The Ultimate Rivalry

[Phil 5,129]

I have not published an article in many years. As a player agent, I invest my time in scouting my next potential client, or focusing on developing my current one. Hi! I’m Phil Knight. I’m an inducted Hall of Fame Builder and have brought multiple Hall of Fame players into the league. I fish talent exclusively out of England. I am taking time away from all of that this week to write this article on the biggest rivalry this league has an ever will see.

 

What makes this the undisputed greatest rivalry in VHL history was the simple fact that it it wasn’t one fuelled by hate. It was just two of the greatest players the league has ever seen, somehow outdoing each other week in, week out, season after after. To tell you more, we need to go back to Season 18.

 

The Toronto affiliate, the Brampton Battalion, had even to this day, one of the best VHLM teams of all time including Cedric Pollack, Peyton Nydroj, Greinke, Biggie Shakur and David Walcott. But most pivotal to the team, was the goaltender Aidan Shaw. 
 

Shaw had an incredible season, leading them to the founders Cup, but not before putting up this ridiculous regular season stat line:  

65-5-0 / 0.923 SV / 2.77 GAA / 4 SO

For the VHLm, those stats are truly incredible, especially with the level of competition. Season 18 was considered the “Super Draft” which I am pretty sure to this day contained the highest number of future Hall of Famers.  Now what’s interesting here is that despite drafting him at 2nd overall,  Toronto had deemed Shaw not good enough to play in the majors, which he clearly refuted through his play AND for the first and only time in VHL history, 2 goalies were drafted at 1 and 2 overall. Who was the goalie that got drafted higher than the one whose name is the Top Goalie Trophy? None other than Daisuke Kanou.

 

Unlike Toronto, Davos immediately slotted Kanou into the starting spot. They had a weak, shallow team but Kanou still managed to have a winning percentage. In his second season, he really increased his statistics and helped Davos into the playoffs with a stat line of:

 46-11-7 / 0.916 SV / 2.34 GAA / 1 SO

Meanwhile, Shaw was having his Rookie season, and a very decent one on a seriously young and promising Toronto team. He put up fantastic regular season numbers but ultimately Toronto got demolished by the strongly offensive Calgary Wranglers

29-29-6 / 0.911 SV / 2.87 GAA / 5 SO

Season 20 is where the rivalry really started to become solidified. Despite Season 20 being widely considered a super offensive scoring fest, these two were such standouts in the goaltending department. 
Kanou put great numbers:

50-10-3 / 0.922 SV / 2.12 GAA / 10 SO
Playoffs:
14 GP / 8-6-0 / 0.937 SV / 1.91 GAA / 2 SO

Davos finished 2 points ahead of Shaw and the Legion. They met each other in the finals and had a gruelling 7-game series. Kanou won the Playoff MVP with 7 votes - the other vote going to Shaw. 
 

Shaw was the best goalie in the regular season and had a great playoff run, it just wasn’t enough to beat Kanou in the finals:

 

50-13-3 / 0.929 SV / 1.98 GAA / 7 SO
Playoffs:
11 GP / 7-3-1 / 0.930 SV / 1.87 GAA / 0 SO

 

 

I could write for years on the back and forth that these two went, season after season, but I think the stats speak for themselves. Here are the stat lines from their careers:

 

 

Shaw:

Regular Season:
452 GP / 315-110-24 / 0.923 SV / 2.06 GAA / 52 SO
Playoffs:
61 GP / 29-29-3 / 0.918 SV / 2.23 GAA / 5 SO

 

Kanou:

583 GP / 388-144-46 / 0.920 SV / 2.26 GAA / 48 SO

Playoffs:

 

70GP

38W

26L

6OTL

0.928

2.17

 

Watching this back and forth every season for 7 seasons was truly something special and exactly what made me fall in love with the league. Having my first client, Phil Gerrard in Seattle was infuriating because we could never win while those two were in the league, a fact proven when Phil in his last season, the first season after Shaw and Kanou’s retirement, went to Vasteras and won the Continental Cup - their first and only other one since Season 2. Regardless this rivalry was such a positive thing for the league and something I doubt we will ever get the privilege to experience again

Edited February 20, 2023 by Phil