My Rivalries Throughout the Years Part 1

[Arce 755]

 

I am probably one of the oldest bats within the VHL. It does bring me a little satisfaction that I am not the oldest though. It is unfortunate we do not have the game logs from the old forum, so I will do my best to retain the older ones from memory/whatever VHL artifacts we have of them. In S9 my first player Zach Arce was drafted by the Avangard (land of make believe) Havoc, who rebranded in S10 to the HC Davos Dynamo that we know today. My first season in the VHL was apart of the Dynamo. We had one of the most heated rivalries in league history with the Riga Reign. When I tell you it was ugly, it was UGLY. The rivalries today are much softer, not much trash talk. But back then it was a free for all. We absolutely despised Riga, and they detested us right back. Terence Fong was one of the first people I talked to on the VHL outside my friends I joined with, as a member of the Havoc. We traded Fong's player during our rebuild, and he ended up on you guessed it, the Riga Reign. There were a lot of guys on the team I liked talking to outside of the sims, but once the games were simed, the forum was lit, and the trash talk blew up. The likes of Layken Heidt, Ace Lightning, Brandon Rush, Zak Rawlyk, Blake Beukeboom, and of course Marek Van Urho. Riga went on to win the S10 Continental Cup, so that naturally left a bad taste in our mouths in Davos. The start of the rivalry. 

 

My S11 Davos squad would get revenge in the sweetest of ways in S11. We would of course go on to meet the Reign in the European Conference finals, and we would go on to beat them in game 7. Those game day threads were some of the most fun I have ever had. But after we went on to win that game 7, that thread was going off. No one even cared about what was going on in the North American Conference. There were members of that Riga team who accused Scotty Campbell (Commissioner, Davos GM, and simmer at the time) of rigging the game even though I am pretty sure we had started live streaming the games to some extent by this point. There was just a lot of passion, and they wanted to beat us that bad. It was the most satisfying series win I think I have had since being apart of the league. We would then go on to beat the Seattle Bears 4-2 in the Continental Cup final which was of course not as dramatic. Our team consisted of myself, Tomas Jenskovic, Tuvia Bielski, Da'brickashaw O'Neal, Jack O'Riley, Bob Loblaws, Sebastien Perrin, James Platts, Jonathan Matthias and the legendary Benoit Deveruex. It was my first cup, my first MVP, and I was hooked.

 

Would Riga come for revenge? Of course they would. Despite my MVP season, Davos flopped out in S12. And it would be the Riga Reign who would be the ones in the Continental Cup finals. To the league's shock however, those Seattle Bears came out of the woods and struck down the Reign in 7 games. Do you think they took kindly to that? Nope. Did we go into that game day thread letting them have it? Yes we did. The rivalry we re-sparked for S13. We added the one and only Fayt Leiongod (Scoop/Streetlight) and Matt Bentz for his final season. We went in there and beat out the Reign in 6 games in the European Conference Finals, which brought back that satisfying feeling from S11. Not as good, but close. We would then go into a grueling final against the New York Americans, and we were able to get past them in game 7 for my second Continental Cup. After that, Davos and Riga both went into rebuild mode. The 6 consecutive seasons of seeing Davos or Riga in the Continental Cup finals was over, and that age of the rivalry was over.

 

Word Count: 691

For week ending: 2/26 but claiming Theme Week Doubles for 2/19.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Arce

[animal74 1,855]

Ah, the good old Seattle days, eh @Beketov, @v.2 ?

[Arce 755]

Claim for week ending in 2/26.

[JCarson 744]

Article Review:  Being a newer player it is great to hear of some of the history that has gone on in the league, of rivalries that mattered.  It is true that the game day jostling between players on teams has quieted down in the public forum anyway.  It would be nice to see some of that again, in a friendly and respectful manner but to see loyalty and competitiveness on display.  Maybe season 87 can be a catalyst for that, the European conference being as close as it is.  Who will win? Who will bring their team honor.

 

Great article, 8/10.