The Landry Bloodline

[Doomsday 4,204]

The Landry Bloodline

With Season 100 just around the corner and excitement starting to grow for the milestone year for the VHL, a big part of that hype is over what’s shaping up to be an incredible draft class. Even now, prospect after prospect continues to declare for the Season 100 VHL Entry Draft, making this one of the deepest draft classes the league has seen for years. One of the draftees creating considerable buzz is Wade Landry, a 6’8, 250 lb center playing with the Halifax 21st of the VHLM while the big day looms. His stature is one thing for sure, but the real reason for the hype is his lofty VHL pedigree: both his father and grandfather made big impacts for the VHL teams they played for, with both of them having their numbers retired following their playing days. Neither, however, have made the VHL Hall of Fame, with Wade looking to be the first Landry to be inducted. But as it stands, he’ll have very high expectations to overcome to make that happen.

Thomas Landry

Thomas Landry was the first of the bloodline to join the VHL, winning the Founder’s Cup in Season 32 with the Oslo Storm and again in Season 33 to quickly establish his reputation as a winner. A second round pick in Season 33 to the New York Americans, Landry didn’t truly make his mark in the VHL until he was traded to the HC Davos Dynamo, where he became one of the pivotal players in the team’s rebuild. With a new team, he gained a new role as a power forward, and it was one he relished, as Landry became a leader on and off of the ice with Davos, playing a punishing game that created room on the ice for his teammates and made shifts a nightmare for opponents. In Season 36, he was named the captain of the HC Davos Dynamo, which was followed up with co-winning the Grimm Jonsson Trophy as the top leader in the VHL, leading Davos to the Continental Cup Finals, winning in a thrilling seven game series against the Toronto Legion in a furious comeback after falling to a 3-1 series deficit. 

All four seasons in which Landry was the captain of Davos, they reached the Continental Cup Finals, winning two of them, along with a Victory Cup and two Grimm Jonsson Trophies as the top leader in the VHL. In international play, Landry also won two gold medals with Team USA, placing him into an elite group called the Triple Gold Club with a Founder’s Cup, Continental Cup, and World Cup victories. With Davos entering a rebuild for the final season of his career, Landry reluctantly waived his NTC to join the Calgary Wranglers, where he delivered the most punishing season of his career with 401 hits. The Wranglers upset the Quebec City Meute in the first round, but one last Cup for Landry simply was not to be. Despite a memorable and successful career, Landry would not be inducted into the VHL Hall of Fame, but many felt had he played eight seasons in the VHL, he surely would have had the stats behind him to make it to the Hall. However, he still received the bigger honor in his opinion when his beloved HC Davos Dynamo raised his #24 to the rafters, cementing his legacy as a team legend by retiring his number.

Thomas Landry II

Nearly 30 years after Landry’s retirement, his son, Thomas Landry II, made a name for himself as a top prospect when he joined the Halifax 21st in Season 69 (nice). Quickly establishing that he had the same physical edge to his game, winning the Matt Bentz Trophy as the VHLM’s top two-way forward in Season 70 in which he recorded 60 goals, 145 points, and 372 hits with the San Diego Marlins. This monster season in the VHLM led to him achieving much better draft stock than his father ever had, as Landry II was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Prague Phantoms in the Season 71 VHL Entry Draft. As a relatively new franchise to the VHL, the Phantoms were still looking for an identity and to establish themselves as a reputable franchise, something Landry II looked to factor into. The Phantoms already had an established roster of physical players, so Landry II looked beyond the physical aspect of his game and looked to instead become something Prague had lacked: someone capable of lighting the lamp.
Spending his entire eight season, 576 game career with Prague, one of five players in team history to do so, Landry II would finish his career with 265 goals, the team leader in career goals at the time of his retirement and still good for third all-time with Prague. His 335 assists are fifth all-time in team history, and his 600 points were the most in Prague’s history until John Jameson and Perry Laperriere surpassed it, leaving him at third all-time. Despite not focusing on hits for most of his career, his 1685 were still the most for any Phantom until it was surpassed by none other than John Jameson. Despite his personal success, Prague was never able to reach the Continental Cup Finals during his career, but the impact Thomas Landry II had on the Phantoms was still recognized when the team raised his #48 to the rafters in recognition of his brilliant career devoted entirely to the Prague Phantoms.

Wade Landry

The third member of the Landry lineage to reach the VHL system, Wade Landry’s story still remains entirely untold. He’s still easing his way into the increased competition of the VHLM after spending four seasons at Penn State playing D1 hockey, and is still looking for his first goal and first point after seven games with Halifax. Even if it hasn’t immediately resulted in statistical success on the ice, Landry has already shown that he possesses the same strong work ethic of his father and grandfather before him, and has already shown considerable improvement in his short time in the VHLM thus far. His first immediate goal will be to boost his draft stock for the upcoming VHLM Dispersal Draft to get himself into the best possible position to prepare for the VHL. But for now, all Landry has to worry about is continuing to grind and learn as much as he can to help propel the Halifax 21st to the Founder’s Cup during his time with them this season.

There’s a lot of competition to reach the top of the Season 100 draft class, and much remains to be shown for Wade Landry to even consider himself belonging near the top at this point. He’s got the lineage and the tools to develop into a great player and live up to the family name and expectations, but it’s going to take something beyond that if he wants to break the family curse and be enshrined in the VHL Hall of Fame. But for now, Wade Landry will simply need to be content with doing the best he can be and seize the moments in front of him today before worrying about chasing after the ghosts and dreams of the future.

[Doomsday 4,204]

Claim for week of 4/14 - 4/20

Claim 2/2