Victor

Moscow is truly the VHL's greatest franchise for winning a championship in this era.

Firstly, I was gonna do an article about some updates to the greatest goaltender performance of all-time but this may turn out to be a footnote. However I would like to extend my congratulations to the epic goalie battle between Rayz Funk @Rayzor_7 and Jacques Lafontaine @SlapshotDragon who put up a fuckton of saves and .943 and .949 save percentages respectively. Lafontaine's tally puts him 3rd all-time among losing goalies, behind the great Alexander Labatte and Greg Clegane, some solace perhaps. The Funk vs Lafontaine battle might have just been the greatest we've seen since the CLEGANEBOWL of the S51 finals. So, Rayz Funk Trophy? He is presumably now odds on for a record 4th playoff MVP, overtaking the record of Kanou and already has the lead in the meaningful career stats over all the competition (Wingate, Kanou, the Cleganes, etc.). Unfortunately, we've never really been in the business of renaming awards even after records were set long after the original honoured names were long retired. Plus, we already have a Funk Trophy.... I think it's a long shot but Rayz can clearly claim the #1 playoff goalie spot for his own now and maybe even across all positions (yes that sound is Scotty rolling in his grave). And finally, @Banackock. Best GM ever? Not an honour I will hand out as lightly as the one to Funk if only because no one has ever attempted a comprehensive GM ranking, myself included (largely because my opinion for years has been there are only two types of GMs - good ones and idiots). But even removing the context of current league state, longevity, and the state of the Seattle franchise when Bana took over - they are now tied for the Continental Cup lead for the first time since their 4th way back in S17 - what are the raw numbers? Cups won by GMs (3+) Devise - 6 Bana, Higgins - 5 Hedge - 4 Frank, Victor, Molholt - 3 Finals appearances by GMs (5+) Devise - 9 Higgins - 7 Advantage, Bana, Frank, Quik - 6 Bushito, Hedge, Victor, Knight, Molholt - 5 Top GM trophies (3+) Advantage - 6 Devise - 5 Higgins - 4 Bana, Mike, Quik, Victor - 3 Rebuilds completed Devise - 0 Everyone else - at least 1 It's largely the same names but clearly there is a conversation there to be had. Now that I have made it to 400 words I will ramble on to make it a Media Spot. It's pretty wild how acceptable that is these days considering back in the day Slobo and many other graders (maybe myself included) would have torn me a new one for this blatant disregard for the integrity of the written art of the VHL. These days I can shit out 500 words of whatever I want and get my 6 TPE - granted, I've not even done that for 2 weeks because what is the point of earning TPE for Pavlov exactly. Anyway, it's off-season time, time to regenerate, regroup and I have a few well researched articles and projects coming your way in the next year.

Yes

Another week?? That's right, Christmas has come early to the VHL. Each correct answer is worth 1 capped TPE at the end of the week. Don't reveal the answer in public, but if you're not sure, ask around, here, or in the special trivia Discord channel. You also get 1 uncapped TPE if your question gets used. Submit questions by PMing me. Here's the form for week number 7. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc99hBfcbezEcV9kOh5zCTXhWzeQx75xpiYV2l3EQbL2qEmvA/viewform?usp=sf_link

erm no that's Vancouver

more like members lag amirite

Vote for who you think was individually the most outstanding player in the VHL in S73. @Members

TIL Bana invented the rebuild.

strong chaotic energy emanating from this series

Good lord what happened here

telker telker telker

goalfest to goalie battle, classic

So, spoiler alert for trivia, Rayz Funk has just matched Hans Wingate's career playoff wins record of 51 with Seattle's Game 7 win over Calgary and now has the opportunity to overtake him. He's done it one fewer game (Wingate retired with his 4th cup in his 80th playoff game, while Funk has just played his 79th) and now will almost certainly make history by claiming the record for himself. He is also on the verge of becoming the 2nd goalie ever, alongside Wingate, to win 4 championships – Daisuke Kanou is naturally the only other with 3. LIVE SIM UPDATE: Funk now has the all-time lead with 52. As Funk looks to cement an already spectacular legacy, the same can be said for Seattle. The chance for 4 Continental Cups in 6 seasons is within their grasp. Would it be a greater feat than the threepeat? Or the Kanou-era Davos 3 cups and 5 finals in 6? There will certainly be a conversation there and I promise, a much more in-depth look at this legendary Bears team will follow. What an achievement regardless for what remains of that famous S67 core – Funk, Greene, Hogan, Sundqvist, and for one more series, Stark. There may be some disappointment over regular season performance but in the playoffs this generation has known how to turn it on arguably more than any other. But let's not forget about the Bears' opponents – arguably the VHL's most illustrious franchise in Helsinki. They've won it in all sorts of ways before and this is one of the more low key editions – a quiet team that didn't really go into a rebuild but has ended up back on top. It's remarkable how this team was built without high end draft picks and even the trades Jubo did make were low profile but landed strong performers like Hafkey, Draven, Bolonee, and Ross. The history that Helsinki can make is add to their streak of winning a Continental Cup in every VHL decade and add to their overall lead with 12. Seattle though could join them at the top with 11. It's 1-1 in the Continental Cup finals between two teams with nothing between them in the regular season – it promises to be a classic.

they all count

Thanks for voting all, I can now reveal our ballot members (more than 1 nomination) for S73: @Banackock @Doomsday @FrostBeard @PatrikLaine @Spartan @rjfryman Congratulations to all other nominees however and thank you for your continued work around the VHL: @Berocka @BladeMaiden @Enorama @GustavMattias @Josh @Will @Jubo07 @Sonnet @Zetterberg @bigAL @Devise @dlamb @frescoelmo and for his efforts in bringing back the SBA/VHL partnership over the past 6 months, @Beketov

Calgary definitely unlucky these past couple of seasons but I guess more teams are gonna be disappointed these days.

No cup for Will Clarke, end it all.

What in the name of God

Smh, Moscow's draft >

A man of taste and culture.

more like wasraw

The F stands for fame, not failure.

LaFUCKME

Came in here to blame Kriketers tbh.