Decades: A look at the VHL's "Team of the Decade" from start to finish.

[dstevensonjr 446]

Hello, and thank you for checking out my look back in the past at the best team of the decades for the VHL! Without much extra context, I'll be primarily basing this on regular season record and playoff success. Here we go!

 

Seasons 1-9

 

Leading off with the first decade, I had to adjust the criteria a little bit due to limited records from the beginning. Based off of the Continental Cup winners in the first decade, the Team of the Decade for the naughts are the Calgary Wranglers, who led the way in the VHL with 3 Continental Cup Championships. This included winning back to back titles in the 2nd and 3rd season of the league.

 

Seasons 10-19

 

The tens decade was one of parity, seeing six different teams win Championships in the 10 years. Riga Reign, HC Davos Dynamo, Seattle Bears, and the Calgary Wranglers all saw two titles in that span, making it difficult to crown a true best TOTD without any other context available. In my opinion, the honour goes to the Calgary Wranglers again, as they were the only team that was able to win back to back titles. It was the second such time that Calgary has gone back to back in their team history.

 

Seasons 20-29

 

Now we get to the good stuff, as the twenties comes with a full complement of records to go with the winners. The twenties saw six different teams win the Cup again, but this decade arrived at that number in a much different way than the tens did. Of the six winners, only two of them had multiple occasions where they lifted the trophy at the end of the season. Those honours go to the Toronto Legion, who won twice in seasons 21 and 29, as well as HC Davos Dynamo, who led the way in the decade with three titles in the 20, 24, and 25 seasons. This was also a decade of favourites walking away as victors, as six seasons ended with the best regular season team hoisting the Continental Cup. Seasons 25-28 also saw the New York Americans make it to the final four times, unfortunately heading home empty handed all four seasons. The title of Team of the Decade for the twenties goes to HC Davos Dynamo, as they led the Championships race with three, while also appearing in two additional finals, and winning the regular season title three times.

 

Seasons 30-39

 

The thirties saw the last Team of the Decade, HC Davos, get off to a strong start winning a regular season title and a league Championship in the first two seasons. It was a strong decade for overall league success, seeing seven different teams win Continental Cups and regular season titles over the course of ten years. This is one of only two decades that did not see a back to back winner of the Cup. The only multiple winners of the Cup were the New York Americans and HC Davos Dynamo, with the Amerks winning twice and the Dynamo winning three times. Similarly, the decade saw only three teams win multiple regular season titles, with Helsinki, HC Davos, and New York all winning the regular season title twice. Seasons 30-36 also saw an amazing run of 6 finals go the distance with a 7 game series, the only such run in VHL history. The Team of the Decade for the thirties is a repeat winner, with HC Davos Dynamo winning another three league titles, appearing in five total finals, and adding another two regular season titles.

 

Seasons 40-49

 

The forties saw only 5 different teams win a regular season title, but managed to maintain the standard set by the thirties with 7 different Continental Cup winners. Two separate teams (New York Americans and Quebec City Meute) won the regular season title three times, while Helsinki won it twice to complete the multiple winners. The decade opened with 6 different winners of the Cup, before Helsinki went back to back in seasons 45 and 46. They would not be the only team to double dip, as the Toronto Legion won back to back titles in seasons 48 and 49. The Cologne Express managed to appear in three straight Cup finals from season 42-44 (winning in 42) despite not winning a regular season title in the decade. The Calgary Wranglers followed that up themselves by appearing in three straight in seasons 44-46 (winning in 44), also without a regular season title. Ultimately, this decade belonged to the New York Americans, who won two Continental Cups (both in years where they won the regular season title), and appeared in a third.

 

Seasons 50-59

 

The fifties ended up being the repeat decade, with four different teams repeating as Continental Cup champs. The Toronto Legion won the title in 49 and 50, the New York Americans won in 52 and 53, the Helsinki Titans won in 54 and 55, and the Riga Reign won in 57 and 58. This decade also featured the two best regular season records of all time in the VHL, with the Calgary Wranglers setting a league record at 64-4-4 in season 51, only to have that record toppled three seasons later by the 66-4-2 Stockholm Vikings. The repeat nature of the Cups also limited the amount of different winners, as the fifties saw 5 different teams win the regular season title and 6 different teams win the Continental Cup. The Team of the Decade title goes to the Riga Reign, who won three regular season titles in a row from 56-58, as well as three Continental Cup titles (51, 57, 58) and another appearance (52).

 

Seasons 60-69

 

Grooving into the sixties, the VHL saw a large amount of diversity when it came to titles. The regular season title was won by 8 different teams in the 10 seasons, with the Continental Cup experiencing a similar amount of changeover with 7 teams winning it all. Even with the multiple teams winning titles, there were still some repeats thrown in. The Calgary Wranglers (61, 62) and the Seattle Bears (64, 65) both had repeat regular season titles, while the Toronto Legion (64, 65) and the Seattle Bears (68, 69) both has repeat Continental Cup victories. In a decade with as much variety for teams appearing in the finals, you'd think that it would be difficult to narrow down a team that stood out of the crowd, but that isn't the case. The run from seasons 64 to 67 saw the Helsinki Titans appear in 4 straight finals, winning it all over Vancouver in a sweep in 66 (Vancouver got their revenge the following year, winning in 6 games over the Titans). Helsinki also won a Continental Cup in 60, in addition to their regular season title in 66.

 

Seasons 70-79

 

The seventies were truly the decade of the underdog. This decade saw a record 8 teams win the Continental Cup after not winning the regular season title. More remarkably than that, the decade saw 6 teams win the regular season title not even make it into the final series. The Decade of Parity also became the first decade to not have a team win 60 games in a regular season, with the most wins (53) in a season coming from Moscow in 76 and Malmo in 79. This was the only decade to not feature a 7 game final, with all 10 series ending in 5 or 6 games. No team in the entire decade managed to win back to back regular season titles or Continental Cups, another testament to how difficult it was becoming to win in the VHL. If there was one thing that the seventies took from the sixties, it was Finals appearance domination by one team. The Team of the Decade nod goes to the Seattle Bears, who still appeared in five Continental Cup finals, winning three of them (71, 73, 77) before falling in 78 and 79. They also managed to win three titles without the aid of a single regular season title. 

 

Seasons 80-87

 

If the seventies were the decade of parity, the eighties have been the decade of dominance so far. In the eight seasons so far, two teams have combined for nine finals appearances. Those two teams being the Vancouver Wolves and the Moscow Menace. While Moscow has appeared in the most finals so far with 5 (80, 81, 82, 83, 85), they are unfortunately 0-5 in those finals. Conversely, Vancouver has appeared in 4 Finals (80, 81, 82, 86), going 4-0 in those appearances. Through 8 seasons so far in the eighties, we've seen 4 different teams win the regular season title, and 5 different teams win the Continental Cup. With all due respect to the other franchises, this decade has been owned and dominated by the Vancouver Wolves. With the most regular season titles and the most Continental Cup championships, this was the easiest of the decades to pick the Team of the Decade.

 

Summary and Insights

 

Team of the Decade Winners:

 

1-9 - Calgary Wranglers

10-19 - Calgary Wranglers

20-29 - HC Davos Dynamo

30-39 - HC Davos Dynamo

40-49 - New York Americans

50-59 - Riga Reign

60-69 - Helsinki Titans

70-79 - Seattle Bears

80-87 - Vancouver Wolves

 

This was a fun project to tackle, and a great way to learn more about the league dating all the way back to the start. I came across some interesting trends along the way, listed below:

 

- The team that held the best record in the regular season only won the Continental Cup 26 times in the 68 seasons that the information was available (38.2% of the time). Nobody should ever be afraid of being the underdog in a series, good things can happen just by getting into the playoffs.

 

- The closest that we've come to a true dynasty in a multi-season run is with the Vancouver Wolves in seasons 80-82, winning both the regular season points title and the Continental Cup in the same season all three times (they defeated the Moscow Menace in all three of those finals).

 

- The Continental Cup final series is almost always a good, deep series. Of the 68 finals played, 46 of them have gone at least six games (67.6%), with the majority of those series going the full 7 (52%).

 

- Toronto Legion leads the VHL with 9 regular season titles (Calgary and Helsinki tied for second with 7 each)

 

- Seattle Bears lead the VHL with 12 Continental Cups (Helsinki second with 11, Calgary third with 10)

 

- Helsinki Titans lead the VHL with 21 Continental Cup appearances (Calgary and Seattle tied for second with 17 each)

Edited April 24, 2023 by dstevensonjr

[dstevensonjr 446]

The word count for this not including the titles for each section and the intro is 1600+.

[Victor 11,022]

1 hour ago, dstevensonjr said:

30-39 - HC Davos Dynamo

@Doomsday @Da Trifecta we made it

[Zetterberg 863]

2 hours ago, dstevensonjr said:

With all due respect to the other franchises, this decause has been owned and dominated by the Vancouver Wolves.

META WOLVES FTW