Your S78 Toronto Legion

[Smarch 3,196]

 

As we enter the final few days prior to the posting of the Victory Hockey League Indexes for the Pros and Minors, the VHL rosters are finally starting to finalize as teams around the league are starting to slow down the normal off-season roster movement. After a return to the playoffs in Season Seventy-Seven for the Toronto Legion, the club is looking to take the nest step as we head into Season Seventy-Eight. In this weeks’ article, we would like to introduce the rest of the VHL to the players that will be donning the blue and white in the VHL to start Season Seventy-Eight.

 

SS Hornet (S72 – Center)

After spending the first twenty-two games with the Vancouver Wolves in Season Seventy-Six, Legion General Manger Rylan Peace wasn’t happy with the clubs start and pulled the trigger and acquired Hornet as part of a trade with the Wolves. Once Hornet joined the Legion last year, his points per game climbed from 0.95 points per game to 1.20 points per game, which happens to be the pest point per game numbers Hornet has put up in his seven VHL season with three different VHL clubs. Hornet also helped bring another scoring punch to the Legion roster when he was acquired, putting up twenty-four goals in forty-nine games with the Legion. Now Hornet will enter his first full season with the Legion, looking to hold down the top line center spot for the team with his 957 TPA to date. With his time winding down in the league, Hornet and the Legion brass are hoping for another gear from Hornet this season as both the franchise and player are looking for a long lost Continental Cup in Season Seventy-Eight.

 

Oh Sens (S73 – Right Winger)

As we were preparing to write the article to introduce the VHL world to the Season Seventy-Eight Toronto Legion roster, Oh Sens walked up to the podium in the Legion Locker-room in the Air Canada Center, to announce Season Seventy-Eight would be his last season in the VHL. Oh Sens was originally drafted Eighteenth Overall by the Helsinki Titans in the Season Seventy-Three VHL Entry Draft. After spending Season Seventy-Three in the VHLM with the Miami Marauders, Oh Sens was ready for his VHL debut in Season Seventy-Four with the Titans, but it was a short lived tenure in Finland. Thirty-Six games into his rookie season, Oh Sens was dealt to the Legion for two Season Seventy-Five and one Season Seventy-Six draft choices. Now as we await the start of the Seventy-Eighth VHL season, Oh Sens is coming off his best season in Toronto which saw his put up thirty-four goals and forty-nine assists in seventy-two regular season games, which both Oh Sens and the Legion hope he can duplicate in his swan song season in the VHL.

 

Nicholas Sunderbrunch (S74 – Left Winger)

A Second Round draft choice of the Legion back in Season Seventy-Four, Sunderbrunch is looking to improve in his fourth VHL season, after consecutive seasons of fifty points. Although fifty points in seventy-two games is a great stepping stone, Legion fans and management saw the potential that Sunderbrunch has during the Legions six game playoff appearance in Season Seventy-Seven, as Sunderbrunch put up 2 goals and four assist in those six games. Now as the Legion and Sunderbrunch prepare for the upcoming season, more will be expected out of the thirty-fifth overall draft pick from the Season Seventy-Four VHL Entry Draft.

 

Jon Webber (S75 – Right Winger)

Webber is coming off his rookie season in the VHL having put up thirteen goals and eighteen assists in seventy-two games with the Legion. Webbers VHL career got off to a different start than most players experience. Webber was drafted in the Fourth Round, Sixty-Third Overall, by the Helsinki Titans, a draft position that doesn’t often see VHL players come from those draft choices. Webber used his time in the VHL with Houston to his advantage after his draft season, putting himself in a position for a roster spot as the Season Seventy-Seven season was about to get underway. Unfortunately for Webber and the Titans, who were looking to make a championship run again, there wasn’t a spot for Webber each and every night, which led to Webber being traded to the Legion. After a few hours of the announcement of the trade between Helsinki and Toronto, Webber was on a flight to Toronto, only to be told once at the Pearson International Airport, he may be getting right back on the flight and returning to Helsinki. After some weird and tense moments, Webber was advised he was staying put in Toronto for the final year of his rookie contract. Webber was again about to leave Toronto in free agency this offseason, but once again as the clock was about to strike midnight on his departure, the Legion and Webber came to an agreement on a one-year contract for Season Seventy-Eight. Hopefully now with the dust settled, Webber will be able to see more ice-time and produce above his rookie points total in Season Seventy-Eight.

 

Phoenix Dawson (S76 – Center)

Dawson is another roster player that continues the trade trend for the Legion in constructing their current roster. Dawson was originally drafted by the Seattle Bears, Ninth Overall, in the Season Seventy-Six VHL Entry Draft. Dawson spent Season Seventy-Six in the VHLM with the Miami Marauders, putting up an eye popping thirty-nine goals and fifty-eights assists in his final VHLM season. Dawson and the Bears believed he was ready for his shot in the big league come Season Seventy-Seven and Dawson made the opening day roster for the Bears last season. As the trade deadline closed in rumors began to swirl out of Seattle that Dawson and the Bears organization were looking for a fresh start for the young Canadian Centerman. That fresh start came in the form of a player for player swap with the Legion, that say the Legion move Frank Funk Jr to the Bears for Dawson. At the conclusion of his rookie season Dawson ended the season between the two clubs with fourteen goals and twenty-one assists in seventy-two games, something Dawson is working hard to improve as he enters his sophomore season.  

 

Gunnar Odinsson (S76 – Right Winger)

As you likely would have guessed it, Odinsson comes from a long list of Legion players that were drafted by other VHL franchises and flipped to the Legion in various trades. Odinsson follows the trend of being drafted by the Helsinki Titans to be flipped to the Legion during his rookie season. Oddinsson was selected by the Titans, Eleventh Overall, in the Season Seventy-Six VHL Entry Draft, and jumped into the VHL right away that season. After thirty-seven games in the light blue and white, Titans management decided that Odinsson looked better in the Royal blue and white. On February 6^th, 2021 the Legion send Seattle’s Season Seventy-Seven First to Helsinki in exchange for Odinsson. During his split season with Helsinki and Toronto, Odinsson put up seventeen goals and twenty-four assists, numbers that didn’t sit well with Odinsson. Odinsson took his rookie season personal and made sure he put in the off-season work heading in to Season Seventy-Seven to improve in his sophomore season. Odinsson did just that last season, as he increased his point total to seventy, putting up thirty-four goals and thirty-six assists in his first full season in Toronto. Now as the number one winger on the Legions anticipated lines for Season Seventy-Eight, we can only imagine that the point total will climb in Odinsson final year of his rookie contract.

 

Asher Reinhart (S77 – Center)

Our final forward to introduce to the VHL world is a trend breaker in the Legion books. Reinhart is only the second Legion forward that was drafted by the team that is still on the VHL roster heading into Season Seventy-Eight, alongside Season Seventy-Four draftee Nicholas Sunderbrunch. Reinhart was drafted Sixth Overall by the Legion in the Season Seventy-Seven VHL Entry Draft, and was a part of the weird sequence of events that saw Webber come over from the Titans, in a trade that was supposed to include Reinhart.  After the dust settled Reinhart would stay in Toronto for his rookie season, posting a respectable twelve goals and twenty assists, while seeing limited minutes on a veteran Legion roster. Now as his sophomore season comes around, Reinhart is closing in on 550 TPA, which should allow him to have more of an impact role for the Legion this season.

 

Erik Killinger (S71 – Defense)

It’s not often in the VHL will you have the ability to bring in the reigning Jake Wylde and Sterling Labatte winner from the previous season, but that’s what happened to the Legion this off-season. While Killinger will be retiring after the conclusion of Season Seventy-Eight, he still is an elite defender in the VHJL as evident in his season with London in Season Seventy-Six. With a relatively young defensive crop still maturing in Toronto, Killinger will be leaned upon many times in his final season, but he appears to be up to the task. After spending his first four seasons in Toronto, Killinger and the Legion brass hope the second time for Killinger and the Legion end in a championship raising.

 

Jolly Greene Giant (S75 – Defense)

Jolly Green Giant was the beginning of the elite defenseman the Legion would bring into the fold in the Season Seventy-Five and Season Seventy-Six VHL Entry Drafts. Giant was selected by the Legion with the Second Overall draft choice in the Season Seventy-Five VHL Entry Draft. Giant has been a fixture on the Legion blue-line since being selected Second Overall, putting up thirty-four goals and eighty-siz assists in his 144 games played since joining the Legion in Season Seventy-Six. Now Green enters his final year of his rookie season, with 732 TPA, which makes him a very dangerous defenseman for the Legion. With a younger defensive core for the Legion suiting up again in Season Seventy-Eight, Giant could be a key for the Legion improving over last season’s one and done playoff series.

 

Scotty Kaberle (S75 – Defense)

Kaberle was the second defenseman selected by the Legion in the Season Seventy-Five VHL Entry Draft, selected by the club Eleventh Overall in the draft. Kaberle like Giant finished his second full season with the Legion and is coming off an improved sophomore season that say his put up twenty-two goals and forty-seven assists for the Legion. Kaberle much like Giant has been working hard on improving each and every week, and now he will enter the season with over 700 TPA, which will allow him to keep improving on his point total each season. In his final season of his rookie contact in the VHL and with the Legion, Kaberle will be auditing not only for the Legion, but the rest for the VHL this season.

 

Kristof Welch (S76 – Defense)

Welch was the final piece to the puzzle for the Legion on defense when they selected him Fifth Overall in the Season Seventy-Six VHL Entry Draft. Welch joined the Legion right out of the draft, which saw him put up thirty-four points in his rookie season. While the thirty-four points for a defenseman on a team that missed the playoffs is nothing to laugh about, Welch wasn’t exactly thrilled with his performance and vowed to improve in the team’s off-season meetings. Welch took those words to heart and improved his point total from thirty-four points to sixty-five points last season. Now like his defensive counterparts that joined the roster full-time in Season Seventy-Six, Welch is looking to make the Legion and the league take notice in Season Seventy-Eight.

 

Sirkants Klamasteris (S75 – Goalie)

After being selected by the Riga Reign, Fourteen Overall in Season Seventy-Five, it’s final time for Klamasteris to be a full-time starter. Over the past three seasons Klamasteris has played in only fifty-eights games, a number he is likely to surpass alone this season. Although he hasn’t been the starter in Riga or Toronto, Klamasteris has been reliable when called upon. Klamasteris has posted a 11-17-3 record alongside a .923 save percentage and 3.03 goals against average. Now with no incumbent starter in front of him, Klamasteris is ready for a full workload with the Legion, hoping to prove the trade of a First Round draft pick was worth it for the Legion.

 

For the weeks of:

May 17-23 

May 24-30

May 31-June 5

June 6-12

Edited May 24, 2021 by Smarch

[BOOM 8,846]

Damn Smarch. Nice one. 

[ROOKIE745 608]

It's so weird to not see Hexy up there anymore DX Great post though Smarch!

[Prout 373]

Review; awesome article! Love the pics with players name as some of these i feel that’s what you could resemble what that player plays like. I enjoyed the details of each player. The formatting was great and easy to follow along 

 

good luck this upcoming season! 8/10

[Smarch 3,196]

Don’t forget the sigs were made by @BOOM!

[BOOM 8,846]

1 hour ago, Smarch said:

Don’t forget the sigs were made by @BOOM!

 

LOL, I was kidding! 

[Smarch 3,196]

1 minute ago, BOOM said:

 

LOL, I was kidding! 

I know you were but the review gave me credit for those, I gotta rep the legend that actually made them 

[Smarch 3,196]

Claim 2/4

[Smarch 3,196]

Claim 3/4

[Smarch 3,196]

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