The San Diego Marlins Are Founders Cup Champions

[Arce 755]

The long wait is over at last, one of the longest droughts seen in many years. The San Diego Marlins have won the S89 Founders Cup, the first time since S86. This means they had faced a whole 3 season drought. This span had tortured the poor San Diego fanbase. But still, the fans stayed loyal and they did not lose any season ticket holders. The S89 season was special to this Marlins squad, as it had a special group. Marlins Captain Sjin was the only member of both the S86 and S89 championship rosters. “It was great to finally break through and win it all. It was a huge relief.” Captain Sjin said. “We know the fans have been waiting a long time for this, we are only sorry we couldn’t get it done sooner after S86. Sjin concluded.

 

The S89 off-season had many question marks surrounding the Marlins after a good S88 run. Only Sjin and Brad Marchand were returning. The Marlins would have to build through the draft despite not having a 2nd round pick. It is difficult to establish a core when you need to find a goaltender and address every other field. The Marlins went with a familiar face, defenseman Marty Byrd who was a critical waiver pickup in S88. It was expected by many, and San Diego was very pleased to get Marty back. Later in the 1st round the Marlins were also able to get fellow waiver hero Baby Moo Moo back! Moo Moo was the best forward for the Marlins in the S88 playoffs. In the 3rd round, Marlins GM Zach Arce got crafty and unconventional. He drafted goaltender Clark which shocked many. San Diego had spoken to Clark quite a few times prior to the draft and decided he was going to be their backbone in S89. The Marlins next selected in round 4 and chose Tyrece the beast to get some scoring help on the offensive front. Another unconventional move? Sure but Tyrece was on the rise at this point. In round 6, the move that really pushed the Marlins to contender status. The Marlins decided to roll some dice and selected forward Savaisk Tzesar who was on the fence of which league he’d play in. One conversation with Arce, and Tzesar was playing down for the Marlins!

 

The Marlins headed into the season knowing it would be a difficult task with teams like Philadelphia, Houston and Mexico City competing with them. They had FIVE waiver pickups over the course of this incredible run. All of which played a big part of their run. They picked up three defensemen which gave them their 4 defensmen core in Vladimir Kozlov, Factor Lee and Joseph Dubois. They were also joined by forwards Eric White Jr. and Afonya Romanov, both showing very noticeable progress throughout the season.

 

The Philadelphia Reapers established themselves as the #1 seed of the VHLM early on and got a very sizable led to secure that. San Diego battled all season long with Houston for the #2 seed and it came down to the last two games of the season. The result? The Marlins would finish 3rd overall by ONE point. Brad Marchand carried the team with a tied league lead of 99 points and leading 46 goals for the season. Meanwhile the team was able to rely heavily on goaltender Clark, who had a Devereux like season. 
 

In the playoffs, the Marlins would play a talented Halifax 21st team. It was uncertain who would win this series. The Marlins would take it in 5 games, but in a series much close than that number shows. There were 3 games in the series that could have gone either way. The difference? San Diego had Clark and Halifax didn’t. The Marlins then went on to book their ticket to the Founders Cup final after disposing Ottawa in 5 games as well! San Diego had success against Philadelphia in the regular season. But that means nothing, none of anything that happened during the regular season at this point. Philadelphia was not only the defending champs, they were the top seed. The Marlins were ready. They split both games in Philly 1-1. Games 3 and 4 would set the tone for the series. San Diego took both games! Both games could have gone either way. Clark shut the door. San Diego had the most difficult task now. Winning that final game against this Reapers team. They did it! Kozlov opened up the scoring, then Tyrece struck right after! The door would be closed by Baby Moo Moo. A 3-1 final, a champion was to be crowned! Clark with another stellar performance and this deserving Marlins squad was hoisting the cup. The team all worked so hard. Many players asking for Jody’s e approvals constantly, something every VHLM GM wants to see. The best and worst part? Many of these guys will move to the VHLE next season. Great because Arce has done his job to help players take the next step. Bitter because these players will be so missed. What lies ahead for the S90 Marlins? We will see after another mass team reset and a slew of draft picks!

[Scurvy 1,495]

Congrats Marlins!!!