VSN Presents: VHLM Power Rankings S70's part 4

[ROOKIE745 571]

Greeting readers and welcome to the final part of VHLM S70'S power rankings, we're down to the final three, each team here has a cup win as you might expect but each franchise also achieved 400 wins during the regular season, impressive considering the beast that the VHLM is. Each of these teams had at least six 40 win seasons, without any further delay, let's wrap up this series!

 

Philadelphia Reapers

Record: 400-274-46

Rank: 3rd with 976 points

                                                     Goals for: x2                    Conference finals: x1

                                                     Goals against: x4               Cup finals: x0

                                                    Goal differential: x3      Founders Cup: x1

                                                    Top Team: x0                    Points: 846+130

Our third place team claiming bronze is the Philadelphia Reapers, a team that just barely hit the 400 win mark in the regular season. They began the decade on a winning note, going 49-20-3 and placing top three in goals against but their efforts in the playoffs proved fruitless. Next season the team took a small step up, going 50-17-5 and finishing top three in goals against and goal differential but again couldn't get anywhere in the postseason. Well third times the charm right? They'd post their best record of the decade going 53-14-5, this time finishing top three in goals for and differential, in the postseason they managed to get out of the first round, beating the Hounds in five before falling to the Wild in seven. After three great years of regular season success the team understandably needed to head into a rebuild. A record of 26-45-1 and 28-37-7 in seasons 73 and 74 respectively, as far as rebuilding seasons go they stayed respectable.

 

Those two years of rebuilding would prove successful as the team in S75 went on to get a record 51-17-4, place top three in all goal categories and go all the way in the playoffs, sweeping the Rush, beating the Marlins in five and getting the win over the Kings in seven. For the Reapers this was their "magical" season as even with other good regular seasons they never found the same success in the playoffs. Season 76 saw the team drop to a record of 31-35-6 and that would be followed up with an even rougher performance in S77, the worst for the franchise during the S70's, 19-45-8. S78 they bounced back to a record of 44-24-4 and were top three in goals against, in the finale of the decade the team almost got back to 50 wins, going 49-20-3 yet despite the better record they were not the best in any goal category. The Reapers and the next team ahead of them are both interesting as they each only got out of the first round twice, neither finished top overall in the regular season, and each had exactly 130 bonus points, It's just bizarre to me.

 

 

Saskatoon Wild

Record: 405-269-46

Rank: 2nd with 986 points

                                                     Goals for: x4                    Conference finals: x1

                                                     Goals against: x2               Cup finals: x0

                                                    Goal differential: x3      Founders Cup: x1

                                                    Top Team: x0                    Points: 856+130

Claiming second is the Saskatoon Wild, a team that has a lot in common with the Reapers, there's the three similarities I mentioned before but they each had 46 overtime or shootout losses and were top three in goal differential three times. The main differences here are that the Wild seemed to be a more offensively focused team being one of the top goals for teams four times where the Reapers did the same for the defensive aspect. That more offensive style captured them five more regular season wins to give them ten extra points and just eek out ahead of the Reapers. In contrast to the Reapers, the team started off the decade in a rebuild, 13-54-5 would be the bottom of the barrel for the team. In S71 they improved by 20 wins to go 33-32-7, they'd top that the next season jumping up by 21 wins to go 54-12-6, they placed top three in all goal categories and went all the way in the playoffs, beating Lynx in five, barely beating the Reapers in seven and topping the Kings in six. This was the high point for the franchise during the decade as they would have a hard time finding playoff success, much like the Reapers.

 

S73 the team took a decent fall back going 42-24-6 but they still finished as one of the best goals scored teams. S74 the team gained a record of 45-23-4 and they liked it so much they repeated it the following season. After four seasons of 42 or more wins the team had to fall back and in S76 that happened, 29-39-4 was their record. They would bounce back to achieve 50 wins for a second time in the decade, 50-19-3 and top three in all goal categories, no postseason progress though. S78 they fell back a little going 43-25-4 before in the final season getting back over 50 wins for a third time, 51-18-3, they finished top three in goals for and differential and finally, after seven seasons managed to get out of the first round by beating 21st in five..... before the Marauders beat them in six. The Reapers and the Wild share much of the same story in so many regards, I won't repeat it here but I had to check the stats multiple times for each time because they really were walking down the same road. And I have to mention it, if the S69 season was in S70 instead, that'd be a lot of extra points for the franchise.

 

 

 

Minnesota Storm

Record: 423-260-37

Rank: 1st with 1,193 points

                                                     Goals for: x5                    Conference finals: x2

                                                     Goals against: x4               Cup finals: x1

                                                    Goal differential: x6      Founders Cup: x2

                                                    Top Team: x2                    Points: 883+310

And our team claiming gold is none other than the Minnesota Storm, a team no longer in Minnesota which breaks my heart. I had the privilege of playing for the team twice, both in pretty good seasons. The Storm managed to rack up 423 regular season wins despite having three seasons under 20 wins, so when they were good, they were good. Unlike the Reapers and Wild though the Storm managed to find postseason success more regularly. The Storm started off the decade with their best regular season record that rewrote many franchise records, 61-8-3 is the third best record of the S70's, I think it goes without saying that they were the best of that season, the team was top three in all goal categories, and went on to win it all, they swept the Aces and Bulls in the first two rounds and in the finals beat the Lynx in six. I would like to note both losses came in overtime, so the Storm had no losses in regulation, that was a great team and a great season for my first player, Jaxx Hextall. The following season the team stayed above 50 wins, going 53-17-2 and placing top three in goal differential. You would think after two seasons above 50 wins the team would need to enter a rebuild but no, they'd improve.

 

A second 60 win season, the only team to do so in the S70'S, 60-10-2 for the fifth best record of the decade, top team, top three in all goal categories but the playoffs would not be a repeat of two seasons prior. They beat the Marauders in seven before falling to the Kings in six. For a fourth season in a row the Storm stayed above 50 wins, they fell by eight from the previous season to go 52-18-2 but still finished top three in all goal categories, more importantly though they learned from last season, they beat Aces in six and the Bulls in five, the same two opponents as in S70, but in the finals it would be the Marauders, Storm won in five for their second cup in four seasons. Finally after four great seasons the Storm would need to enter a rebuild for two seasons, S74 they had a record of 15-52-5 and in S75 19-51-2. After these two years the Storm jumped back up for their fifth 50 win season, 50-14-8, top three in goals for and differential and in the playoffs they swept the Lynx before the Kings again denied them, sweeping the sweepers. In the next season they went 41-27-4 with no postseason luck, S78 would be an important one, not just for the team but for me, my second player Jonathan Ori who just recently retired would be drafted by the Storm.

 

The team would go on to have their third best season of the decade and their sixth 50 win season, 53-14-5. Top three in all goal categories and a trip to the finals, much like S70 they would sweep the first two rounds over the Wild and Bulls but it would not be the story book ending players were hoping for, the Rush would beat them in six. I can’t help but note that each time the Storm went to the finals they beat the Bulls in round two. For the final season of the decade it would be a rough one to go out on, 19-49-4. The Storm are 207 points ahead of second place just to put in perspective of how much better they are, for as good as the Marauders were in the S70's they were still 121 wins behind them, so those two seasons would have had to be fantastic to catch up to the Storm. I can't finish this without a shout out to @Rayzor_7 and @Mr_Hatter who were the GM and AGM of the Storm for virtually all of the S70's, they clearly understood how to get the most out of a team and stayed hyper competitive for seven seasons. Congrats to both of you and thanks for some of my best memories I've had during my time in the VHL.

 

 

I want to say thank you to everyone who read this series and to Alex for checking over my work, this will be my final post for some time in the VHL as Jonathan Ori is retired and I will be taking a step away from the VHL for a few seasons, I look forward to returning one day and maybe, just maybe doing this sort of power rankings for the S80's, ciao for now.

 

(word count 1732, no reason for me to do this but it's outta habit)

Edited January 18, 2023 by ROOKIE745