Nighthawks on track to achieve best five-season record in nearly 40 seasons

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As much as you can make of Malmo's post-season failures over the past few seasons, the current generation of Nighthawks have undoubtedly been a great regular season team. In fact, to say they have been one of the best of recent history would be a bit of an understatement. Their greatness has a chance to reach a level not seen in nearly 40 seasons. Of course, if you ask them, they would likely trade it for some playoff success, but that's not how the world works. They will have to live with what they have, and their regular season success can serve as a bit of a consolation even if its significance will be lost to time. If anything, what will be remembered about the Nighthawks of the 90's is the contrast between their performance in the regular season and the post-season. Still, that doesn't mean we can't take the time to acknowledge how good this team has been.

 

The construction of the current generation of Nighthawks began in Season 88 with the acquisition of Jacob Stone. Over the next several season, the pieces started coming into place. While they were never as bad as the bad teams of today, it was not until Season 91 that the Stone-era Nighthawks had a winning record. They finished that season with 95 points, a mark which has been topped each season since. In the following two seasons, they won back-to-back Victory Cups with 110 and 106 points. Add in their 99-point Season 94 and you've got a team that put up 410 points over four seasons. Not many teams have averaged 100 points-per-season over four seasons in the current 16-team layout of the VHL. Only one (the 80's Menace), has averaged that over five seasons.

 

This season, the Nighthawks have a 25-8-4 record for 54 points. This puts them on pace for 105 points, which is certainly enough to put their five-season average in the triple digits. It would also give them a better five-season total than Moscow's best. The Menace had a 242-93-25 regular season record from Season 80 to Season 84. (Like the present-day Nighthawks, they too failed to win any Continental Cups, but they at least made it to the finals in four of those five seasons before losing.) If the Nighthawks this season can finish with at least 100 points, they would top that record from Moscow, which would give them the best five-season record (excluding playoffs) since Helsinki had 519 points from Season 53 to Season 57.