Victor

It’s ok, extra cap space.

You were on the Toronto team the one time they beat Davos though right? Also when did you come back??

7 goals per game is a nice trend.

Ohoho I like this very much.

2 correct answers = 2 capped TPE 1 correct answer = 1 capped TPE Uncapped TPE based on season leaderboard handed out at end of season. Here's week 6: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeTUCe5s8KIUQIIaHqSPAMbnkEJ0zJGBs4ugRAD4roiYA_uHA/viewform?usp=sf_link

S31 and S33 – Riga finally wins a series, but still serious voodoo afoot Riga went through a rough patch, probably their roughest ever, after S21 and it wasn't until expansion that Riga and Davos met again. Typically, an underestimated Dynamo team won a cup in S31 after upsetting an ambitious team from Riga, including Ansgar Snijider who had only moved from Davos to Riga in free agency the previous off-season. But the real telling sign of how lopsided this rivalry is actually came in S33, when Riga finally beat their archnemesis. However, the fact that this first round series had to go to 7 games and featured a historic performance by Elijah Incognito tells its own story, as the Dynamo stumbled into the playoffs by default, thanks to having the services of David Smalling and Phil Rafter for most of the season (Rafter was traded at the trade dealine). Otherwise, this was the bare bones of the S31 team and still they pushed Riga to the very limit. S37-S39 – Davos does another threepeat over Riga For anyone keeping track, by the end of S39 Davos (not Avangard) had played 9 series against Riga and lost just 1 when they weren't even trying to be in the playoffs. This period is a particular highlight for me as I was the Davos GM and in typical Davos fashion built up a team with no real superstars (but a lot of iconic players like Thomas Landry, Davey Jones, Jarkko Olsen, and Shane Baker) but one which somehow made four finals and won two of them regardless. Riga was the victim on three occasions and this was probably the closest the off-ice rivalry got to S11 levels. That can at least be partially be attributed to chief conspiracy theorist Kendrick returning to the Reign as Kameron Taylor, with another similarity to S11 being the Davos GM (me) also being commissioner. We also had Jardy for a bit so we had the simmer too, which didn't help matters. It was good to see Riga convincingly get the cup they deserved in S40 once Davos went into a rebuild, as I know for their side (including members like the Gows), this was significantly less fun than it was the Dynamo. In truth though this was the end of the great lineage of Davos vs Riga despite five more playoff series to follow and it is fitting that it featured another loud and outspoken Davos team – a tribute to nearly 30 seasons of proud and winning history in Switzerland. S45-S46, S49-S50, S56 – The last few meetings that I don't have too much interesting to say As noted above, S39 was a bit of a cut-off point for the rivalry and also for Davos' ridiculous streak of success they enjoyed ever since moving from Avangard. In a serious rebound, the Dynamo went through a long cup drought – 22 seasons – the longest of any franchise not named Vasteras. They had their moments though, and two of those, the finals runs in S50 and S56, featured underdog Davos teams upsetting heavily favoured teams from Riga, in line with most of their shared history. There was also the forgettable spell of S45 and S46, when Davos won 8 out of 8 games against Riga but then ran into the Helsinki juggernaught that won back-to-back cups anyway. And finally there was one more Riga win in S49, in a very weak European Conference so again not the most satisfying of successes over their oldest rivals. Overall though, since S39 Riga can safely claim to have been the more successful franchise of the two, in large part thanks to not having to face Davos for most of their brightest moments. Is the tide turning back now that conferences have been reintroduced? Certainly the start of the S66 playoffs suggests this is the case, but Davos is a long way from becoming the almost incomprehensibly unbeatable franchise it was in this rivalry's heyday. This one for Pavlov.

If you did trivia last week you might know that Davos vs Riga is the most lopsided playoff matchup in VHL history. Fittingly, with this being a playoffs theme week, we also have a Davos vs Riga matchup in the first round of the S66 VHL playoff and if you've seen any of the defeatists posts by Riga GM Benjamin Zeptenbergs, you'll know that the 13th all-time for Davos is currently halfway there. The two teams didn't meet during the 8-season World Conference era, which is quite nice as this was distinctly a European rivalry, which started the moment Avangard moved to Davos in S11 and ended with Davos upsetting (yet again) Riga in the S56 conference finals. Let's have a look at the 14 times the Swiss and Latvian teams have met so far. S11 – The Legend Begins I can't really do justice to the original and probably still the greatest Davos vs Riga series – I don't think any single season created such a large rivalry and it really was only one season, with Avangard not a threat as they were swept by Riga in S10, and then Davos retooling in S12 while Riga went into a rebuild by the time Davos won the cup in S13. Fortunately, I don't have to put too much effort into it as the great Zero immortalise the S11 rivalry in a 20 in 20 article which can be found here: https://vhlforum.com/topic/906-vhl-20-in-20-13-cats-and-dogs/ Long story short, Davos was the cool kids of early days VHL, the ones who liked to form cliques and ostracise the slightly different characters of the league, like the hard-working but opinionated Slobo (Layken Heidt), Kendrick (Torsten Schwarz) or Elmy (Blake Beukeboom). There were lots of fairly neutral players on both sides but the cores of the two teams were at each others' throats and it only added to the tension that the Davos GM was commissioner and simmer Scotty Campbell. The Dynamo were probably the slightly weaker roster on paper, but came through with a first championship in their first season in Davos, in large part thanks to an iconic Game 7 victory (3 goals in 14 seconds and all), which set the tone for the next 13 playoff meetings and counting. S19-S21 – Davos establishes dominance As that article I linked above states, and it was written right around S19 or S20, the Riga/Davos rivalry was sort of revived at this point, but was nowhere near as loud and brash. It was less about polarising member bases and more about polarising ways of building a team. Riga was the classic VHL team – all out attack, an OK goalie in Ma'a Nonu, and a serviceable defence where the best player was Olivier Scarlett, whow as highly rated but still on his entry-level contract. The offense though was something else with Tarik Saeijs and Max Kroenenburg's joint lead with 157 points telling its own story in S20. That's not even counting two Hall of Famers in Mikka Virkkunen and J.D. Stormwall who combined to great effect in Calgary and kept it up in Latvia. Yet this was one of those times when defence triumphed and continued Davos' strange stranglehold over the Reign. The Dynamo were nothing special in S19 and especially S21, but the killer blow was in S20, when they had an alright forward core, but largely reliant on Anton Brekker, but really turned up the style in defence, with the great Daisuke Kanou in goal. They had Patrick Bergqvist, one of the few defencemen to be crowned MVP (another trivia question connection there) and really won the cup by trading for Geno Esposito and Jordan Berglund midseason. The fact it was just one of three straight playoff eliminations for Riga just poured extra salt on the wound. That's theme for Cast done, moving on to part 2....

1. I think I've also had a shit season with my players so I guess this was it. It was stupid and would have been a major turn off, good thing I had Moscow to keep me going. 2. No clue and his final stats were where Cast should have been. Given we're on the same line and I am the better player, it's a bit demoralising. 3. I'm always open to all possibilities, that's all I'll say. 4. On a scale of 1 to 10, probably 8. 5. Haha, it's good when things like that go your way. I would have drafted him with the very next pick although the guy I drafted, Mitch Matthews, isn't active anymore either. But it's good that it forced me to not take chances in S66 and I got my franchise goalie at the second attempt. 6. I mean, he was a pretty lucky rookie of the year but yeah it's a shame. I purposefully picked him from Riga in the expansion draft because I knew his build would make sure he was good. It still is - Jaguar and Volosenkov exploded once I put him on the 2nd line with them, but sadly there's no space for him going forward. 7. He was a bit of a gamble as all returning members are. I would love to see him back at full strength but at the same time people going inactive/semiactive makes cap decisions easier in the future. 8. At the moment probably, although Buefordsson is also a slight concern. I made up for it with some great picks later on so you win some, you lose some. 9. I think it would be best for the team and for Cast but I don't know if it's feasible with the cap and still having a good set of forwards. I would recommend it though. 10. I've not done the math for everyone but someone like Seattle or Toronto maybe. Certainly Toronto has a chance although they'll be collecting a lot of cap dumps I reckon.

Slightly delayed answers and teeps. 1. What is the most lopsided playoff matchup in VHL history (in terms of series wins for a single team)? As you'd be able to find here: https://vhlforum.com/topic/52282-an-all-encompassing-playoff-spreadsheet/ it is by some distance Davos vs Riga. Davos has won 12 of the 15 playoff matchups between the two franchises and one of their 3 losses came before they even moved to Davos. No surprise they've got a 2-0 lead already this season. We won't see if Calgary can extend their lead over Toronto or Toronto over Seattle, while Riga vs Vasteras which ended 8-3 all-time is at least something positive for the Reign. 2. How many times has a defenceman been crowned league MVP? (1 uncapped to @majesiu for the question) The VHL's most underappreciated position - it's only happened 3 times. Tomas Jenskovic, the only ever defenceman to lead the league in scoring, did it in S14, then Patrick Bergqvist set a still-standing assists record en route to becoming MVP in S20. They also both played for Davos, which makes Guntis Petenis the outlier in a few ways but him winning it in S54 didn't pave the way for any more defencemen since. And Petenis didn't get into the Hall of Fame. 2 capped TPE goes to: Jubo07 @Jubo07 Gabella19 @Gabella19 FakeJenton @FakeJenton ItsMcLovin @ItsMcLovin Beketov @Beketov FerdaJets @FerdaJets Zepheter @zepheter AndrewWarren13 @AndrewWarren13 TacticalHammer @TacticalHammer BladeMaiden @BladeMaiden DoktorFunk @DoktorFunk berocka @berocka Matmenzinger @Matmenzinger DollarAndADream @DollarAndADream wcats @wcats Sharkstrong @Sharkstrong No_dangles @No_Dangles gorlab @gorlab Green @Green 11 Eleven @11 Eleven HulkHogan @HulkHogan NordicBruin91 - doesn't come up as a tag? nethi99 @nethi99 Quik @Quik ahawk2191 @ahawk2191 Smarch @Smarch metaltoday @MetalToday FacebookFighter @FacebookFighter Acydburn @Acydburn CowboyinAmerica @CowboyinAmerica VanCanWin @VanCanWin Steve @Steve TheFlash @TheFlash Micheal Rasmussen @Connor mcdavid - username please, not player name Thranduil @Thranduil Hughjas_ @HughJas_ Saelven88 @Saelven88 FrostBeard @FrostBeard trevmi @trevmi Mini Muu @Mini Muu Edustava @Edustava Zeno @Zeno SidTheKid87 @SidTheKid87 Enorama @Enorama GustavMattias @GustavMattias monkeywrench15 @monkeywrench15 Kylrad @Kylrad okocha5 @okocha5 rjfryman @rjfryman GRZ @GRZ Beaviss @Beaviss Josh. @Josh. Renomitsu @Renomitsu philliefan @Philliefan Nykonax @Nykonax aCrypticPancake @aCrypticPancake Esso2264 @Esso2264 Jtv123 @Jtv123 HenrikZoiderberg @HenrikZoiderberg PenKnight @PenKnight xsjack @xsjack Velevra @Velevra bluesfan55 @bluesfan55 MexicanCow123 @MexicanCow123 Infernal @Infernal Walter Fizz @Walter Fizz Morzaburger @Motzaburger hedgehog337 @hedgehog337 ItsFinnishDaniel @ItsFinnishDaniel Snussu @Snussu Banko @banko Dominus89 @Dominus89 Anthony Matthews @Anthony Matthews Sonnet @Sonnet Xdpark @xDParK fonziGG @fonziGG Walter Fizz @Walter Fizz Big Mac @Big Mac SirRupertBarnes @SirRupertBarnes Phil @Phil flyersfan1453 @flyersfan1453 StamkosFan @StamkosFan positivefan036 @Positivefan036 littleboi @littleboi Leafsman @leafsman Matt_O @Matt_O Gaudette @Gaudette Sixersfan549 @Sixersfan549 Dilly Dilly @Dilly Dilly DMaximus @DMaximus Kyle @Kyle 1 capped TPE goes to: diamond_ace @diamond_ace fonziGG @fonziGG Acydburn @Acydburn jRuutu @jRuutu Tate @Tate Midnite @Midnite Strooper99 @Strooper99 .sniffuM @.sniffuM Greg_Di @Greg_Di street @street

RIP

Oh boy.

Tricked y'all into getting a worse pick.

When random draftees show up in the Game of Thrones thread before they're even drafted you know they're gonna stick around @Matmenzinger

Victor, February 5th, 2019: "The only goalie who might have a claim is Stopko, but he'd just muddy the waters further with Ironside and Arroyo. I feel like those two contributed more to Toronto coming 4th than Stopko did, but neither enough to be sole MVP.   Louth is an interesting inclusion, hadn't considered him, but think Quebec underachieved anyway and he only really stepped up once Dragomir was gone. That's Beau btw, Keaton is a bit off the pace to be MVP imo.  Which really leaves Thompson and Cast. And really this is a long way of boringly saying that the top scorer is MVP which I hate doing. That said, both Seattle and Riga wouldn't exactly miss the playoffs without them. Both have a stat that the other doesn't compete in - Thompson 2nd in hits, Cast 2nd in FO % - and both have high scoring teammates. Seattle did score 50 goals more than Riga but I feel like someone else should take this argument to a conclusion rather than me. " @.sniffuM, February 15th, 2019: "Tough call here, a lot of deserving candidates. Thompson and Cast stick out the most to me, Cast dominated the face-off dot and had those 10 GWGs, while Thompson had a great season physically. Don't really have anywhere I'm leaning here yet between the two, I'll probably have to make my decision come voting time. EDIT: Looking at shooting percentages, I'm almost certainly voting Cast. 8 less goals on 60% of the shots Thompson took." @tfong, February 6th, 2019 (in Boulet discussion): "@omgitshim Can we add faceoff stats to this poll?" Victor, February 7th, 2019 (back in Campbell discussion): "If we're adding faceoffs to Boulet then they should be here as well then?" I believe what we have just witnessed here is slander and a bit of butthurt.

S64 MVP, sit back down mate.

This is indeed a good result.

Team Borwinn. Fuck Thompson.

Srsly nothing on the @CoachReilly??? WHAT YEAR IS IT

I think it was on the 2nd site which exists somewhere on Higgins' hard drive maybe but that's it.

omg evidence of my proudest life achievement

Also Borwinn really gonna leave Jason White with that lowest top scorer record. Modern day tragedy.

As much as I would love to recognise any of Gebauer, Baillie, Weyed, or Volosenkov (and indeed our real MVP Nano), I don't trust the VHL public to vote our main All-Star Jet Jaguar in so I will have to nominate him. Jet Jaguar @gorlab

RIG G is a great man whom I respect.

1. Moscow Menace , Dan Baillie 23 (Jorgon Weyed 32, Mark Gebauer 45) at 0:49 2. Moscow Menace , Kyson Blake 15 (Evgeni Komarov 26, Jet Jaguar 46) at 1:01 Alexander Pepper enters game at 1:01 of 1st period ffs never piss them off early

Wow Malmo isn't dead yet.