VSN Presents: VHL Power Rankings S70'S part 4

[ROOKIE745 571]

Greetings readers! I am back with part four of this series, and I have made the choice to break up the final four teams. As you may have noticed there's generally more to talk about with the successful teams and I would like to give each a little more focus in this regard as we are truly talking about the best of the best, all of these teams topped 1000 points, have at least four 40 plus win seasons, a minimum of 385 regular season wins, and often were top three in goals for, goals against or goal differential. For our second last part in this series we are looking at the top two Canadian teams of the decade that just so happened to finish right next to each other in terms of points.

Vancouver Wolves

Record: 385-266-69

Rank: 4th with 1009 points

                                                     Goals for: x5                    Conference finals: x2

                                                     Goals against: x2               Cup finals: x0

                                                    Goal differential: x4      Continental Cup: x1

                                                    Victory Cup: x1               Points: 839+170              

 Expansion ranking: 6th with 693 points

The Vancouver Wolves came in just a little over 1000 points and were a threat for most of the decade, they had five 100 point seasons under my system and hit the 40 win mark five times. They start the decade off with a bang, their best regular season of 46-20-6 which they did almost match down the road. They were top three in all categories and second in the standings that season, despite the regular season success they were upset by the Seattle Bears in the first round. The next season they almost matched their first season record going 44-22-6 and while they dropped top three in goals for they won the Victory Cup and got out of the first round, they beat the Calgary Wranglers 4-2 before once again being outed by the Bears 4-1. The Wolves took a dive the next two seasons, getting 69 and 84 points respectively. Season 74 they came back stronger then ever, going 43-20-9 again top two in goals against and goal differential but most importantly they won the cup that year, slaying the Dragons 4-2, surviving a seven game series with the Legion and beating the Titans 4-2. This was the high point for the team in the middle of the decade but they'd never reach the promised land again..... at least not in this decade.

 

 

Season 75 is the season they nearly matched their first season regular season success, going 46-22-4, just a difference of two points. Following season 43-20-9 they again beat the Dragons in the first round 4-1 before being swept by the Phoenix in round two. From here Vancouver slowly fades as they seemingly enter a rebuild, S77 they were 35-28-9 and for the last time top three in goals for, S78 they bottom out at 23-42-7 for 53 points and are dead last in the league. The final year of the decade they are starting the build back up going 35-31-6 and we all know how the start of the S80's was for this franchise, but that is beyond the scope of this power ranking. The Wolves in the S70's were a team with plenty of regular season success but always struggled in the playoffs, they only escaped the first round three times and while one of those times they did win the cup, the other two were loses in the second round. When looking at the expansion rankings you do lose two of their best seasons which hurts but being 6th overall still shows a good amount of success.

 

 

 

Calgary Wranglers

Record: 397-259-64

Rank: 3rd with 1018 points

                                                     Goals for: x2                    Conference finals: x1

                                                     Goals against: x5               Cup finals: x2

                                                    Goal differential: x3      Continental Cup: x0

                                                    Victory Cup: x2               Points: 858+160              

 Expansion ranking: 8th with 633 points

Frankly I was shocked to see the Wranglers ahead of the Wolves, I know it's only by nine points but still it was surprising to me. They were the second best team overall in the regular season with 397 wins and while they don't have a cup win like Vancouver going to the finals twice does in a way help make up for that. Calgary, much like Vancouver started the decade off strong, going 41-24-7 and while they weren't top three in any goal categories they battle their way to the cup finals, beating D.C 4-2, putting down the Bears in the same amount of games, and meeting Moscow in the finals where Calgary lost in six games. Season 71 the Wranglers wrangled up a record of 42-28-2 and finished top three in goal for but couldn't get anything done in the postseason. Season 72 was the Wranglers magical year, going 49-16-7, they were top three in all goal categories, they won the Victory cup and..... made it to the finals, they beat the Legion in a seven game series, it took another seven game series to beat the Americans, and in the finals they met the Riga Reign who put them down in five games. It seems Calgary just ran out of steam after two hard fought series, had they been able to win the cup they would have been one of three teams to earn the full 100 bonus points and break the 200 point barrier, they would have been at 205, just one behind Malmo's 206. 

 

Calgary can't quite match the success they had in their first three seasons from here, while they still had plenty of great regular season records they struggled in the playoffs. Season 73 saw them get their fourth straight 40 win season with 44-22-6, it'd also be the last time they escape the first round as they managed to beat the Americans in another hard fought seven game series before Seattle put them to sleep in seven. Season 74 saw them win half their games and finish top three in goals against. Season 75 saw them have a rather big bounce back to 45-17-10, they finished top three in goals against and goal differential, they also brought the Victory Cup home for a second time. For the next three seasons Calgary sat in under 40 wins, winning 31 in S76 and S77 before getting 37 in S78. S79 they reached 40 wins for a sixth time going 41-26-5 and being top three in goals against. Drawing another comparison to Vancouver, Calgary loses two of their best seasons when looking at the expansion ranking, and since they struggled more in the playoffs in the later half of the decade they fall a few spots. Calgary in some sense sits in the same boat as Helsinki, except Calgary was more of a monster in the regular season. They made it to the finals twice but couldn't win either time. Actually it's really interesting seeing both these Canadian teams side by side, they each made it out of the first round just three times, Vancouver fell in the second round twice but won the cup, Calgary fell in the second round once but made the finals twice.

 

For everyone hoping I was gonna wrap up the series here, sorry not quite yet, as stated above I wanted to give a little more focus to these top two teams. There's only two more to cover from here and one of them is leagues above everyone else, can you guess who it is? I have to say it's been really fun working on this series so far and prep work is some of the most I've ever done, as I had to go season through season and put every record on a sheet and then add it all up while taking into account regular and postseason success, if I just added up the regular season number I don't feel it would have meant as much, as being the top team in the regular season should mean something, but the post season is the most important should be where most of a franchises success is judged. I had a guess as to where what teams would be and such, I think everyone knew H.C would be close to the bottom for example but other teams like Helsinki for example I wasn't quite sure where they would be. Perhaps in the last part of this series I will share the stat sheet so everyone can see how all of this added up.

 

 

(word count 1403)

Edited September 18, 2022 by ROOKIE745

[ROOKIE745 571]

Claiming for second week Sept 11, also claiming for doubles from donation