Additional Honors (Valorian Ice Hockey)

Along with the official League Championship and Coupe Balbuzard sanctioned by the Valorian Hockey Federation, there exists a number of additional honors both officially or unofficially bestowed upon teams for achieving certain feats in professional Valorian ice hockey.

## The Double

The **Double** is the most prestigious honor in professional Valorian ice hockey. It consists of winning both the VHL league title and Coupe Balbuzard in the same season.

The Double has been accomplished six times by three teams. The Providence Doves were the first team to achieve the feat, realizing it for the first time in 2003. Also achieving it in 2005 and 2012, the Doves hold the record for most Doubles. The Boston Spirits are the only team to win the Double back-to-back, winning their two titles in 2008 and 2009. The Newfoundland Sailors are the most recent team to have won the Double, doing so for the first time in 2016.

List of Double-winning campaigns
 2005
 2008
 2009
 2012
 2016

## The Golden Puck

The Golden Puck is awarded at the end of every season to the best-performing VHF player that season. The Mainers' Carlos Ortega won the award for the second time in 2023.

## The 50+ Season

A **50+ Season** is an unofficial honor that requires a team to score at least 50 points over the regular VHL season. Such a feat was first accomplished by the Boston Spirits in 1990, after having come close on multiple occasions with 49-point seasons. The feat would not be repeated for over a decade, until the Providence Doves accomplished it in their Double-winning 2003 campaign. In 2007, the Spirits achieved the 50+ for the second time, and, only two seasons later, in 2009, did it for a third. The Spirits won their fourth 50+ in 2022, the most recent occurrence of the feat.

List of 50+ Seasons
 2003
 2007
 2009
 2022

## The League Shield

The **League Shield** is an unofficial annual award given to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season.

This honor is unique in that a physical trophy is created by fans and sent to the winning team each year. The honor was originally created out of fan discontent at the VHF's failure to recognize the top team in the standings. As per official VHF rules, the top-ranked team's only honor is being 1st seed, starting with home-ground advantage in their playoffs series. Fans thus created the award in 1989, after the Boston Spirits had topped the regular season rankings for the tenth time.

Two teams, the Connecticut Bandits and the Acadia Rage, have won the league shield (in 1999 and 2002 respectively), yet not won the league championship.

The honor was most recently won by the Boston Spirits, who claimed their 24th league shield in 2023.

Teams by League Shields
 Newfoundland Sailors
 Providence Doves
 EH Bas-Canada
 Connecticut Bandits
 Acadia Rage

## The Star

The **star** is the most prestigious official or unofficial award in Valorian ice hockey: one is awarded at the end of each decade to the best performing team throughout the past ten seasons. The star is adorned above and becomes part of a team's crest, and may permanently adorn a team's jersey.

Four stars have been awarded, comprising the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. The Boston Spirits and the Newfoundland Sailors each sport two: the Spirits earned theirs for their performances in the 1980s and 2000s, and the Sailors for their showings in the 1990s and 2010s.

The star is awarded at the end of each decade through a vote of ice hockey experts and journalists, as well as select VHF officials. The awarding process is often controversial, and both the VHF and ice hockey teams have been repeatedly accused of bribery, blackmail, and extortion in the voting process. The 2000s' star in particular was highly contentious, and saw large amounts of protest.

## The Wooden Spoon

The **Wooden Spoon** is an unofficial yearly mock-prize given to the team that finishes last in the regular season standings. Since 1978, nine teams have been awarded the wooden spoon. Hartford Hockey holds the record for most wooden spoons, with 21, including the most recent in 2023.

Four teams have won both the wooden spoon and the league title: Halifax Hockey Club (Champions in 2019; wooden spoons in 1997 and 1998), the Mainers (Champions in 2022; wooden spoon in 1988), the Providence Doves (Champions in 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2012; wooden spoon in 1989), and EH Bas-Canada (Champions in 1987, wooden spoon in 2010).

The Providence Doves are the only team to have both a Double and a wooden spoon.

## The 1.9

The **1.9** is an unofficial mock-prize given to teams that win the league championship, but finish runner-up in the Coupe Balbuzard. It is a play on the Double; teams awarded the 1.9 are close to achieving the Double, but not there.

The 1.9 was achieved four times before the first Double was successfully completed by the Providence Doves in 2003, including once by the Doves the season prior, in 2002. The Boston Spirits hold the record for most 1.9s, with four. The Acadia Rage and the Newfoundland Sailors share the record for most 1.9s caused, both teams having defeated the league champions in the Coupe Balbuzard finals twice (1992 and 2010; 2002 and 2022 respectively).

The award is only given to teams who win the league championship and finish runner-up Coupe Balbuzard, and not vice-versa. This is because the Coupe Balbuzard finals occur after the league finals, meaning the league runner-ups are not in contention for the Double by the time they are in a Coupe Balbuzard final.

The Mainers are the most recent team to have won a 1.9, doing so with a Balbuzard finals loss to the Newfoundland Sailors in 2022.