting up in 64 games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Post-Secondary Academic Player of the Year: Ethan Mittelsteadt<\/p>\n

Mittelsteadt completed post-secondary courses online while playing an important role on the Giants blue line, averaging nearly 20 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Three Stars of the Year: First Star \u2013 Burke Hood; Second Star \u2013 Ryan Lin; Third Star \u2013 Kelton Pyne<\/p>\n

Hood was the outright winner of the Three Stars, finishing the season with four First Star selections, two Second Star selections and three Third Star selection, for a total of 19 points.<\/p>\n

Despite missing 14 games with an upper-body injury, Lin was named the First Star twice, the Second Star four times and the Third Star three times, for a total of 17 points.<\/p>\n

Pyne was named the First Star five times, giving him a total of 15 points.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Graduating Players: Ethan Mittelsteadt, Misha Volotovskii, Kelton Pyne<\/p>\n

Mittelsteadt was the longest-serving Giant of the three at 111 games. He also suited up in 112 games with the Kelowna Rockets and 40 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds, for a total of 263 career regular season WHL games. The defenceman also played in 20 playoff games: 15 with Kelowna and five with the G-Men.<\/p>\n

Pyne appeared in 33 games for the Giants in his 20-year-old season, in addition to the 104 games he had already played with his hometown Regina Pats. He posted a career high .898 save percentage with the Giants in those 33 games this season.<\/p>\n

Volotovskii played more games than both of those, though the fewest with Vancouver at just 25. Volotovskii played 285 career WHL regular season games between Saskatoon, Medicine Hat and the Giants. He won a Memorial Cup last season with Medicine Hat and totalled 43 career WHL playoff games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Giants Team Awards 2025-26 Langley, B.C. \u2013 The Vancouver Giants are pleased to announce their Individual Award…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55,112897],"class_list":["post-559465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver","tag-vancouver-giants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}