Lone Star Brahmas’ Sebastian Vidmar – Dan Wildfong Recognized By NAHL
By Kirk Estes
Sebastian Vidmar continued to add to his post season accolades today when the NAHL announced the balance of the 2014-15 Season Awards.
Vidmar, who had an outstanding season while wearing the “C” for the Lone Star Brahmas, was named the NAHL League Most Valuable Player, Forward of the Year and to the 2014-15 All-NAHL Team. The Union College commit led the charge for one of the most productive offensive units in the league this season. In 58 games played he found the back of the net an astounding 35 times and accounted for a total of 80 points to go along with 11 game winning goals, leading the league in all three categories.
Twice this season Vidmar was named NAHL Easton Hockey Forward of the Month. He also received weekly recognition six times being named South Division Star of the Week three times and Second Star of the Week three times.
Prior to coming to the Lone Star Brahmas last season, Sebastian had played J20 SuperElit hockey for his hometown Malmo Sweden Redhawks along with linemate Ludvig Larsson. Earlier this season for an article on the Swedish impact on the NAHL, Malmo Redhawks Head Coach Peter Enehag commented on the success that his two previous charges were having in the US. “They are very well prepared physical and mental for playing elite hockey,” he explained. “Vidmar and Larsson I trained myself and both of them were in top 5 in their groups, and both of them have so called ‘hockey smartness’. I’m not surprised they are doing well at your side.”
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In December when Vidmar’s commitment to Union was announced Brahmas Head Coach Dan Wildfong told NAHL.com “We are incredibly proud of what Sebastian has accomplished and continues to do on the ice,” Wildfong said. “Union made a great commitment as he remains to be a top forward in our league who continues to improve.”
Vidmar was not the only member of the Lone Star Brahmas organization to be honored on Monday. Head Coach Dan Wildfong was named NAHL 2014-15Coach of the Year. After a rollercoaster 2013-14 season that started with the former Texas Tornado franchise being purchased and moved to the NYTEX Sports Centre late in the offseason, Wildfong began to work on the roster to shake things up. The first half of last season saw the Brahmas in the basement of the South Division, but Wildfong knew he could get the team headed in the right direction. Vidmar was brought into the fold on November 5th followed by goaltender TJ Black on November 23. Those two moves helped halt the skid and start to turn things around. In January Wildfong traded for Roman Uchyn and added Hogan Davidson in early February. In all Wildfong made close to 30 roster moves to build a foundation for this season. The changes worked and the Brahmas went on to one of the best records in the league during the second half of the season and just missed reaching the playoffs.
With a strong foundation in place and a full offseason to sign tenders and participate in the NAHL Draft, Wildfong put a squad on the ice this year that has been near the top of the league all season. They finished the year as the NAHL South Division Regular Season Champs, a full 17 games better than their finish last season. Lone Star won 40 games and finished with 88 points, second in the league only to the Janesville Jets.
Wildfong led the Brahmas to a NAHL South First Round Playoff sweep of the Wenatchee Wild. The team is now locked in a Division Finals against the Topeka Roadrunners that has seen the teams split the first two games of the best of five series.