VSN Presents: VHL Power Rankings S70'S part 3

[ROOKIE745 607]

Greeting readers! Sorry for the wait on returning to this series, the theme week was a good time to recap my adventure here in the VHL and that ended up being quite the write up, was much longer than I anticipated! Regardless we are now looking at the top eight teams of the S70's, more specifically those who landed between eighth and fifth. If I was to sum up this grouping you're largely looking at teams that were very dangerous during the regular season and absolutely were cup contenders. These are teams that maybe won a cup or two or had some finals appearances as well as regular season success. With that let's begin.

 

D.C. Dragons

Record: 357-298-65

Rank: 8th with 824 points

                                                     Goals for: x0                    Conference finals: x0

                                                     Goals against: x2               Cup finals: x1

                                                    Goal differential: x0      Continental Cup: x0

                                                    Victory Cup: x0               Points: 779+45              

 Expansion ranking: 9th with 585 points

Now at the beginning I said "largely" because D.C. is kind of the outlier here. There's a 98 point difference between them and seventh, and looking at the stats above they don't quite match up with the other three teams in this grouping in terms of regular season success. The saving grace for the D.C. Dragons really is their one run to finals that inches them ahead of  the Predators and Phantoms. Really if we were to break it into tiers I would put the Dragons in the same tier as the Phantoms and Americans, not in the tier that the other teams in this grouping would fall into. To break this down more they were a team that sat in the 30 win range for eight of the ten seasons, the two times they didn't land in that bracket was S75 when they went 40-23-9 which was 4th overall and were top three in goals against, that season they also went to finals. They beat the Vancouver Wolves 4-3, won another seven game series against the Chicago Phoenix before falling in six games to the Malmo Nighthawks, and that right there is also a battle of the two best VHL logos in my humble opinion. The other season record I was talking about was two seasons later in S77 when the team bottomed out and finished 29-40-3 which was dead last that season. They only drop one place in the expansion ranking which I think is just another sign of stable but middling results. The 35 bonus points for reaching the finals helps them a lot with sneaking into the top eight but take it away and they fall down two places in both the full decade ranking and expansion ranking. That said though I'm not taking anything away from the Dragons, that was an epic and hard fought run to the finals where they couldn't quite match Malmo.

 

 

Riga Reign

Record: 354-292-74

Rank: 7th with 922 points

                                                     Goals for: x2                    Conference finals: x3

                                                     Goals against: x1               Cup finals: x0

                                                    Goal differential: x2      Continental Cup: x1

                                                    Victory Cup: x0               Points: 782+140               

 Expansion ranking: 11th with 564 points

The Riga Reign are an interesting case, a team that had most of its success in the first half of the decade and is what carries them to this position. They have less regular season wins than the Dragons but better postseason success which is important and is also a reason why D.C. finishes ahead of them in the expansion ranking. In S70 and S71 they made it past the first round before being taken out by Moscow 4-1 and 4-2 respectively. S72 they had their second best regular season of 39-25-8 and would go on to win the cup that year, beating Dynamo 4-0, getting revenge on the Menace 4-0 and beating Calgary in the finals 4-1. That is a dominating cup win, two sweeps in a row and only dropping one game in the final is seriously impressive. The following season the Reign would put forward their best record of the decade, 46-23-3, finishing top three in goals for and goal differential which they had also achieved last season. However in the playoffs it was not meant to be, they beat the Menace 4-1 but lost to Helsinki in four straight. Really that's the end of success for Riga in the S70's, the only bonus points they managed for the rest of the time was being top three in goals against in S79. For the next six seasons the team either had 37, 32 or 29 wins, S75 would be rock bottom of the pile with a 29-38-5 record which was third worst overall that season. Had it not been for those first four seasons and the cup win in S72 I'd say the team would be in the same tier as D.C. and Prague, but thanks to that cup win the decade can still be looked back on as relative success for the franchise.

 

 

 

Helsinki Titans

Record: 375-280-65

Rank: 6th with 970 points

                                                     Goals for: x2                    Conference finals: x0

                                                     Goals against: x3               Cup finals: x3

                                                    Goal differential: x2      Continental Cup: x0

                                                    Victory Cup: x1               Points: 815+155              

 Expansion ranking: 4th with 735 points

Out of the teams in this grouping the Titans were the best in terms of regular season success, with the most wins and tying the next team in terms of top three in goal categories and in winning the Victory Cup. However it's also very understandable if the decade is looked back upon by fans as one filled with heartbreak and pain, the team made the finals three times but was never able to bring home the cup and the team was competitive for all but the last season when they entered a rebuild. The team seemed to be in a feast of famine state, either going out in the first round or making it to the finals. The first three seasons the team was decent, finishing top three in GF and GD in S70 before missing in S71 but returning in S72. S73 is where they really clicked putting together their best regular season record of 49-18-5, they were top three in goals for and tied the Seattle Bears for points lead for the Victory Cup (Titans had the Tie breaker). They beat the Nighthawks in seven games, ran over the Reign in four straight and met the Bears, the team that had the exact same record as them. Seattle Bears won in six. While the Titans regular season play dropped to 37-28-7 in the following season, they remembered how to get it done in the playoffs, beating Moscow 4-1, sweeping the Nighthawks and meeting the Vancouver Wolves in the finals, again Helsinki would bow out in six.

 

The next two seasons Helsinki would sit in the 40 win column but have no playoff progression, when S77 arrived they would go on another run. They would beat the London United 4-2, beat Warsaw in a hard fought seven game series and rematch with the bears from S73, again the Titans would be on the losing side, 4-1 victory for the Bears. While Helsinki still had a good record in S78 they would tear it down in S79, finishing 21-45-6 which was only one point ahead of Toronto for dead last. Ori would play his rookie season that year as well. The S70's may be looked back on as a failure for the franchise and that's understandable, but they were in the hunt for most of the decade and a respectable team, they just seemed to be lacking that final piece to get them over the hump. A quick look at their expansion ranking shows how good they were when the new teams joined, their final season does hurt since it was their worst but they still had three final appearances in seven seasons.

 

 

Malmo Nighthawks

Record: 356-309-55

Rank: 5th with 972 points

                                                     Goals for: x3                   Conference finals: x1

                                                     Goals against: x3             Cup finals: x0

                                                    Goal differential: x1      Continental Cup: x2

                                                    Victory Cup: x1               Points: 767+205              

 Expansion ranking: 3rd with 763 points

The Malmo Nighthawks may have been the most up and down team during the S70's, yet somehow they squeezed their way into the top five. The first two seasons weren't anything special, finishing top three in goals against and 76 points, they then took a nose in S72 with a record of 26-41-5 which put them last overall. S73 rolled around and they finished with 77 points, S74 they took a big jump to finish with a 43-23-6 record, their second best of the decade. They were top three in goals for this season and the next, and in the playoffs they beat the Riga Reign 4-1 before the Titans handed them an exit out of the playoffs, lots of cross over in this grouping huh? While they had two less wins in S75 the team meant business in the postseason, they survived against the Predators in seven games, endured the Menace in six games and slayed the Dragons in six. All is looking good right? Two back to back seasons of making the playoffs and 40+ wins, yet after this season they fell off the face of the Earth.

 

28-36-8 for 64 points tied the Legion for 11/12th worst in the league, to the credit of the GM though the team built back up pretty quickly, S77 they had 31 wins, S78 35 wins and S79 the Nighthawks decided to put the league on notice, going 53 and 19, no overtime losses. Not only that but the team was top three in goals for, goals against, and goal differential, they won the Victory Cup and the Continental Cup. In those playoffs they beat the Dynamo 4-2, beat Warsaw in another seven game series and conquered the Bears in six. The Malmo Nighthawks are only one of two teams to topple 200 points under my system, and with 206 points earned that season I can say it was the most dominating season overall. If it weren't for that amazing run the Titans are ahead of them, it is only a two point difference after all, just taking away one bonus point stat and they fall down a position. Expansion ranking wise since their first three seasons were nothing special they don't lose anything major and winning the Cup twice in seven seasons is impressive no matter how you cut it.

 

 

And with that we are finished with part 3! We only got 1 more part to go and it will be looking at the elite of the elite, the four teams that all topped 1000 points and were basically a shoe-in for playoffs during the whole decade. Hopefully you guys won't be kept waiting for that, until next time, ciao for now!

 

(word count 1794)

Edited September 4, 2022 by ROOKIE745

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claiming for second time August 28th