On This Day In VHL History - October 31st - November 18th

[MubbleFubbles 1,292]

Note: Dates for player creation for years 2017 and prior are based on creation of player thread by moderator/admin as original player pages aren’t accessible.

 

October 31^st

 

This day in 2014 saw the introduction of the VHLM TPA hard cap. Previously, while players were still required to be below 175 TPE at the usual point of the off-season to play in the VHLM, players were allowed to exceed 175 TPA during the VHLM season, leading to some players getting up to around 300 TPA by end of VHLM season. This change was brought in to prevent that from happening.

 

This day in 2014 also saw the Davos Dynamo trade off a couple of star players just before the trade deadline in Lennox Moher and Jarkko Olsen. Moher was traded to the Quebec City Meute and in the same season became the second goalie in VHL history to win the Aidan Shaw trophy for best goalie playing for two teams in the same season. Olsen was traded to the Riga Reign for their final VHL season and won the third Continental Cup of their career.

 

This day in 2014 also saw the creation of the sixth overall pick of the Season 42 Draft Prince Gigga-Bijou. A career player on his cousin Boubabi’s Stockholm Vikings, Gigga-Bijou never really had a standout career statistically, but played a role on teams that won the Victory Cup in Season 43 and got to the Continental Cup final in Season 47.

 

This day in 2015 saw the Moscow Red Wolves win their only ever Founders Cup in Moscow (they had previously won while located in Vasteras), cruising through to victory without losing a single game going 4-0 against both the Bern Royals and the Brampton Blades.

 

This day in 2016 saw the creation of Hall of Famer John Locke. Locke was drafted third overall in the Season 53 Draft and, electing to stay down in the VHLM for an extra season, went on to have an outstanding season with the Lynx, topping both the goal scoring and assist charts and deservedly bagging four award trophies in the process along with the Founders Cup. Locke would go on to win four Continental Cups in seven VHL seasons with three different franchises (Riga Reign, Quebec City Meute and the Helsinki Titans) and was a two-time top goal scorer in the VHL along with being a Most Outstanding Player award recipient and a Playoff MVP.

 

This day in 2019 saw the Houston Bulls defeated the Yukon Rush in a 4-2 series to win the Season 68 Founders Cup. This was the first time (and, as of writing, only time) that the Bulls had won the Founders Cup since their introduction to the league in Season 65.

 

This day in 2019 saw Robert Malenko, Sergei Kovalev and Shawn Glade all declare their retirements, with both Malenko and Kovalev being enforced retirements after hitting their eight season cap. Malenko, the seventh overall pick in the Season 61 Draft, peaked very early on in their career, winning the Most Assists and Best Offensive Defenseman trophies in their third VHL season (Season 64) along with helping the Toronto Legion lift the Continental Cup in Season 65. Kovalev, the ninth overall pick in the same draft, peaked even quicker with a 91 point rookie season in Season 62 (good for 17^th in the VHL) and while they never really got close to replicating that, they did help the Seattle Bears win two Victory Cups in Seasons 64 and 65. Glade was the 11^th overall pick in the Season 62 Draft (which was a second round selection) and finished their career with the fifth most TPE from their draft class. A strong goal-scoring threat from defense, Glade led defensemen in goals in Season 65 and was second in defenseman goals in Season 67, the latter of which helped Glade secure their second of three Continental Cup wins (Season 63, Season 67 and Season 68)

 

November 1^st

 

This day in 2014 saw Hall of Famer Niklas Lindberg traded at the deadline from the Vasteras Iron Eagles to the Riga Reign for their final VHL season. Lindberg would go on to finish the season as the top point scorer and goal scorer in the league for Season 40 along with winning the Most Outstanding Player trophy and the Continental Cup, the second cup of their career.

 

This day in 2015 saw the Helsinki Titans win the Season 45 Continental Cup, winning the series over the Calgary Wranglers 4-3. Their roster was noticeably strong, possessing four Hall of Fame players in Thomas O’Malley, Aleksi Koponen, Phil Hamilton and Greg Clegane. This was the first cup win of a two cup win streak for Helsinki, a feat that hadn’t been achieved since over 20 seasons earlier when the Davos Dynamo won the Season 24 and 25 Continental Cups. This also was Hall of Fame Builder Will’s first Continental Cup win as a General Manager.

 

This day in 2018 saw the creation of the fifth overall pick of the Season 64 Draft Pat Svoboda.  While they never quite reached the upper echelons of the VHL, they did finish twentieth in points in Season 68 with 73 points (their best points tally of their career). They were also able to amass 1058 TPE, a very impressive figure given that they’d be largely inactive over their last three seasons.

 

This day in 2019 saw Beaviss brought in as the new VHL commissioner, covering for Quik who had gone absent without leave. Prior to his hiring, Beaviss had been a former VHLM Commissioner and was a long-time member of the recruitment team, playing a big part in the VHL’s improved approach to advertising the league.

 

This day in 2019 also saw the SBA end their affiliation with the VHL after discussions prompted by comments made in a VHLM game thread. This meant that the SBA no longer accepted affiliate PT or affiliate 12 claims from the VHL, although the VHL still elected to accept such claims from the SBA (they did change their stance on accepting affiliate 12 claims in April however, no longer allowing SBA staff to make those claims in the VHL). This would last until late July of the following year when the affiliation was restored.

 

This day in 2020 saw the creation of the 11^th overall pick from the Season 76 Draft Gunnar Odinsson. While they only had six VHL seasons, Odinsson made a big impact in their last three seasons, accruing over 100 points in each of those three seasons. Their best season came in Season 79 when they led the league in points and were considered the Most Outstanding Player of the season along with the Playoff MVP in a season that the Malmo Nighthawks and Odinsson won both the Victory Cup and the Continental Cup.

 

This day in 2020 also saw the Calgary Wranglers change their logo. The core concepts of the logo are very similar but the horse now has reins on and is angrier but, as of writing, this has yet to feature on a Continental Cup banner having not won one since the change and still hasn’t been given as an option to post in small emoji form, which is interesting given a team that changed their logo a whole year later does.

 

This day in 2020 also saw the forced retirements of those still not retired from the Season 67 Draft class. This included fifth overall pick and Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, (who won four Continental Cups with the Seattle Bears along with winning the Most Assists trophy in Season 71 and finished third in the draft class in TPE), Phil Marleau (the third overall pick and a Season 72 Continental Cup winner with the Riga Reign who is currently 11^th in All-Time hits), Micheal Gary Scott (the eighth overall pick who won the Continental Cup as a rookie with the Vancouver Wolves in Season 67) and Kefka Palazzo (the 20^th overall pick who interestingly scored 34% of their points in their seventh and final season, deservedly winning the Most Improved Player award)

 

November 2^nd

 

This day in 2018 saw the introduction of the Alexander Valiq award, given to the VHL defenseman deemed to have been the best offensively in a season. The Sterling Labatte trophy (which had been changed from being awarded to the best all-round defenseman to the best offensive defenseman in Season 58 after the introduction of the Jake Wylde trophy which was awarded to the best defensive defenseman) was subsequently reverted back to being awarded to the best all-round defenseman.

 

This day in 2021 saw the creation of the 15^th overall pick from the Season 82 Draft Maxwell Mathias. While Mathias initially looked promising following their first round selection, they went inactive following their resignation from the Oslo Storm VHLE General Manager position and ultimately meant that the Warsaw Predators never got a game out of their first round selection.

 

November 3^rd

 

This day in 2014 saw the league’s members offered a quadruple week in celebration of the league making it to its 40^th season, meaning anyone who submitted a PT in the week were eligible for 18 uncapped TPE on top of their regular 6 capped TPE.

 

This day in 2014 also saw several Hall of Famers announce their retirement at the Season 40 trade deadline in Wesley Kellinger, Niklas Lindberg and Odin Tordahl. Lindberg and Tordahl were both first-ballot Hall of Famers while Kellinger was eventually inducted in Season 79. Tordahl was the player who racked up the most trophy wins across his career with an incredible ten trophy wins in his career (was 4^th in all-time trophy wins at retirement) including the Season 39 Most Valuable Player Award, the Most Points Award on three occassions (Tordahl is one of only three players to win the award in three consecutive seasons) and the Most Goals award on two occasions along with three Continental Cups. Lindberg won two Continental Cups and finished their career with a three award haul in their final season, winning the Most Outstanding Player, Most Points and Most Goals awards, but missed out on the Season 40 Most Valuable Player trophy that was won instead by Kellinger. That was Kellinger’s only individual trophy of their career and was paired with two Continental Cup wins in Season 35 and 39.

 

This day in 2019, Jubo07 is instated as the Helsinki Titans Interim General Manager, a role that they would eventually take over permanently when Quik, the previous General Manager did not return to the role. Jubo07 had previously been a General Manager of the Las Vegas Aces for four seasons, helping them win the Season 64 Founders Cup. While they were unable to replicate that cup winning success with Helsinki, Jubo07 was able to win the General Manager of the Year trophy in Season 73 and, as of writing, was Helsinki’s second-longest serving General Manager with nine seasons.

 

This day in 2020 saw the Miami Marauders complete one of the best underdogs runs in VHLM history by sweeping the Mississauga Hounds in the Season 74 Founders Cup Final. Miami had only just made the playoffs, beating the Philadelphia Reapers by three points into the last playoff position but immediately shocked the VHLM by beating the regular season leading Halifax 21^st in a seven game series before also beating the Las Vegas Aces team that had the second best regular season record in seven games on their way to the final. This was also Miami’s first ever Founders Cup win since their introduction in Season 72.

 

November 4^th

 

This day in 2014 saw the creation of Hall of Famer Lord Karnage. Added to the Vikings through the GM rule, Karnage was a defenseman during their Season 42 rookie season but moved to forward after it and subsequently became one of the best two-way forwards of all-time, winning four consecutive Scott Boulet trophies between Season 44 and Season 47. Lord Karnage was also the highest earning TPE player from the 9 TPE cap era, amassing an incredible 1561 TPE, a figure that is rarely broken even today (it took until Gabriel McAllister from the Season 56 class for someone to overtake Karnage in TPE, but McAllister had several seasons of being able to earn 12 capped TPE per week).

 

This day in 2014 also saw the creation of a couple of future Season 42 Seattle Bears draftees in Wolfgang Strauss (third overall) and AC Savage (12^th overall). Both players were present as the Bears surprisingly won the Continental Cup in Season 43 and, although Savage retired following this season to create Hall of Famer Max Molholt, Strauss would go on to win two more Continental Cups as a member of the Season 45/46 Helsinki Titans.

 

This day in 2015 was the point at which the VHL changed the amount of TPE new players got upon creation. Prior to the rule change, new players started at 0 TPE but were able to double their first three 6 TPE point tasks and were able to claim a 10 TPE VHLM Training Camp. This changed to something closer to the current system we see today as a new player received 30 TPE straight away upon creation.

 

This day in 2015 also saw the Season 46 VHL Draft take place. The Toronto Legion held five first round picks in this draft along with the first overall pick and they used that first pick on Hall of Famer Zach Parechkin, one of the league’s most physical forwards and a big contributor to Toronto’s threepeat from Season 48 to Season 50. While three of their first rounds picks were shuffled off to other teams before the threepeat, ninth overall pick LeAndre St. Pierre and second rounder World B. Free also were on the Legion roster for all three of those cup wins. The Seattle Bears had a good draft themselves, picking up the players that finished their careers in 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th in TPE with the 2^nd, 4^th and 10^th picks of the draft in Hall of Famer Jeff Hamilton, Shawn Muller and Niels Skovgaard.

 

This day in 2019 saw the VHLM TPE cap upped from 200 TPE to 250 TPE. This was brought in due to increasing player creates leading to an increased number of players in the level above (at that time the VHL) to a point of excess. This limit would go on to be reverted to its old 200 TPE limit with the introduction of the VHLE in Season 79/80.

 

November 5^th

 

This day in 2014 saw the creation of Freedom McJustice. Joining the Davos Dynamo in Season 42 through the GM rule, McJustice would spend five and a half seasons with Davos before being moved to the Calgary Wranglers midway through Season 47 and was traded the following season to the New York Americans where they would spend their last two seasons of their career. Their last season (Season 49) was undoubtedly their best, finishing with the most goals in the season and the third most points.

 

This day in 2015 saw Milos Denis join the Calgary Wranglers in Season 46 Free Agency for the last season of his career. Milos Denis had won two Continental Cups previously with the New York Americans and was aiming to win a third with Calgary, however they fell short in the Continental Cup final, losing to the Helsinki Titans. They did however win the Playoff MVP trophy for this season, a highly controversial decision given that Calgary didn’t win the Continental Cup and the vast majority of Denis’s stats came in the first round of the playoffs against a still-rebuilding Toronto Legion side.

 

This day in 2020 saw the Vancouver Wolves win their fourth Continental Cup after beating the Helsinki Titans 4-2 in the Season 74 Continental Cup final. This was a second Continental Cup win as General Manager for Beaviss and his player Brock Louth played a large part in that, finishing second in the league in goals during the regular season and taking home the Playoff MVP award having led the playoffs in goals scored and points. Hall of Famers Andrew Su and Jeff Downey also played big parts in the teams success along with goalie Jimmy Spyro.

 

November 6^th

 

This day in 2013 saw the official announcement of the Super Cup and how it would affect the VHL. The Super Cup was an off-season tournament in the vein of the World Cup, however teams were assigned players through a league-wide fantasy draft. The introduction of the Super Cup changed the World Cup from a tournament held once every two seasons to once every three seasons, however this was reverted back when the Super Cup was dissolved after Season 44.

 

This day in 2014 saw the creation of Bismarck Koenig. A very rare example of a player only playing six seasons in the VHL yet still making the Hall of Fame, Koenig was an extremely consistent goal-scorer, finishing in the top five in goals scored in five of his six seasons in the league along with leading the league in goals in Season 45. Koenig’s final season (Season 47) was undoubtedly his best, finishing with Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Player honours after leading the league in points and assists along with the second most goals.

 

This day in 2015 saw Shadhu Rathod JR. join the Calgary Wranglers in Season 46 Free Agency. Rathod Jr. had not been much of an offensive threat in the five seasons prior to their move, failing to get over a point per game in any of their first five seasons, but exploded for 98 points in Season 46 with the Wranglers, making them the highest point scorer on the team and seventh in points in the league overall.  

 

This day in 2015 also saw Aksel Thomassen declare their retirement. Thomassen was a first ballot Hall of Famer after a terrific seven season career, with the peak of his career occurring in his second and third seasons (Season 41 and Season 42) in the VHL, two seasons where he led the league in points and assists along with a Most Outstanding Player award for their Season 41 performance. What’s most impressive is that Thomassen was able to put up numbers any eight season player would be happy with in a career that was one season shorter, evidenced by their placing in the top thirty in the VHL in all-time points per game at retirement (now 34^th). 

 

This day in 2017 saw the creation of the Season 59 Draft’s fifth overall pick Luc-Pierre Lespineau-Lebrunette. Arguably the most physical defenseman of the S60’s, Luc-Pierre led defensemen in hits in four of his seven seasons in the league and ranks eighth all-time in defenseman hits along with leading defenseman in penalty minutes in five seasons and ranking 4^th among defenseman in that category. Despite their addiction to the more physical side of the game, they did win two Continental Cups on the Season 64/65 Toronto Legion roster.

 

November 7^th

 

This day in 2015 saw the Season 45 VHL Awards Ceremony take place. The awards were predictably dominated by the season’s leading point scorer Thomas O’Malley, who added to his Mike Szatkowski Trophy by also winning the Most Valuable Player Award, Most Outstanding Player Award and sharing the Playoff MVP award with Hans Wingate.

 

This day in 2015 also saw Devise step down as Cologne Express General Manager to be replaced by Gregreg. Devise had been Cologne GM for three seasons and this was his second consecutive reign as a General Manager where he’d won both a Continental Cup (the only Continental Cup the Express ever won) and a Best General Manager award having previously done so with the New York Americans (Seasons 30-32). This was Gregreg’s third and final stint as a General Manager in the VHL, having previously been General Manager for the Seattle Bears for 13 seasons across two different reigns (Seasons 20-28 and Seasons 34-37). Gregreg ultimately couldn’t win the Continental Cup in their ten season stint as General Manager but they did make the Continental Cup final in Season 51 and was the GM of the team while their player Joel Jarvi recorded the fifth-best point total in a VHL season with 162 in Season 53. At the time they stepped down in Season 54, Gregreg had served the joint-most seasons as a VHL GM with 22 (now fifth-most).

 

This day in 2019 saw the Season 68 VHL Awards Ceremony take place. Like the Season 45 Awards, the top point scorer wound up taking home extra awards, with Matt Thompson (who also led the league in goals) earning the Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Player trophies. Smitty Werbenjagerjensen capped off a great season winning both the Top Defenseman and Top Offensive Defenseman trophies while Advantage picked up Executive of the Year for the sixth time in his career which is still the record to this date (equal with Blake Campbell).

 

This day in 2019 also saw the league hand out six TPE bans to members for actions that took place prior to and following the SBA’s decision to end affiliation with the VHL. This is the most TPE bans awarded at once for the same thing in the league’s history.

 

This day in 2019 also saw Dan Wilinsky join the Seattle Bears in Season 69 Free Agency. Wilinsky would only spend one season in Seattle, but it was their best goal scoring season of their career, finishing with 39 goals which was the fourth best goal tally in the league. In addition, he was the Bears best point scorer, finishing tenth in the league in that category. Wilinsky capped off their one season stint with the Bears by helping them win the Season 69 Continental Cup, the only Continental Cup of Wilinsky’s career.

 

This day in 2019 also saw Jake Davis sign with the Malmo Nighthawks in Season 69 Free Agency. While Jake Davis had played very well across their career leading up to their final season, things didn’t go to plan with Malmo as Davis put up by far the worst seasonal numbers of their career, finishing with just 54 points. Davis wasn’t alone though as no-one on the Nighthawks really had a stellar season and it was unsurprising when they were knocked out at the first opportunity in the playoffs, leaving Davis without a cup win in their career.

 

This day in 2021 saw Vasteras win the first VHLE Renaissance Cup, finishing a seven game series against the Rome Gladiators with a 6-1 thrashing. Vasteras had two of the league’s current highest profile players in Xavier Booberry and Saku Kotkakoivu on their roster and it was a case of repeating history for the Iron Eagles, as the VHL team of the same name also won the first ever Continental Cup.

 

November 8th

 

This day in 2015 saw the creation of John Sleeman, the first overall pick of the Season 47 VHL Draft. Sleeman originally created as a defenseman and had a solid first three seasons at the position, but then significantly increased their production after a move to winger prior to their fourth season. A very physical scorer, Sleeman was a two-time winner of the Scott Boulet trophy for best two-way forward and could have potentially added more trophies to their name given they were on nearly two points per game and one goal per game pace in their sixth and final season with 50 games played with the Cologne Express. However, a deadline day trade to the Toronto Legion killed their momentum and they dropped to one point per game and one goal every two game pace.

 

This day in 2015 also saw Bismarck Koenig sign with the Davos Dynamo in Season 46 Free Agency. The Dynamo had actually originally drafted Koenig in the Season 42 VHL Draft but only played their rookie season with the team before the Dynamo traded him off to the Cologne Express for defenseman Mason Richardson and late picks. Koenig saw a slight drop in production in their Season 46 stint with the Dynamo, getting 98 points and falling just short of what would’ve been a fourth straight 100+ point season, but they still finished third in the league in goals and seventh in points. This would be their last season in Davos though as they would move to the Helsinki Titans in Season 47 who were hoping to threepeat after winning in Season 45 and 46.

 

This day in 2015 also saw James Faraday join the Riga Reign in Season 46 Free Agency. Faraday was entering their final season of their career and went on to have their best season to date, finishing with 101 points which was good for sixth in the league. However, they couldn’t help the Reign progress in the playoffs as they were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Davos Dynamo.

 

This day in 2018 saw the 28^th Overall Pick from the Season 64 Draft Basaraba Moose created. Moose exceeded expectations having been selected in the fourth round of the VHL Draft, playing four VHL seasons averaging a point every two games. They are most known though for being the first ever player to win a trophy for the Malmo Nighthawks, when they won the Jake Wylde trophy in Season 66.

 

This day in 2019 saw the Season 69 VHL Draft take place. The Prague Phantoms, participating in their second VHL Draft, held the first overall pick and selected defenseman Cinnamon Block, who would spend seven of their eight seasons with the team. The DC Dragons picked the player who ended their career with the most TPE of the draft class, center Benny Graves. This was also a solid draft for strong first-gen performances with RJ Jubis, Patrik Tallinder and Kris Rice all exceeding 1300 TPE. Unfortunately, no player in this draft class went on to make the Hall of Fame.

 

This day in 2019 also saw the Moscow Menace sign Smitty Werbenjagerjensen and Gritty in Season 69 Free Agency. The Gow brothers both made the move following a season at Davos where Gritty had served as a serviceable forward whilst Smitty had just had a breakthrough season, winning the Best Defenseman and Best Offensive Defenseman awards. Both improved their play considerably in the next two seasons, as Gritty put up their best season totals in Season 69 before putting up new best numbers in Season 70. Meanwhile Smitty followed up their Season 68 trophy wins with a Best Defenseman and Best Defensive Defenseman in Season 69 but Season 70 was huge for them, not only helping the Menace win the Continental Cup for the first (and at time of writing, only) time, but winning Best Defenseman, Best Offensive Defenseman, Most Assists and Most Outstanding Player awards, the latter of which is incredibly rare for a defenseman to win.

 

This day in 2020 saw two notable players create in Andrew Bowman and Javad Kamkar. Bowman was taken with the 62^nd overall pick in the Season 76 Draft (the third to last pick) and exceeded expectations by becoming an eventual starter between Season 79 and Season 81 for three different teams (Moscow Menace, Riga Reign, Warsaw Predators) before retiring following Season 81. Kamkar was drafted 21^st overall by the Vancouver Wolves and played in the league for six seasons, one of which was the Season 80 Continental Cup win for the Wolves.

 

This day in 2021 saw the Ottawa Lynx win their 15^th Founders Cup, defeating the Yukon Rush in a highly competitive seven game series in the Season 80 Founders Cup final. This was the first of two consecutive Founders Cup wins that the Lynx and their general manager 16z would have.

 

This day in 2021 also saw four members added to the moderator team in Dom, Dil, Dasboot and Samx. Really not much I can add to that, I just didn’t want to end a point on a link.

 

This day in 2021, well somebody thought it would be a good idea to enter a board game attached to a pair of skates into the league. They were incorrect.

 

November 9th

 

This day in 2014 saw the creation of Joseph Roy III, the fifth overall pick of the Season 42 Draft. Despite not earning much TPE after the draft (adding only 105 TPE to their player post-draft), Roy was still able to carve out a solid career for themselves in the VHL. They managed to record a +/- of 73 with the Season 43 Victory Cup winning Stockholm Vikings and finished ninth in points in Season 46 after a 97 point season spent mostly on the Toronto Legion before joining the New York Americans at the deadline.

 

This day in 2015 saw Blake Campbell sign with the New York Americans in Season 46 Free Agency. Campbell, who had been the starting goalie for the Stockholm Vikings the previous two seasons, took over the starting role in New York after Niklaus Mikaelson’s unexpected retirement and had two very strong seasons for New York. In Season 46, they finished with the second highest save percentage and then improved upon that the following season, finishing the season with the best save percentage and goals against average along with picking up the Top Goalie award along with helping New York win the Season 47 Continental Cup.

 

This day in 2020 saw the Season 75 VHL Draft take place, by far the biggest draft in league history with 32 more players selected in this draft than the second biggest (112 in this one, 80 in Season 68 Draft). While the draft is obviously notable for the first-gens that were recruited for this draft (58 first gens from this draft surpassed 200 TPE in their career, 21 more than the 2^nd best in this area, the Season 66 Draft), it also had a lot of recreates, with 31 recreates surpassing 200 TPE in their career (record is 34 from the Season 82 class). The first overall pick was made by the Los Angeles Stars and they selected Pistil Stamen, who spent their entire career in Los Angeles. Riga Reign held the most first rounders in this draft with five and, while some of them panned out less than optimally, they made up for it in the later rounds by picking 1000+ TPE players in Justin Lose, Linus Zetterstrom and Isau DaMoose. The highest TPE player from this class was Taro Tsujimoto (1522 TPE) who was also one of four players drafted in the first round to the team the member managed. 

 

This day in 2020 also saw the VHLM introduce the inactive release requirement and the Juniors system. The inactive release requirement, which still exists today, requires a VHLM team to release a player who has not updated in the last three weeks. The Juniors was introduced due to the massive intake of first-gens in both the Season 75 and Season 76 draft classes, but it is no longer active.

 

This day in 2021 saw the Vancouver Wolves lift the Season 80 Continental Cup having beaten the Moscow Wolves in a seven game series. This cup win was the first of the second threepeat in VHL history, was Vancouver’s fifth Continental Cup victory and also Nykonax’s first as a General Manager . The team was characterised by several players adopting a very effective build (both in the sim and economically with the cap) with very low passing combined with maximum scoring and defense, later referred to as the “meta build”. As a result, players like Jivere Zolnek and Tyler Reinhart who didn’t have the TPE count to suggest they would have top success wound up leading the league in many statistical categories and taking home several VHL awards.

 

This day in 2021 also saw the Yukon Rush and the Minnesota Storm moved from the VHLM to the VHLE. This was due to an increased need for VHLE teams whilst not needing as many VHLM teams. The Minnesota Storm were immediately renamed back to the Oslo Storm name the team had prior to their relocation in Season 65, while the Rush name was set to be announced at a later date. Laine, the General Manager of the Storm, moved with the team to the VHLE whereas the Rush brought in former Halifax GM Samx as their new GM.

 

This day in 2021 also saw four new General Manager hires in the VHL, the most simultaneous hires for a VHL GM job on the current site (outside of expansion hires). The LA Stars GM job went from Josh to Rory (who had previously been a Halifax GM), the GM of the Yukon Rush the past two seasons Dom took over from Hylands as Malmo GM, former Founder Cup winning GM Acydburn took over from Diamond Ace as the new Prague GM and Nykonax was officially instated as the Vancouver Wolves GM having served as interim GM the previous season.

 

This day in 2021 also saw the creation of the current Code of Conduct. You should read it, it’s important.

 

November 10^th

 

This day in 2014 saw the Vasteras Iron Eagles relocated and renamed to the Stockholm Vikings. Vasteras had been long rumoured to be receiving another change in identity (they had been known as the Madrid Thunder from Season 16 to Season 20) and, following Boubabi’s appointment as the team’s new General Manager in Season 40, they finally got a new name and new logo for Season 41. Interestingly, despite taking place eight years ago, this is the most recent name change of any of the original eight VHL franchises.

 

This day in 2020 saw the Season 74 VHL Awards ceremony take place. Mikko Lahtinen took home the most awards with four, snatching up both the Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Player awards along with Best Two-Way Forward and Most Goals. Condor Adrienne was right behind with three awards, but did also became the first ever (and only to date) defenseman to win all three defenseman awards in the same season.

 

November 11^th

 

This day in 2013 saw Miles Larsson declare they would be retiring at the end of Season 35. Larsson was the fifth overall pick in the Season 28 Draft and stayed with the Riga Reign team that drafted them for seven seasons, winning the Season 33 Continental Cup with them as well before moving to the Quebec City Meute and helped them win the Season 35 Continental Cup. While Miles Larsson never won a personal award, they accrued an immense number of hits over the course of their career, retiring in second place in all-time hits (now in seventh place).

 

This day in 2019 saw the retirement of Jesse Wilson and the subsequent creation of Lewis Dawson. Wilson was a solid defenseman for the Helsinki Titans franchise that drafted them 13^th overall in the Season 63 Draft, staying with them for six seasons and helping them win the Continental Cup in Season 66. The cup winning season was also Wilson’s best season statistically, finishing the season just over a point per game and seventh for points by a defenseman for the season. Dawson was drafted 7^th overall in the Season 70 Draft and had quite a few remarkable point scoring seasons early in their career, pairing well with Hall of Fame defenseman Condor Adrienne, and finished fifth in the league in points in Season 72 and 12^th in Season 73.

 

November 12^th

 

This day in 2013 saw Alexander Labatte declare their intentions to retire at the end of season. Labatte was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the first time of asking after a stellar eight season career that saw them retire second in all-time wins (now fourth), seventh in all-time save percentage (now 15^th), second in all-time GAA (now seventh) and first in shutouts (now tenth). They were only able to win the one Continental Cup, but that was accompanied with three Best Goalie awards won between Season 31 and Season 33 (one of only two goalies to win the award on three consecutive occasions) along with the Most Valuable Player award for Season 32 and that tally would have been added to with two Best GAA awards had the award existed at the time.

 

This day in 2017 saw Pierre Gaudette declare their intentions to retire at the end of the season. Gaudette was added to the Quebec City Meute through the General Manager rule and spent all five seasons with the team, helping them win the Continental Cup in Season 56. Season 56 was also their best season statistically, finishing with 106 points and ninth in the VHL in points, but they finished higher up the points leaderboard the previous season when they picked up 104 points and finished third in the VHL in points.

 

November 13^th

 

This day in 2007 saw Raymond Funk aka Ree_21 join the VHL as a new member (the only “on this day” I was able to pull from pre-2013 due to the forums now being inaccessible and wayback machine not having enough good archives to track their old posts). While Ree_21 was a General Manager for two different VHL franchises (the Toronto Legion and the Riga Reign), they are best remembered for the work they put into the old VHL Magazine (for newer members this served similar content to what the VSN currently produces but was compiled together and published in a PDF format).

 

This day in 2013 saw two trades that saw teams receive players that would help them win Continental Cups. First, there was the trade of Brennan McQueen to the Riga Reign from the Seattle Bears. McQueen was the seventh overall pick in the Season 35 Draft and was in fact traded to Riga for the fifth overall pick in the same draft Edwin Encarnacion. While both were incredibly physical players (Encarnacion and McQueen retired with the 3^rd and 4^th most all-time hits respectively, now they sit 13^th and 14^th), McQueen was able to provide offensive production that Encarnacion couldn’t and helped Riga win the Season 40 Continental Cup whilst also winning the Playoff MVP award that season. The other trade saw Sergey Brovalenko traded to the Davos Dynamo from the Seattle Bears. Brovalenko put up two 100 point seasons on the Dynamo in Season 36 and Season 37, the former of which was the same season that the Dynamo won their eighth Continental Cup in the franchise’s history.

 

This day in 2013 also saw the creation of Season 37 first overall pick Slaeter Fjorsstrom. Fjorsstrom started off as a very strong defenseman prospect, playing five seasons with the Riga Reign team that drafted them with their peak seasons being Season 40, where they were fourth in points for a defenseman and helped the Reign win a Continental Cup, and Season 41 where they finished second in defenseman points. However, with Fjorsstrom going inactive, they couldn’t maintain this level of performance after depreciation and thus became a depth defenseman for the remainder of their career.

 

This day in 2018 saw Will step down as VHL Commissioner and Quik moving up to VHL Commissioner. Will had been hired as a VHL Commissioner in January 2015 and served in the role for over 20 VHL seasons and was a big reason why the VHL is in the position it is in today thanks to their implementation of the VHL Portal which revolutionized and reinvigorated the site as a whole. Quik would go on to serve as VHL Commissioner until September 2021 (with a 5 month absence from November 2019 to March 2020), a reign which saw the league continue to grow up to the 16 VHL teams it has today.

 

This day in 2021 saw the creation of current Warsaw Predators winger Girts Galvins. Galvins was selected with the 17^th overall pick in the Season 82 Draft and has served as a solid winger for the Predators, however it was in the Season 84 Playoffs where Galvins flashed their true potential. Galvins scored 11 goals and had 14 assists through the 20 playoff games that finished with the Predators lifting the Season 84 Continental Cup.

 

November 14th

 

This day in 2013 saw the VHL introduce a TPE incentive awarding members for the progression of recruited members. This seems to have been the initial iteration of the TPE incentives that members currently receive for the progression of new members, with members getting up to 17 TPE for a member they recruited hitting 500 TPE with a player.

 

This day in 2015 saw Thaddues Humbert traded to the New York Americans from the Cologne Express. Humbert only recorded over a point per game once in their three full seasons with the New York Americans, but they were a member of the Season 47 New York Americans roster that won the Continental Cup. This trade was partially made so that Cologne could bring in Joel Jarvi as the team’s GM rule player as Humbert was the GM rule player at the time and rules forbade having two GM rule players at once.

 

This day in 2015 also saw the creation of Felipe Rodriguez. Rodriguez was selected third overall in the Season 47 Draft, making them the earliest drafted first-gen player of the S40’s, and spent three seasons with the Quebec City Meute team that drafted them before moving to the Seattle Bears for three seasons and ending their career with one more season on the Meute. Rodriguez’s best season was by some distance Season 53 (their first season at center having moved from defenseman in the offseason) where they recorded 115 points, which was the seventh best points tally in the VHL that season. While Rodriguez was part of three Victory Cup winning teams, they were unfortunately never able to win a Continental Cup.

 

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It was at this point that I started running out of time to submit for the day I wanted to, so I’ll just add the links and brief descriptions for the remaining days.

 

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November 15^th

 

This day in 2018 saw the creation of the fifth overall pick from the Season 65 Draft, Roll Fizzlebeef (was moved from Season 64 Draft to Season 65 upon request). Fizzlebeef’s portal page.

 

This day in 2019 saw the creation of the fifth overall pick from the Season 70 Draft, Chad Magnum.

Magnum’s portal page.

 

This day in 2020 saw the creation of the eighth overall pick from the Season 76 Draft, Hex Rose.

Rose’s portal page

 

November 16^th

 

This day in 2018 saw the creation of the 18^th overall pick from the Season 64 Draft, Matthew Materazo. Materazo’s portal page.

 

This day in 2021 saw the VHLM lottery removed following the move of the Rush and Storm to the VHLE

 

November 17^th

 

This day in 2016 saw the Saskatoon Wild win the Season 51 Founders Cup, beating the Moscow Red Wolves 4-1 in the final series.

 

This day in 2019 saw the creation of the ninth overall selection in the Season 70 Draft, Jaxx Hextall. Hextall would end their career having earned the most TPE out of everyone in the Season 70 Draft class.

 

This day in 2020 saw the creation of three players who made the VHL in Tater Tot, Brian Moreau and Joseph Sharkton.

 

This day in 2021 saw the Yukon Rush officially relocate to Geneva along with the introduction of VHLE Conferences.

 

November 18^th

 

This day in 2015 saw the league attempt to incentivise recruitment by introducing a lottery for members who recruited new members.

 

This day in 2021 saw Justin Lose sign with the Seattle Bears in Season 81 Free Agency.

 

 

It was at this point where I went without internet for the last few days so wasn’t able to carry on properly without the links, but I’ll see if I can add in November 19^th-27^th prior to us reaching that date, even if it is just relevant links.

Edited November 1, 2022 by MubbleFubbles

[Beketov 9,101]

Holy history Batman.

[BOOM 8,817]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! 

[Enorama 2,039]

3 hours ago, MubbleFubbles said:

This day in 2019 saw Beaviss brought in as the new VHL commissioner, covering for Quik who had gone absent without leave. Prior to his hiring, Beaviss had been a former VHLM Commissioner and was a long-time member of the recruitment team, playing a big part in the VHL’s improved approach to advertising the league.

 

This day in 2019 also saw the SBA end their affiliation with the VHL after discussions prompted by comments made in a VHLM game thread. This meant that the SBA no longer accepted affiliate PT or affiliate 12 claims from the VHL, although the VHL still elected to accept such claims from the SBA (they did change their stance on accepting affiliate 12 claims in April however, no longer allowing SBA staff to make those claims in the VHL). This would last until late July of the following year when the affiliation was restored.

 

COINCIDENCE???

[Triller 1,688]

This is awesome!  Really highlights how deep this league runs.  Thank you for the enormous amount of leg work!

[Victor 11,021]

3 hours ago, MubbleFubbles said:

This day in 2014 also saw the Davos Dynamo trade off a couple of star players just before the trade deadline in Lennox Moher and Jarkko Olsen. Moher was traded to the Quebec City Meute and in the same season became the second goalie in VHL history to win the Aidan Shaw trophy for best goalie playing for two teams in the same season. Olsen was traded to the Riga Reign for their final VHL season and won the third Continental Cup of their career.

JARKKOOOOO @Molholt

 

3 hours ago, MubbleFubbles said:

This day in 2014 saw the league’s members offered a quadruple week in celebration of the league making it to its 40^th season, meaning anyone who submitted a PT in the week were eligible for 18 uncapped TPE on top of their regular 6 capped TPE.

Ah the good ol days where I could announce something and then spend the rest of the week making amendments, clarifications, and risque jokes. A simpler time.

[MubbleFubbles 1,292]

Week 2/4

[oilmandan 688]

On 11/1/2022 at 12:23 PM, MubbleFubbles said:

This day in 2019 also saw Dan Wilinsky join the Seattle Bears in Season 69 Free Agency. Wilinsky would only spend one season in Seattle, but it was their best goal scoring season of their career, finishing with 39 goals which was the fourth best goal tally in the league. In addition, he was the Bears best point scorer, finishing tenth in the league in that category. Wilinsky capped off their one season stint with the Bears by helping them win the Season 69 Continental Cup, the only Continental Cup of Wilinsky’s career.

Good good times 

[MubbleFubbles 1,292]

Week 3/4

 

[MubbleFubbles 1,292]

Week 4/4