Establishing the Boomer VHL Dream Team

[Arce 755]

 

It is that fun time again in the VHL, theme week! My boomer ass is going to put together a very boomer-like VHL dream team. I come from S9, so I have seen a lot of great players go through the VHL through some of the decades. I’d love to say I will not be putting any bias in my dream team, but I totally will. Here is the boomer all-time dream team.

 

Beketov-Brooks-Arce

Jacobs-Campbell-D. Funk

Bentz-G.Jonsson-Slobodzian

Buncleworth-Heidt-Fowler

Jenskovic-Henman

Labatte-Kendrick

Schultz-Beukeboom

 

Devereux

CAL-G

 

Line 1/Pair 1:

Beketov-Brooks-Arce

Jenskovic-Henman

 

Two playmakers, 1 goal scorer. It may be better than the original. Although Kevin Brooks had more assists in his career than goals, Brooks was a goal scorer at heart falling just short of 400. Beketov and Arce were dedicated playmakers. With Beketov and Arce’s superior passing skills, and Brooks laser shot there is zero doubt this may be the most devastating line the VHL could ever see. That Zach Arce guy is one of the most underrated forwards to ever play. He won two MVP’s and led the league in scoring twice for a reason. With them would be the defensive guru David Henman, and clutch two-way defenseman Tomas Jenskovic. Henman had quite the habit of shutting down the league’s top forwards in the golden era. Jenskovic on the other hand was shutting people down and putting the puck in the net at critical times. Those S11 and S14 Davos championships are in large part to Jenskovic and goaltender Benoit Devereux’s play. 
 

Line 2/Pairing 2:

 

Jacobs-Campbell-D. Funk

Labatte-Kendrick

 

What is this, Scotty Campbell the great one on LINE TWO?! That’s right we are keeping it interesting. The 600 goal scorer would boost fellow 500 goal scorer Dust’n Funk‘s skill set tremendously. Funk was apart of a very successful Riga Reign era, which he was a top, if not the best goal scorer during that time. Mesh that with the balanced power forward Carl Jacobs. This line would skate circles around opposing lines. It would essentially force an apposing team to play a defensive forward line for 25+ minutes a game. They also named the Best Defenseman award after Sterling Labatte for a reason. The guy was a complete menace, absolutely merciless with puck handlers. Also over 700 career points is not too shabby at all to have on the ice with elite goal scorers. Pair him with fellow defensive stonewall Joey Kendrick who is from the same time period and this is just a recipe for success. With a line of pure goal scoring and shut down defense, who would go up against them?!

Line 3/Pair 3:

 

Bentz-G.Jonsson-Slobodzian

Schultz-Beukeboom

 

A goal scorer (Bentz), a playmaker (Johnsson) and a balanced player (Slobodzian) walk into a bar, what happens? A lot of beers are being served up, that’s what. Matt Bentz had a knack for finding the back of the net for the Wranglers. He has always thrived when paired up with a dedicated playmaker. New York Americans legend Grimm Jonsson was just that. Jonsson rallied over 800 career points with nearly 500 being assists. Brett Slobodzian is one of the most famous names in VHL history. He had a near identical balance of goals and assists in his 600 point career. Add in power play specialist, and one of the most low key HOFers Blake Beukeboom, and the Madrid Thunder’s first ever draft pick Adam Schultz on the helm, how could you go wrong with this as your third line and third pairing? Beukeboom and Schultz would be a clear first line pair anywhere they play, so to have them as your third pair speaks volumes.

 

Line 4/ Goaltenders:

 

Buncleworth-Heidt-Fowler

Devereux

CAL-G

 

Jardy is getting a shoutout twice in one paragraph! He is the owner of Jardy Buncleworth and CAL-G (not to be confused with the AI CAL-G). Both were Calgary legends, and both would be big impact players on the VHL Dream Team. Cam Fowler was a grinder. Not only did he record just shy of 750 career points, he also recorded over 1400 career hits. Last and not least on this line would be from the early Riga Reign Empire, Layken Heidt. Heidt was the literal center of the Reign production train. Plug him in between a power goal scorer, and a balanced grinder and you will see the best 4th line the league has ever seen. It is crazy to think they would even consider being a “last line”. I consider Benoit Devereux the best backbone goaltender in VHL history. He was completely dominant his first 4 seasons in the league, no one could touch him. Devereux has made his mark in Davos. CAL-G was also a 300 win goaltender, and has also raised the cup. When you also post up a career GAA below 2, what lore could you ask for? Devereux with CAL-G backing him up, you will

see maybe one goal getting behind either of them a game with the team in front of them as well.
 

 

These are my mad scientist ingredients for the ultimate VHL dream team. Although the league has changed drastically since the golden era of the league, this team would still wipe the floor with any other roster thrown on the ice. Factoring in meta, I would like to pretend it wouldn’t exist if any such sim happened. This is because many of these guys had at least 80-99 passing. At the time in the earlier ages of the league, passing was essential and updated to a higher attribute than scoring for those desiring a playmaker. What would happen if we pitted the golden era HOFers against current day VHL All stars/HOFers? Modern day players would have to go toe to toe with original sim legends such as Scotty Campbell, Kevin Brooks, and Sterling Labatte. Not to mention the iconic, legendary Zach Arce! Benoit Devereux alone would be the deciding factor in my opinion. Defosse did such an A+ job with that build. It would be very fun to see, maybe in the future when there is no meta. 

 

Words: 1,008

For weeks ending in 2/27 and 3/6

Edited February 21, 2022 by Arce

[Arce 755]

Claiming week ending 3/6.