The greatest era of championship parity in VHL history

[scoop 3,255]

The Parity Era

In terms of parity in Continental Cup winners, the VHL has never seen a time quite like that of the latter half of the 20's into the early half of the 30's. At the beginning of this stretch, there were eight teams in the league, and from Season 26 to Season 33, every single team won exactly one championship. Other than shifting that period over from Season 28 to Season 35, we have never seen a stretch of more than six unique winners at any point in time. I will primarily be breaking down that first instance, but I will also take a look slightly beyond that, because the parity wasn't entirely confined to that stretch of time.

Breaking the Curse
It seems fitting that the era would begin with the Vasteras Iron Eagles ending a then-record 24-season cup drought. Throughout that streak of futility, Vasteras had only made it to the finals twice, and apparently the third time was the charm. They really needed it to be, because the franchise would not be seen in the finals again until Season 47, though they never did win another cup before being subject to league contraction. It is somewhat comical that after Vasteras ended their drought, within seven more seasons, the once again had the longest active cup drought, a distinction which they would carry until becoming defunct.

One Shot, One Opportunity
From Season 26 to Season 33, there were four teams who made just one finals appearance, and none of them let that opportunity slip away from them. In addition to the Vasteras squad that got things started, we had Helsinki in Season 27, Toronto in Season 29, and Calgary in Season 30. Interestingly, those three teams had recently won championships in succession from Season 21 to Season 23, albeit with entirely different rosters. The Season 29 Toronto in particular was quite the flash in the pan, as this was their only playoff appearance during the S26-S33 stretch.

Punching Bag
While parity was at an all-time high in terms of winning the Cup, one team in particular dominated this era in getting to the finals. The New York Americans made it to the finals in six of the eight seasons. Another way to put that would be to say that over the course of eight seasons, the New York Americans lost in the finals to five different teams. They did manage to win once, though. Much like Vasteras, they ended a noteworthy Cup drought; unlike Vasteras, they followed it up by being arguably the most accomplished franchise over the next 20 seasons. We don't need to discuss what followed that.

 

The Other Top Dogs
The Americans undoubtedly defined this era, but there were a few other teams that did show a semblance of consistency during the time. Their top rival was without a doubt the Seattle Bears, who appeared in six straight playoffs from S26 to S31. The two teams faced off five times, with New York winning three times, but it was Seattle who came out victorious when they played for the Continental Cup in Season 28 (during the playoff crossover era). Calgary and Davos were also frequent playoff participants, with Davos making it to the finals two times, winning in their second attempt in Season 31.

 

Improbable End
The conclusion to it all is remarkable. The Season 32 finals saw New York beat Riga after trailing 1-3 in the series. Heading into Season 33, the Reign were the final team we needed to see win to make it eight champions in eight seasons (well, technically the Meute and Express were now in the league, but they weren't there at the start of all of this, so let's just ignore that bit for now). In the playoffs, Riga amazingly overcame not one, but two 1-3 series deficits just to reach the finals against the Americans. This would be the only time during this stretch that there was a repeat match-up in the finals. Riga found themselves down 1-2 in the series before winning three straight to become the champions.

 

Expanding the Parity Era
As previously noted, the parity did not stop at just those eight seasons, and by the time it was at its end, there were now ten teams, so it was not the case that every team in the league took a turn at winning the championship in succession. Still, it was quite astounding all things considered. From seasons 28 through 35, we had our only other stretch of eight unique champions. It was Helsinki who ended the run in S34, but since their win was near the start, most of the aforementioned victories were still unique. Following that, we saw the first championship from an expansion team as the Quebec City Meute came out on top. Stretching things a bit wider, if we look at the 13 seasons from S25 to S37, no franchise won multiple cups within a five-season window.

Edited April 30, 2023 by scoop