Toronto vs Moscow Biggest Mismatch in VHL Finals History??

[Victor 10,938]

I have realised today that Toronto vs Moscow is a final featuring the best and the worst regular season team to make the playoffs in S94. The Legion won the Victory Cup while the Menace went in as the wildcard in Europe and if you sort the league standings top to bottom, Toronto sat 1st and Moscow sat 10th in the league.
 

So the Menace are pretty big underdogs in this final and should be happy with a 2-2 split after four games. But is this the biggest gap between the two finalists in VHL history? Let's find out.
 

We know for a fact we need to go back to S83 at the earliest as no Victory Cup winner since then had made the finals until this season's Legion. So let's go through all the regular season champions that did make the finals in a 16-team VHL:
 

S83: Moscow (1st) vs Seattle (2nd) – also tied on points with 113 apiece, as close as a final can be

S82: Vancouver (1st) vs Moscow (8th) – a mismatch compared to the previous two seasons but not as large as this season's

S81: Vancouver (1st) vs Moscow (3rd)

S80: Vancouver (1st) vs Moscow (3rd)

S79: Malmo (1st) vs Seattle (2nd)

S73: Seattle (1st) vs Helsinki (2nd) – like our first example, also tied on points with 109 apiece
 

Before then only 8 seasons made the playoffs each season (and even fewer in more bygone eras). So in terms of regular season positions, yes this is the biggest mismatch in Continental Cup finals history. In terms of points? S82 Vancouver beat S82 Moscow by 25 points while Toronto this season led them by 26. So based on this sample – also yes. Digging any further requires effort.

[Banackock 8,044]

Seattle Moscow Vancouver Hockey League

[animal74 1,808]

But on paper, looking at the players involved, it's not much of a mismatch...

[Victor 10,938]

47 minutes ago, animal74 said:

But on paper, looking at the players involved, it's not much of a mismatch...

So Moscow was just conserving its energy