part 3: a look back at the roster of the Season 70 winning Minnesota Storm, before and since

[ROOKIE745 608]

Hello and welcome back to the final part of this look back at the season 70 Minnesota Storm, in this final part we will be looking at the defensemen and the goalie of the championship team

 

Defensemen:

Alex Armstrong

VHLM: Halifax 21st-Mexcio City Kings-Yukon Rush-Minnesota Storm

Starting off with the defensemen we have Alex Armstrong. Playing five seasons in the VHLM he first signed as a free agent with Halifax in season 67. He got into 23 games that season and put up 4 points, all assists and manged 24 penalty minutes and hits. In 11 games in the playoffs, he got 1 helper and had 25 hits. Forced into the draft he was picked 61st overall by the Mexcio City Kings in season 68, playing his first full season in the M he scored 45 points, 34 of them assists and 11 goals. Where he was the most helpful was in hits and shot blocks, dealing 153 hits and blocking 159 which would both end up being career highs for him. This season also saw him have the most penalty minutes of his career with 153. Post season one point in four games, the one point was a goal and he had 12 shot blocks. Traded to the Yukon Rush during the offeason Armstrong would continue to improve his game, 58 points, 48 assists and 10 goals. his penalty minutes, hits, and shots blocked would come down this season, being 62, 106, and 142 respectively. Armstrong would find himself in the post season once more playing again only four games and scoring one goal and assist, his shots blocked were repeated from last season.

 

Now onto season 70 Armstrong once again was traded, this time to the Minnesota Storm, his point total once again rose from last season, 24 goals, 55 assists for 79 points. Armstrong was very much a clutch player this season, scoring 7 gamer winners and 12 power play goals. His penalty minutes, hits, and shots blocked all dropped again, 31, 79, 95. This shows that he was be deployed less or in different situations, however none of that matters as ultimately the team would win it all in the post season. 14 games, 10 goals, 9 assists for 19 points. He had 2 game winners and five of his ten goals were on the power play. Despite all the success he would still not move up to the big leagues and would in fact rejoin a previous team. He would resign with the Yukon Rush and have his best season with the team. 127 points split by 83 assists and 44 goals, he got 151 hits nearly matching his career best and had 6 game winners and 20 power play goals. For a Fifth and final time Armstrong was in the playoffs, 15 games played, 9 goals, 20 assists not to mention 19 hits and 36 shots blocked. Despite that though the team would fall short and there would be no repeat for Alex. Alex Armstrong did win the Ryan Sullivan Trophy in season 71 with the Rush. Part way through the season Armstrong did announce his retirement from the league after seasons end. It's a shame but it's his choice. VHL wise the Moscow Menace drafted him in season 68th 45th overall but as you guess he never went up.

 

Danny DeYeeto

VHLM: Mississauga Hounds-Minnesota Storm-Saskatoon Wild

Oh boy I hope you guys are ready for a long one, DeYeeto played seven total seasons in the M, I think that's the most out of anyone I've covered so far, and five of those seasons are with the Minnesota Storm, I'll take a shot and say it was gonna be six season but was traded, more on that later. To start though DeYeeto would sign as a free agent with Mississauga Hounds in season 66. Probably the furthest I've had to go back in seasons as well. 51 games, 4 goals, 33 assists for 37 points, 110 hits and 64 shot blocks. That's a really good way to leave an impression in your first season no less! In the post season he 3 helpers and 26 hits. The draft came and DeYeeto would be chosen 8th overall in season 67. Spending the next two seasons with the Storm his totals are 24 goals, 113 assists, 137 points, 409 hits, and 172 shots blocked. There's no doubt that Danny DeYeeto is a superstar player, in the season 67 and 68 playoffs his numbers together were 20 games, 1 goal, 14 assists, 15 points, 39 hits and 17 shots blocked.

 

Close to halfway through season 69 Danny would be traded to the Saskatoon Wild to help with Minnesota's rebuild. Danny decided that season 69 was going to be his year by putting up insane totals, in 72 games played he put up 50 goals, 95 assists, 145 points, had a +/- of 117, had 321 shoots, 176 penalty minutes, 229 hits, 66 shots blocked, 9 game winners and 30 power play goals. I don't normally go through every stat but it was just an crazy year for the defensemen, some of those stats aren't career highs like hits and shots blocked but points wise none of his other seasons would come close. That post season he would continue with his insane play, 14 game, 5 goals, 16 assists for 21 points, a +/- of 24 and 48 hits with 23 shots blocked. His Trophy case was also quite full that season, walking away with Mitch Higgins Trophy, Ryan Sullivan Trophy, Ethan Osborne Trophy and of course the founder's cup. Despite all that though he would rejoin the team he knew best, the Minnesota Storm.

 

To try and keep this more brief I'll add of the three seasons together. 93 goals, 204 assists, 297 points, 733 hits, and 288 shots blocked. To look at his playoffs stats I'm gonna split season 70 from season 71 and 72. In S70 he would play another 14 post season games, 1 goal and 10 assists for 11 points, he would get his most amount of hits in the playoffs with 76, just a crazy amount and 16 shot blocks. For S71 and S72 he played 19 games, 7 goals, 5 assists for 12 points. A huge drop off despite both of his regular seasons for those years being good. 74 hits and 30 shots blocked. I don't normally do this but seeing as he played 7 seasons and post seasons I'm gonna share his career totals in the M. For the regular season totals: 483 games played, 171 goals, 445 assists, 616 points, 1451 hits, 590 shots blocked. For his post season numbers: 72 games played, 14 goals, 48 assists, 62 points, 263 hits, 94 shots blocked. If we could see all time VHLM player stats I would have think DeYeeto's quite up there.

 

VHL: New York Americans-Warsaw Predators

That's right, we're still not done, DeYeeto would see the light of day in the VHL..... only for one season though. Drafted 39th overall in season 67 by the New York Americans he would never actually play for the team, instead it would be almost 7 years later when the new expansion team, the Warsaw predators would pick him up for their first season. From what I've seen there was no trade so I'm guessing free agent signing? Doesn't say under Danny DeYeeto's profile but anyway, in the full 72 game season, he scored 11 goals, 27 assists for 38 points, 163 hits and 170 shots blocked to back up his stats. While the scoring wasn't there his defensive game was still very good, however Warsaw wouldn't keep him and that would be the end for DeYeeto's time in the big leagues.

 

Kai Smith

VHLM: Halifax 21st-Ottawa Lynx-Minnesota Storm

Kai Smith was drafted 45th overall by the Minnesota Storm in season 69, but as with most players he play for a team before that draft. Playing 73 games, a result of being traded early on by the Halifax 21st, he would play most of season 68 for the Ottawa Lynx, 7 goals, 24 assists for 31 points. 133 hits and 88 shots blocked is where his game was truly at. With no playoffs he moves onto Minnesota in season 69, 10 goals, 37 assists for 47 points. 72 penalty minutes, 148 hits and 135 shots blocked, finally 3 game winners and 4 power play goals. Everything you read here is career highs for the guy as his play time would be greatly reduced in the following season, again no playoffs. Season 70 saw him net just 8 points, 7 of those assists. Hits and shots blocked were down to just 33 and 29. His minutes were down to 533 compared to the 2000 minutes Danny and Alex were playing. For the S70 playoffs Smith was a bench warmer, 1 minute played in 14 games, that's it. This lack of trust would bleed into the following season, 26 minutes played in season 71, just 2 hits and 1 shot blocked. S71 playoffs would be the same deal as last time, just 1 minute, so to make it clear in 20 playoffs games he played two minutes. Kai Smith was never drafted in the VHL and thus ends his career, but really it ended during season 70.

 

Aldis Auzins

VHLM: San Diego Marlins-Minnesota Storm-Miami Marauders

Signing as a free agent in season 69 Auzins played 54 games for the Marlins netting 10 goals, 24 helpers for 34 points, 133 hits and 74 shots blocked. In the playoffs 5 games played with 3 points, 1 of them a goal. He must have impressed other GM's enough and would catch the eye of either Rayzor or Hatter of the Minnesota Storm and he would be drafted 45th overall in season 70. However low play time would see not get much on that stat book, 5 points in season 70 and none in the following year. 27 shots blocked and just 15 shots blocked, 1 of which came from season 72. In the playoffs of both season 70 and 71 he would play a total of 20 games, would record no points just 7 hits and 5 shots blocked both in the S70 run. He would to Miami for season 72 and would get some actual play time, putting up 19 points, 13 of them on passing side and 6 in the net himself. 157 hits and 77 shots blocked show he was doing his job on the blue line, 7 games in the post season he would not help get anything in the net but would still deal 10 hits and block 4 shots. His career in the M and the VHL in general ended there. The Nighthawks drafted him 30th overall but he never developed far enough for him to move up.

 

GOALIE

Jaxx Hextall

VHLM: Halifax 21st-Minnesota Storm

Finally we come to arguably the most well known Storm player, Jaxx Hextall. However like basically every other player he played for another team before the Storm. Signing as free agent about halfway through season 69, Hextall played 32 games with the 21st and had a record of 15-14-3 with 3 shutouts. A .864 save percentage and and 2.94 goals against average, these may not be the most flattering numbers but it's a good start for the rookie net minder. Making the playoffs in 11 games he put up a .879 save percentage and 3.74 goal against, one shutout, and a record of 5-5-1. Something worth noting is the fact he faced 365 shots in those 11 games, 21 more than what he would face in Minnesota in 14 games the next year.

 

Speaking of Minnesota the team would draft him 32nd overall, a steal in the draft thanks to confusion surrounding the goalie and if he was moving up to the big leagues or not, Rayzor capitalized on this and brought a fantastic goaltender onto a already great team, Hextall really was the cherry on top of a stacked roster. Playing every single game he got a record of 61-8-3, 10 shutouts, .899 save percentage and a 2.09 save percentage. It didn't stop there, 14 games played onto their way to the championship, 12-0-2 record, that's right, not a single lose in regulation. Other numbers are a .907 save percentage, 2.22 goals against average and 3 shutouts. Shouldn't be much surprised that Hextall skated away with the Benoit Devereux Trophy, Skylar Rift Trophy and of course the Founder's Cup. With such a successful season Hextall moved up to the big Leagues and said goodbye to the Minnesota Storm.

 

VHL: HC Davos Dynamo-Toronto Legion

We all know Jaxx Hextall as a Toronto Legion but it can be easy to Forget he was drafted by Davos 9th overall in Season 70. He was traded not long after to Toronto as Peace had much faith in the young goal tender. Hextall has played six full seasons for the Canadian team and his numbers have been remarkably consistent, .915, .917, .917, .917, .920, and .919 save percentages. His goals against average has been anywhere between 2.86 to 3.19. 390 total games played and a record of 176-163-42 with 20 career shutouts. One more notable of his career his the amount of shots he's faced, 13,672 which is second on Toronto's all time list. Your all probably noticing a lack of playoffs and well..... that's because Hextall has only seen the post season twice, in season 72 and season 74. Starting off with season 72 He'd play 7 games and go 3-4-0 and end with a .900 save percentage, two seasons later he would go 12 games deep with a record of 7-4-1, a .925 save percentage and 2.53 goals against average, one shutout. While there's a lack of playoffs appearances Hextall's career is still arguably the most successful player that played with the S70 Minnesota Storm. With one season still left to go here's hoping for the best for Hextall and a deep playoff run.

 

And that's it, every single player who was on the championship team of the S70 Storm, it's sad to see most of them had a lack of success in the VHL and how many of them wouldn't even see the light of day there. One thing I've been paying attention to is how many of these players played for the Halifax 21st, 7 players would end up doing so. The Gutzwiler brothers, Liam Rooney, Ben Storm, Alex Armstrong, Kai Smith and Jaxx Hextall. All played with the team before hand. @Rayzor_7 @Mr_Hatteryou guys seem to like getting players from Halifax XD Hope you enjoyed this final part of this look back at that championship team! As for the future we'll see what other teams I decide to take a look at.

 

(word count 2464)

Edited June 20, 2021 by ROOKIE745

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first claim for March 7th

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claiming for 2nd time March 14th

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Claiming for third time March 21st

[Vat 234]

On 3/8/2021 at 6:06 AM, ROOKIE745 said:

Hello and welcome back to the final part of this look back at the season 70 Minnesota Storm, in this final part we will be looking at the defensemen and the goalie of the championship team

 

Defensemen:

Alex Armstrong

VHLM: Halifax 21st-Mexcio City Kings-Yukon Rush-Minnesota Storm

Starting off with the defensemen we have Alex Armstrong. Playing five seasons in the VHLM he first signed as a free agent with Halifax in season 67. He got into 23 games that season and put up 4 points, all assists and manged 24 penalty minutes and hits. In 11 games in the playoffs, he got 1 helper and had 25 hits. Forced into the draft he was picked 61st overall by the Mexcio City Kings in season 68, playing his first full season in the M he scored 45 points, 34 of them assists and 11 goals. Where he was the most helpful was in hits and shot blocks, dealing 153 hits and blocking 159 which would both end up being career highs for him. This season also saw him have the most penalty minutes of his career with 153. Post season one point in four games, the one point was a goal and he had 12 shot blocks. Traded to the Yukon Rush during the offeason Armstrong would continue to improve his game, 58 points, 48 assists and 10 goals. his penalty minutes, hits, and shots blocked would come down this season, being 62, 106, and 142 respectively. Armstrong would find himself in the post season once more playing again only four games and scoring one goal and assist, his shots blocked were repeated from last season.

 

Now onto season 70 Armstrong once again was traded, this time to the Minnesota Storm, his point total once again rose from last season, 24 goals, 55 assists for 79 points. Armstrong was very much a clutch player this season, scoring 7 gamer winners and 12 power play goals. His penalty minutes, hits, and shots blocked all dropped again, 31, 79, 95. This shows that he was be deployed less or in different situations, however none of that matters as ultimately the team would win it all in the post season. 14 games, 10 goals, 9 assists for 19 points. He had 2 game winners and five of his ten goals were on the power play. Despite all the success he would still not move up to the big leagues and would in fact rejoin a previous team. He would resign with the Yukon Rush and have his best season with the team. 127 points split by 83 assists and 44 goals, he got 151 hits nearly matching his career best and had 6 game winners and 20 power play goals. For a Fifth and final time Armstrong was in the playoffs, 15 games played, 9 goals, 20 assists not to mention 19 hits and 36 shots blocked. Despite that though the team would fall short and there would be no repeat for Alex. Alex Armstrong did win the Ryan Sullivan Trophy in season 71 with the Rush. Part way through the season Armstrong did announce his retirement from the league after seasons end. It's a shame but it's his choice. VHL wise the Moscow Menace drafted him in season 68th 45th overall but as you guess he never went up.

 

Danny DeYeeto

VHLM: Mississauga Hounds-Minnesota Storm-Saskatoon Wild

Oh boy I hope you guys are ready for a long one, DeYeeto played seven total seasons in the M, I think that's the most out of anyone I've covered so far, and five of those seasons are with the Minnesota Storm, I'll take a shot and say it was gonna be six season but was traded, more on that later. To start though DeYeeto would sign as a free agent with Mississauga Hounds in season 66. Probably the furthest I've had to go back in seasons as well. 51 games, 4 goals, 33 assists for 37 points, 110 hits and 64 shot blocks. That's a really good way to leave an impression in your first season no less! In the post season he 3 helpers and 26 hits. The draft came and DeYeeto would be chosen 8th overall in season 67. Spending the next two seasons with the Storm his totals are 24 goals, 113 assists, 137 points, 409 hits, and 172 shots blocked. There's no doubt that Danny DeYeeto is a superstar player, in the season 67 and 68 playoffs his numbers together were 20 games, 1 goal, 14 assists, 15 points, 39 hits and 17 shots blocked.

 

Close to halfway through season 69 Danny would be traded to the Saskatoon Wild to help with Minnesota's rebuild. Danny decided that season 69 was going to be his year by putting up insane totals, in 72 games played he put up 50 goals, 95 assists, 145 points, had a +/- of 117, had 321 shoots, 176 penalty minutes, 229 hits, 66 shots blocked, 9 game winners and 30 power play goals. I don't normally go through every stat but it was just an crazy year for the defensemen, some of those stats aren't career highs like hits and shots blocked but points wise none of his other seasons would come close. That post season he would continue with his insane play, 14 game, 5 goals, 16 assists for 21 points, a +/- of 24 and 48 hits with 23 shots blocked. His Trophy case was also quite full that season, walking away with Mitch Higgins Trophy, Ryan Sullivan Trophy, Ethan Osborne Trophy and of course the founder's cup. Despite all that though he would rejoin the team he knew best, the Minnesota Storm.

 

To try and keep this more brief I'll add of the three seasons together. 93 goals, 204 assists, 297 points, 733 hits, and 288 shots blocked. To look at his playoffs stats I'm gonna split season 70 from season 71 and 72. In S70 he would play another 14 post season games, 1 goal and 10 assists for 11 points, he would get his most amount of hits in the playoffs with 76, just a crazy amount and 16 shot blocks. For S71 and S72 he played 19 games, 7 goals, 5 assists for 12 points. A huge drop off despite both of his regular seasons for those years being good. 74 hits and 30 shots blocked. I don't normally do this but seeing as he played 7 seasons and post seasons I'm gonna share his career totals in the M. For the regular season totals: 483 games played, 171 goals, 445 assists, 616 points, 1451 hits, 590 shots blocked. For his post season numbers: 72 games played, 14 goals, 48 assists, 62 points, 263 hits, 94 shots blocked. If we could see all time VHLM player stats I would have think DeYeeto's quite up there.

 

VHL: New York Americans-Warsaw Predators

That's right, we're still not done, DeYeeto would see the light of day in the VHL..... only for one season though. Drafted 39th overall in season 67 by the New York Americans he would never actually play for the team, instead it would be almost 7 years later when the new expansion team, the Warsaw predators would pick him up for their first season. From what I've seen there was no trade so I'm guessing free agent signing? Doesn't say under Danny DeYeeto's profile but anyway, in the full 72 game season, he scored 11 goals, 27 assists for 38 points, 163 hits and 170 shots blocked to back up his stats. While the scoring wasn't there his defensive game was still very good, however Warsaw wouldn't keep him and that would be the end for DeYeeto's time in the big leagues.

 

Kai Smith

VHLM: Halifax 21st-Ottawa Lynx-Minnesota Storm

Kai Smith was drafted 45th overall by the Minnesota Storm in season 69, but as with most players he play for a team before that draft. Playing 73 games, a result of being traded early on by the Halifax 21st, he would play most of season 68 for the Ottawa Lynx, 7 goals, 24 assists for 31 points. 133 hits and 88 shots blocked is where his game was truly at. With no playoffs he moves onto Minnesota in season 69, 10 goals, 37 assists for 47 points. 72 penalty minutes, 148 hits and 135 shots blocked, finally 3 game winners and 4 power play goals. Everything you read here is career highs for the guy as his play time would be greatly reduced in the following season, again no playoffs. Season 70 saw him net just 8 points, 7 of those assists. Hits and shots blocked were down to just 33 and 29. His minutes were down to 533 compared to the 2000 minutes Danny and Alex were playing. For the S70 playoffs Smith was a bench warmer, 1 minute played in 14 games, that's it. This lack of trust would bleed into the following season, 26 minutes played in season 71, just 2 hits and 1 shot blocked. S71 playoffs would be the same deal as last time, just 1 minute, so to make it clear in 20 playoffs games he played two minutes. Kai Smith was never drafted in the VHL and thus ends his career, but really it ended during season 70.

 

Aldis Auzins

VHLM: San Diego Marlins-Minnesota Storm-Miami Marauders

Signing as free agent in season 69 Auzins played 54 games for the Marlins netting 10 goals, 24 helpers for 34 points, 133 hits and 74 shots blocked. In the playoffs 5 games played with 3 points, 1 of them a goal. He must have impressed other GM's enough and would catch the eye of either Rayzor or Hatter of the Minnesota Storm and he would be drafted 45th overall in season 70. However low play time would see not get much on that stat book, 5 points in season 70 and none in the following year. 27 shots blocked and just 15 shots blocked, 1 of which came from season 72. In the playoffs of both season 70 and 71 he would play a total of 20 games, would record no points just 7 hits and 5 shots blocked both in the S70 run. He would to Miami for season 72 and would get some actual play time, putting up 19 points, 13 of them on passing side and 6 in the net himself. 157 hits and 77 shots blocked show he was doing his job on the blue line, 7 games in the post season he would not help get anything in the net but would still deal 10 hits and block 4 shots. His career in the M and the VHL in general ended there. The Nighthawks drafted him 30th overall but he never developed far enough for him to move up.

 

GOALIE

Jaxx Hextall

VHLM: Halifax 21st-Minnesota Storm

Finally we come to arguably the most well known Storm player, Jaxx Hextall. However like basically every other player he played for another team before the Storm. Signing as free agent about halfway through season 69, Hextall played 32 games with the 21st and has a record of 15-14-3 with 3 shutouts. A .864 save percentage and and 2.94 goals against average, these may not be the most flattering numbers but it's a good start for the rookie net minder. Making the playoffs in 11 games he put up a .879 save percentage and 3.74 goal against, one shutout, and a record of 5-5-1. Something worth noting is the fact he faced 365 shots in those 11 games, 21 more than what he would face in Minnesota in 14 games the next year.

 

Speaking of Minnesota the team would draft him 32nd overall, a steal in the draft thanks to confusion surrounding the goalie and if he was moving up to the big leagues or not, Rayzor capitalized on this and brought a fantastic goaltender onto a already great team, Hextall really was the cherry on top of a stacked roster. Playing every single game he got a record of 61-8-3, 10 shutouts, .899 save percentage and a 2.09 save percentage. It didn't stop there, 14 games played onto their way to the championship, 12-0-2 record, that's right, not a single lose in regulation. Other numbers are a .907 save percentage, 2.22 goals against average and 3 shutouts. Shouldn't be much surprised that Hextall skated away with the Benoit Devereux Trophy, Skylar Rift Trophy and of course the Founder's Cup. With such a successful season Hextall moved up to the big Leagues and said goodbye to the Minnesota Storm.

 

VHL: HC Davos Dynamo-Toronto Legion

We all know Jaxx Hextall as a Toronto Legion but it can be easy to Forget he was drafted by Davos 9th overall in Season 70. He was traded not long after to Toronto as Peace had much faith in the young goal tender. Hextall has played six full seasons for the Canadian team and his numbers have been remarkably consistent, .915, .917, .917, .917, .920, and .919 save percentages. His goals against average has been anywhere between 2.86 to 3.19. 390 total games played and a record of 176-163-42 with 20 career shutouts. One more notable of his career his the amount of shots he's faced, 13,672 which is second on Toronto's all time list. Your all probably noticing a lack of playoffs and well..... that's because Hextall has only seen the post season twice, in season 72 and season 74. Starting off with season 72 He'd play 7 games and go 3-4-0 and end with a .900 save percentage, two seasons later he would go 12 games deep with a record of 7-4-1, a .925 save percentage and 2.53 goals against average, one shutout. While there's a lack of playoffs appearances Hextall's career is still arguably the most successful player that played with the S70 Minnesota Storm. With one season still left to go here's hoping for the best for Hextall and a deep playoff run.

 

And that's it, every single player who was on the championship team of the S70 Storm, it's sad to see most of them had a lack of success in the VHL and how many of them wouldn't even see the light of day there. One thing I've been paying attention to is how many of these players played for the Halifax 21st, 7 players would end up doing so. The Gutzwiler brothers, Liam Rooney, Ben Storm, Alex Armstrong, Kai Smith and Jaxx Hextall. All played with the beam before hand. @Rayzor_7 @Mr_Hatteryou guys seem to like getting players from Halifax XD Hope you enjoyed this final part of this look back at that championship team! As for the future we'll see what other teams I decide to take a look at.

 

(word count 2464)

10/10 I really like the concept of going back to Founder's cup winners and look at where they are now, more teams should do this as well.  I also really like how detailed it is with several rows of text for each player

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