It's Friday, December 7th, 2018. The Ottawa Lynx and Yukon Rush are in the third period of Game 7, with the Lynx up by one. But how did we get here? How did these teams get here? This series needs a deep rewind.
At the start of S63, the VHLM had only six teams. The Yukon Rush, who had stacked up on draft picks in the prior draft, were considered the favorite for the Founders Cup heading into the season, with a team headlined by Kronos Bailey, Kisshan Shan, Ryan Zabby, and Rhett Stoffiday. They also had guys such as Ryan Sullivan Jr., Jagger Philliefan, Dan Baillie, and Gucci Garrop. To put it modestly; they were stacked. They finished first place in the VHLM, barely scraping ahead of a surging Saskatoon squad. The Wild had guys such as Rylan Peace, Chace Trepanier, Anthony Dabarno, Piotr Jerwa, and Curtis Gary. They had a second half surge, but finished three points behind Yukon, and had to settle for second place. These two teams were the teams to beat.
Heading into this season, the Lynx were the defending champs. In S62, they had the likes of Joseph McWolf, Vaydar Odinsson, Dan Wilinsky, and Ryan Kastelic. Most of their draft picks were traded, and they had to rely on later round picks to fill out their roster. However, with those picks they hit home runs. With the 17th pick, they took the MVP of the league, Elias Dahlberg (@Nykonax). They proceeded to take JB Rift with the 22nd pick. They also had Gritty and Pat Svoboda, who were key pieces in the series against the Rush. They still only finished with 26 wins, since Dahlberg couldn't do everything by himself.
After all this, how did we get to a Game 7. The Rush almost doubled the points on the Lynx, and yet were on the ropes. How did this happen? Well, first of all, the Lynx had to get by the Aces in the wildcard round. In game one of the wildcard round, Dahlbergs hat trick gave Ottawa a 3-2 win. In game two, a team effort by Ottawa got them the win, and closed out the series on a far better Las Vegas team. The Aces had some great players, such as Joel Ylonen and Diljodh. They finished with 85 points; 30 more than Ottawa. And yet, the Lynx disposed of them with ease.
"We can probably beat Vegas, but I have no faith in us beating Yukon"
(@diamond_ace)
This brings us to the Semi Final between the Rush and the Lynx. It's hard to describe how much better the Rush were compared to the Lynx. This should be an easy series for Yukon, and in games one and two, it looked like everyone was right, and the Rush would dispose of the Lynx quickly. With a 4-0 win in game one and a 2-0 win in game two, the Rush were playing as well as we all expected. As the series shifted to Ottawa, the Lynx were in desperation, and they played with urgency. In game three they outshot Yukon 30-18, and took a 3-2 win, and rallied from down 2-0 in the second to win game three. At this point, there is no reason to panic if you're Yukon. After game four however, they were definitely on edge. Game four saw the Lynx only throw six shots on net, but they pulled out a much needed 1-0 win over Yukon. The Rush could not score, as Finn Davidson shut the door on them, with 19 saves. Now with the series tied 2-2 after a weird game four, all the pressure was on the Rush.
In game five, we headed to the third period scoreless, before Kisshan Shan and Ryan Zabby scored to break the game open. The Rush shut out the Lynx, and took a 3-2 series lead. They had a shot to ice the series in game six, while the Lynx would have to fight to stay alive. Tied at two heading into overtime, we had ourselves a game. Late in the first overtime, Gritty retrieved a loose puck and scored, which won the game for Ottawa. We would have ourselves a game seven.
To truly understand this moment, we need to put this into context. Take the Lightning and Blue Jackets from this year. Now replace the Blue Jackets with the Oilers, and take Draisaitl off of the Oilers. That was pretty much what this series was like, with Ottawa being a massive underdog. The fact that this even went to six was impressive. But a game seven... who could have thought. Into game seven, the cinderella story Lynx continued rolling, as Gritty opened the scoring, after Rasputinov passed it over to Gritty and he one timed it home early in the first period. The Lynx would take a 1-0 lead to the locker room after the first period.
Towards the end of the second period, Kronos Bailey buried one, after the pass from Sullivan Jr. sprung Bailey on a partial breakaway. But not even three minutes later, the Lynx would fire right back at the Rush, as Pat Svoboda tipped an Elias Dahlberg shot into the back of the net, and the Lynx were back on top. The fans in Yukon were stunned, and rightfully so. The first placed Rush were on the brink of elimination to a team that didn't even belong in the playoffs.
At the start of the third, the Rush came out flying. Jagger Philliefan got a loose puck in the corner, and fired it across ice to Ryan Zabby, who had a wide open net to shoot at, but rang it off the post on his one timer. The Rush had nothing for the Lynx. In the dying moments of the third, the Rush had their chance. A pass from Rocky LaGarza was intercepted, and it turned into a rush with only a few seconds left in the game. Gucci Garrop had the puck and tried to pass it to BB Nat on a rush, but the pass was blocked by Braedon Turner, and that was the game. The Lynx, a team with 26 wins, had taken down the Rush, a team with 48 wins. This broke the VHL, with people saying;
"I am really happy Ottawa is in the finals again but I'll be absolutely honest and say wtf"
(@McWolf)
"WE ARE THE ONES! WE ARE THE WARRIORS, WE ARE THE ONES WHO FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHT"
(@StamkosFan)
"I'm not gonna lie, this kinda hurts a bit."
@Stoffiday on Game 7 loss.
What many people do not know about this game was the fact that it was resimmed... seven times. You see, there was another game 7 that day between the 21st and the Wild. The lines for Halifax were not updated in the original sim, and a resim took place. The Lynx won their game 7, but they would undergo a resim as well, because of the other game 7 that was resimmed. The simmer decided it wouldn't be fair for the Lynx to lose the game, since nothing was wrong with their sim. They had to resim this game seven times to get Ottawa to win again.
After this game, the Lynx proceeded to get swept by the Wild in the finals. The Rush were terrible in S64, but bounced back in S65, making it to the semi finals before being swept by the Storm. The Lynx had a strong S64, but lost in the semi finals to the 21st. As of now, partway through S66, the Lynx are on the top of the VHLM, while the Rush are towards the bottom. Our next moment will also take place in the S63 VHLM Playoffs. Can you guess what it is?
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Imagine getting hype about beating an expansion team. At least were both better than Davos though
