VSN Presents: VHL Power Rankings S70'S part 2

[ROOKIE745 571]

Greeting readers and welcome back to the power rankings of the S70's VHL teams. Last time we looked at the worst of the worst, the bottom four teams, teams that struggled in every season and were unable to go on any kind of run or nab extra points from being a top three team in goals for, against or differential. Now we're going to take a look at the teams that managed slightly better, team's here that played the full decade fared better in the regular season and managed to grab more extra points. Expansion teams in this ball park actually did very very well and it's definitely an area where the expansion ranking really shows just how good they really were. I have also decided to add in something extra on the stats list to fill in some blank space, I will now have a points stat that simply shows the regular season points earnings plus the bonus points they achieved, I will retroactively add this to part one as well.

 

 

Chicago Phoenix

Record: 262-197-45

Rank: 12th with 724 points

                                                     Goals for: x3                    Conference finals: x2

                                                     Goals against: x1               Cup finals: x0

                                                    Goal differential: x3     Continental Cup: x1

                                                    Victory Cup: x1               Points: 569+155              

 Expansion ranking: 5th with 724 points

Our first team on the list for part two is the S74 expansion Chicago Phoenix, while the team may be 12th when looking at the overall picture the 5th in expansion ranking speaks volumes in how much they managed to accomplish in a short time. As one would expect from most expansion teams their first season was the worst, but it wasn't just bad, it was worst of the decade. 18-51-3, the only time in the S70's that a team failed to secure 20 wins and 40 points. Despite that though it was clear a plan was in place for the team as they jumped up by 26 points the next season and 19 the season after that. Season 75 saw them secure an upset over the Victory cup winning Wranglers in round one and they took the Dragons to seven games in round two. With playoff experience now in hand Chicago had their best regular season in season 76, finishing 49-16-7, they were the best in North America and they finished top three in goals for and differential.

 

They had a dominant run to their one cup win of the decade, only suffering three losses. In round one they beat the Seattle Bears 4-2, round two they swept the Wolves and in the finals they beat their fellow expansion team the Warsaw Predators 4-1. They skated away with 185 points that season. The remaining three seasons saw them stay in the 40 win column, S77 they finished top three in goals for and differential, S78 saw them tie their expansion brethren Warsaw Predators in regular season points at the top of the league with 98. It was more than just that though, they were top three in all goal categories and they beat the Dragons in the first round before being swept in the second. For the final year of the decade the team went out on a fine record with 90 points, no top three's and didn't go anywhere in the playoffs. As stated at the start, the Phoenix were good and outside of their first two seasons in the S70's were a team you had to respect.

 

New York Americans

Record: 329-324-67

Rank: 11th with 745 points

                                                     Goals for: x0                    Conference finals: x1

                                                     Goals against: x1               Cup finals: x0

                                                     Goal differential: x0     Continental Cup: x0

                                                     Victory Cup: x0              Points: 725+20           

 Expansion ranking: 15th with 486 points

After looking at the Phoenix it's a shame to have to jump back to a mediocre team, the New York Americans are another team that seemingly just coasted through the S70's. The main difference here compared to say, the Dynamo, is that New York had better regular seasons and managed to push more games into overtime. They were the Dynamo on a better diet basically. Like H.C. Davos, the Americans were top three in goals against once but unlike Davos they were able to win a round in the playoffs. Season 72 they upset the second place Seattle Bears to move on into round two only to get bested by the Wranglers in a seven game series. Their best record was the only time they achieved 40 wins, 43-23-6 in season 73 put them fifth overall, two seasons later they would bottom out at 21-42-9, dead last in the league. The Americans were a stronger team at the start of the decade as they had 36 or more wins each season topping off at the 43 in S73 as mentioned before, but they dropped pretty hard after that, sitting in the 20 win range the next four seasons before returning to 30 wins in the final two. Their expansion ranking shows just how close they were to H.C. Davos Dynamo, as they finished just four points ahead of them. Many of you knew they'd be close to the bottom and well here they are; sure they managed to finish ahead of the Chicago Phoenix in terms of looking at the full decade but looking at that expansion ranking, there's a ten place and 238 point difference.

 

 

Prague Phantoms

Record: 361-292-67

Rank: 10th with 814 points

                                                     Goals for: x0                    Conference finals: x1

                                                     Goals against: x2               Cup finals: x0

                                                     Goal differential: x0     Continental Cup: x0

                                                     Victory Cup: x0              Points: 789+25           

 Expansion ranking: 10th with 580 points

The Prague Phantoms, a team that has one of my favorite logos in the league, was good through the decade... but never great. Honestly what's the most remarkable thing about this franchise during the S70's was just their consistency, the team finished in the 30 win column nine times and the one time they weren't, they were in the 40 win range. That would be season 76 with a season end record of 45-26-1 to put them fifth in the league that year, and they finished top three in goals against. Surprisingly their worst record came the year prior when they finished 31-34-7 which put them 13th overall, that's pretty special to see, a team jump their worst record of the decade to their best. The problem as I said before however is that while the Phantoms were a respectable team the whole way through, they never had that next level, they finished in the top three in goals against twice for noticeable regular season achievements and only escaped the first round once. That came in Season 78 when they beat the London United 4-1 and lost in the second round to the Warsaw Predators 4-2. To draw a comparison to the NHL, they remind me of the Minnesota Wild, a team that's been good but never great, a team you know is gonna go out in the first round 95% of the time. If there's one final thing I can say about them, they are the first team on this list that played the full decade and finished with more wins than overall looses (361-359) and being 10th in both rankings shows the stable nature of the team.

 

Warsaw Predators

Record: 275-178-51

Rank: 9th with 816 points

                                                    Goals for: x5                    Conference finals: x2

                                                    Goals against: x1               Cup finals: x1

                                                    Goal differential: x4     Continental Cup: x1

                                                    Victory Cup: x2              Points: 601+215           

 Expansion ranking: 2nd with 816 points

Easily the most successful expansion team from those in the S70's, the Warsaw predators blow Los Angeles and the London United out of the water and managed to outshine the Chicago Phoenix by a good margin to. No surprise their worst record was their expansion year, 23-41-8 for 54 points and 14th overall. The following season they jumped to 27-37-8 for 62 points and again 14th overall. In their third season they took a sizeable jump, gaining a record of 40-25-7 and finishing top three in goals for, something they would do for five consecutive seasons. While they had no playoffs luck next season would make up for it, their best record yet of 51-13-8, they were top three in goal differential and went to the finals. They beat the Titans in a close seven game series, beat Moscow in a seven game series as well, it set up a match up between expansion brethren, Chicago vs Warsaw to see who would win the first cup of the S73 expansion teams, of course if you read the first entry on this list than you know Warsaw loses here. Warsaw was not deterred though, as they went 47-21-4 for 98 points, finished top three in all goal categories, win the victory cup and make it out of the first round beating the Phantoms 4-1 before Helsinki beat them in a nail bitter seven game series.

 

The second last season of the decade saw Warsaw make up for their loss two season ago, while their point total was the same as last season the record was different, 44-18-10. For a third straight time they were top three in goal differential and while losing the tiebreaker for the Victory cup in terms of VHL rules, they were tied in points with the Phoenix so I will award it to them anyway. The Predators weren't messing around as they beat the Nighthawks 4-1, Phantoms 4-2 and the Seattle Bears by the same amount. In the final season of the decade Warsaw still impressed, going 43-23-6 and securing top three in goals for for that fifth straight season and goal differential for a fourth straight season. They beat the Riga Reign 4-1 but lost to the Nighthawks in round two 3-4. Three less seasons played, not to mention the usually rough expansion year and Warsaw still managed to get up to ninth place, it's remarkable and to let you all know, they aren't far behind 8th place either. The expansion ranking of second shows you just how dominant they were once you get to season 75; under my system, they managed to have four 100+ point seasons showing just how good they were. I can tell you now the gaps between 3rd to 2nd, and 2nd to 1st are pretty big.

 

And that is a rap for part two! It was super fun to talk about two teams with a good amount of playoff success and two others that merely are where they are because they played fine enough. Next time we will look through 8th to 5th and see a pretty big jump in terms of record, we will be moving into teams that were cup contenders that actually played the full decade, with that said yes, we have already talked about the four expansion teams. Sorry to the fans of those teams but that's just how the cookie crumbles, it's hard to make up for those three seasons they didn't exist for. Until next time, ciao for now!

 

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Edited August 20, 2022 by ROOKIE745