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Cologne Express

Victor

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Victor

Victor 10,940

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Cologne Express


The young franchise in the German city is more than beautiful scenery and historic landmarks. The city hosts one of the newest additions into the Victory Hockey Leagues professional team ranks in the Cologne Express. Although the franchise is quite young, the history they have is built through longevity and loyalty of the players and employees that have worked for them. Although the franchise is nearing it's 10th anniversary in the league, they have endured many ups and many downs. A franchise still looking for their first Hall of Fame player and their first Continental Cup has a long list of quality performances to their name despite that. The great names that have rolled through these tracks are given their rightful spotlight below.



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When creating an all-time roster for the Cologne Express there is one name that everybody immediately thinks off. When you stand on the ice in their arena and you look up there is one name hanging in the rafters. Who else besides Kameron Taylor could be titled as a true franchise player for the Cologne Express. Kameron Taylor was an up- and coming prospect that went to the VHL at the same time as the franchise was founded, due to his relations with the general manager of the Express they decided to name him their first ever franchise player when he was selected with their first round selection. After a decent rookie season where he managed to score a respectable 62 points he exploded in the years after.  In his second year with the franchise he became the first Cologne player in history the surpass the 100 point mark as he ended the season with 102 points together with his partner in crime: Reggie Dunlop. While scoring above a point per game in the seasons that followed, it wasn’t until season 35 when Kameron Taylor eclipsed the 100 point mark again.  The best season of his career followed in the season afterwards when he scored 60 goals for the first time in his career and added 63 assists as well, which was another career high. The grand total of 123 points is currently still a franchise record for the Cologne Express. The partnership between Kameron Taylor and the Express came to an end in Season 37 when the Express decided to go into a rebuild. Taylor was traded at the deadline to the Riga Reign where he finished out the final 1,5 seasons of his career. With 638 points in only 483 games, Taylor currently definitely is the big name in the history of this franchise.


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One of the more underrated players in league history, Reggie Dunlop has not just been all but forgotten by VHL-fans in general, but even by the followers of the team he spent almost his whole career with. When asking Cologne’s fans about the team’s greats, about the biggest superstars in franchise history, you’ll hear the names of Kameron Taylor, Malcom Spud or Evgeni Chekhov, but rarely does the name Reggie Dunlop ever come up. Is it because his stint in Cologne is already a few years in the past or because he was often in Kameron Taylor’s shadow during his time in Cologne? I don’t know, but today I want to tell you a bit more about the second best forward in the history of the Cologne Express!


Often times the word “underrated” gets thrown around too lightly, but for Reggie Dunlop it is definitely a fitting term and pretty much the motto of his career. Said career started in Season 30, when the young winger slipped all the way to the 4th round in the VHLM Dispersal Draft, where he was picked up by the Kolari Panthers. A year and an unimpressive first junior season later, the VHL Entry Draft rolled around and once again Reggie Dunlop flew under the radar. Still, the Cologne Express chose him with the second draft pick ever in franchise history (15th Overall) and from then one, Reggie’s career started to take off. His second junior season saw the prospect being traded to the VHLM’s Bern Royals where he promptly made a jump from 12 to 111 points. It was on the Royals that Dunlop also met a lot of the people he would later play with in Cologne: Sergey Brovalenko, Malcolm Spud, Zach Cuff, Evgeni Chekhov and Marcus Figgarowta-Nahimal all would later end up on the Express along with Reggie!


Reggie finally made his VHL-debut in Season 32 and what a debut it was! In his first season in the big leagues the winger put up an impressive 80 points and the dynamic duo of Kameron Taylor and Reggie Dunlop was born. While some would argue that Reggie benefited heavily from playing with the superstar center, most Cologne fans that were around at that time will tell you that it was nothing like that but that it was the insane chemistry those two players had that allowed both Taylor and Dunlop to shine. And while some players like Davey Jones or David Collier had great seasons playing with Taylor as well, nobody came even to close to the consistency with which Reggie Dunlop racked up the points when playing with Taylor. After 75 points in his sophomore season Reggie improved again in the next two seasons, putting up 90 and then 98 points until in Season 36, his time in Cologne came to an end. When the Express were about to enter a rebuild, they decided to trade the now veteran forward to the Toronto Legion for a package of draft picks.


Dunlop would spend one and a half successful seasons in Toronto, finishing Season 36 with 92 points before winning his first and only challenge cup the year after. He was then traded to the Helsinki Titans where, after one last great season that saw him score 97 points, his great career finally came to an end. A player that was never much in the focus of the media and often didn’t get the attention and praise he deserved, Reggie Dunlop finished his career having put up 181 goals, 222 assists and 403 points for the Express, all good for second in team history behind Kameron Taylor.


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When you create an all-team roster for the Cologne Express, one name that might not immediately come to mind is David Collier. He was first drafted by the Vasteras Iron Eagles in the Season 33 VHL Entry Draft. During Season 33 however, he was traded from the Iron Eagles to Cologne for a conditional pick that later turned out to be a 2nd rounder. His rookie season in Season 34 didn't go quite a smoothly as many thought as he produced just 11 goals and 25 assists for 36 points. It was a decent season in Cologne as they made the playoffs by a large margin over the lowly Vasteras Iron Eagles 75 points to 39 points. The Express went up against the Riga Reign in the playoffs who would easily sweep them. Collier didn't score a single point in 4 games and was a -2. Season 35 didn't go much better for Collier as he produced even less than his Season 34 output. He scored 10 goals and assisted on 25 for 35 points. The Express as a team improved though as they finished 2nd in the European Conference with 91 points, 9 ahead of the HC Davos Dynamo. They would face the Dynamo as you expect in the playoffs. The Express would win the series in 5 games and move on to face the Helsinki Titans who finished 19 points ahead of them in the standings. The Express and Titans would battle very hard in a 6 game series in which the Titans would prevail. In the 11 games David Collier would actually produce 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points, as he was still not living up to the 1st round draft pick hype.


In Season 36 that would all change because he would nearly double any previous output by scoring 29 goals and assisting on 32 for 61 points. In this season however, the Express would drop in the standings to 3rd with 81 points. This meant a quarterfinal date with the Helsinki Titans who finished 11 points ahead of them in the standings. The Express didn't stand a chance oddly enough as they were swept for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. They lost the last game in heartbreaking fashion as they lost in overtime at home. For the 1st time in his career David Collier produced at a point per game clip albeit in only 4 games. He scored 2 goals and assisted on 2 for those 4 points. Boy if you thought David Collier broke out last season, Season 37 had more to come as he produced a career high 46 goals and 53 assists for 99 points. The Express on the other hand were going to rebuild as they traded off franchise icon Kameron Taylor at the Season 37 trade deadline. The Express missed the playoffs by 35 points. In Season 38, David Collier produced more yeoman's work as he lead the Express in scoring for the 1st time in his career by scoring 38 goals and assisting on 45 for 85 points. The Express missed the playoffs again for the 2nd straight season. This would be his last season in Cologne as he later was traded back to the Vasteras Iron Eagles to finish his career on a playoff bound team rather than a rebuilding one. In his final 51 games in a Cologne uniform he scored 38 goals and assisted on 44 for 82 points which is incredible considering that was definitely going to be a career high before the trade to Vasteras. There we have it ladies and gentleman, the Cologne Express career of one David Collier, best RW in franchise history.


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The story about Jim Gow starts early in the existence of the Cologne Express franchise, after a decent debut in Season 31 the Cologne Express were hoping to go forward in their success. However after 18 games into the season, they were below .500 and their general manager decided they needed to bring in some extra defensive quality. When the Riga Reign beat Cologne 9 to 3 it was time to pull the trigger. Jim Gow was brought in from the Seattle Bears in exchange for a draft pick that eventually turned out to be Matteo Gallo. Gow was a first line pairing defenseman and the Cologne management felt he was the missing piece to fight for that playoff spot. After the acquisition the team had problems adjusting to having another player on the ice, after getting 8 wins after 18 games and the loss followed by Riga, the Cologne Express faced another 8 games without getting a win before they finally managed to defeat the Americans in a shootout. Gow proofed his value for the team by assisting on the goal that got them into overtime. While the team faced limited success and had a big losing streak late in the season which eliminated them from playoff contention early, Gow felt at home in Cologne and decided to stay on for two more seasons. After scoring almost a point per game for the Express in his first season, he performed slightly worse personally in his second season. However the team was on their way up again, showing that while Gow didn't show up on the score sheet as much, he was very valuable for the team on the ice. There was one more season for Gow in Cologne, and he showed his value by helping them ensure their first playoff spot in franchise history. After this iconic season he has decided to hang up his skates and concentrate on his off-ice career. Gow will forever be remembered as a great teammate and a vital part of the early days of the Cologne Express organization.


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Malcom Spud was one of the most overlooked players of his era. After being drafted 7th overall by the Vasteras Iron Eagles in Season 31, the young rearguard would go on to win two Continental Cups in his first two VHL seasons. The first came with the New York Americans in his rookie year in Season 32. While the second came with the Riga Reign in Season 33. Spud would spend one more season with Riga before being acquired by the Cologne Express for 2 and a half seasons. Cologne would send Spud back to Riga at the deadline of his final season, giving the rearguard one last shot at another Continental Cup. However Cologne was one of the only few teams who valued Spud for his worth. While many overlooked his accomplishments and ability to be a solid two way defender, Cologne saw a player with experience winning in the VHL. 


In Spud Cologne received a excellent two way defender. While he ultimately fell short of helping Cologne achieve a Continental Cup in their first era, Spud put up solid numbers and was a great presence all around the team. Fans came to love his consistency and his ability to make smart plays. Spud also attracted the attention of the more eccentric fans, and during his tenure in Cologne there was a group who frequented the arena known as the "Potato Heads". Through 195 seasons with the Express Spud was able to total 50 goals and 174 assists for 224 points. Well over a point per game as a defender. He also would give up the body tallying 434 hits and 352 shots blocked. Spud was the perfect example of consistency in his tenure with Cologne and he will be fondly remembered by Cologne fans for generations to come. 



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Straight out of Russia, Evgeni Chekhov was the first drafted professional goaltender the citizens of Cologne laid their eyes on wearing an Express sweater. Taken 4th overall in the Season 32 Draft, Chekhov spent his first contract year in the VHLM, mastering his craft before arriving in Cologne that next season in Season 33.


Since taking over the starting netminder reigns for the Express, Chekhov showed the Cologne faithful some of the greatest performances in the franchise’s history. His first ever VHL win came in his first ever start, a 4-1 victory over the Vasteras Iron Eagles. Chekhov’s first ever shutout came just a month later in a 18 save effort, also against the Iron Eagles. That season he ended his rookie year with 28 wins.


After his inaugural season, Chekhov saw his play flourish in Season 34 and having a career year in Season 35. That season, he finished with 36 wins, with a 2.19 goals against average, and .918 save percentage. Only in his final season in S37 will he have a better season in that category, with a .921 save percentage.


Season 35 saw Chekhov take Cologne to the next level in just four years of the franchise’s existence. He went on to lead the Express to the European Conference Finals, after a 4-1 dominating series over HC Dynamo. They fell short to the Helsinki Titans 4-2 in the series, but Chekhov gave the performance the team needed to reach that next step.

Nearing the end of his career, with age catching up to him, and the arrival of the new young goaltender Blaine Olynick in the organization, with a very weak goalie market at the time and no suitors willing to accept his services in a trade, Evgeni Chekhov retired after Season 37.


As the years went on for Chekhov in Cologne, more and more fans at the games would be seen wearing a number 42 Evgeni Chekhov jerseys. In Cologne, he was beloved by many. He became the familiar face in net that the young franchise needed. All of the Express teammates Evgeni had in his career have had nothing negative to say. Upon Chekhov’s retirement, Kameron Taylor was quoted saying, “Evgeni was vocal in the locker room and will have only seen one VHL LR in his career. So this goes out to the unrecognized Chekhov who came from nowhere to help us and give us some stability between the pipes”.

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Victor

Victor 10,940

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Only group who did a video. Great job on the layout and good team effort everyone. :D

Wasn't the video done separately? Not to take away from it but it wasn't done exclusively for the contest I don't think.

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