Claimed:Examining Minot's Title Teams [Final 6/6]

[CowboyinAmerica 2,843]

 

A look back through Minot history

 

The Minot Gladiators are an interesting dichotomy. With 25 playoff appearances, including five straight recently between Season 33 and 37, the Gladiators have the most playoff appearances for a single franchise in VHLM history. Solid, right? Well, they haven’t exactly done anything with those appearances. Minot’s six finals appearances are better than only Bern among the original eight VHLM franchises; Minot’s three championships only beats Turku.

 

Minot’s recent history is even worse. The team has not won a VHLM championship since Season 19. Season 19! Bern won in Season 20, and every single other VHLM team has won in Season 27 or more recent (including the expansion teams). The same principle applies for actually getting to the finals, where Minot has only actually gotten there once since Season 30.

 

With Vogon Jeltz and Hans Wingate making their way to Minot, the team has high expectations for this season. However, what will it take to not just be a playoff team, but to get to the finals as well? To move forward, it helps to look to the past, and we decided to examine each of the past three Minot champions for a clue in how to win in Season 42.

 

Season 10

 

The Expectations: “Well, the best team in the VHLM won,” said Vasteras IK J20 General Manager PensFan101 at the conclusion of Minot’s 4-1 series win over his squad, and he certainly meant it. Minot was expected to steamroll over everybody, and they did. If there is a VHLM award, somebody on Minot probably won it this season. Along with the team’s Founder’s Cup and Prime Minister’s Cup, Patrick Mueller won the Esposito Trophy, Jonas Markstrom won the Sawchuk Trophy, Tyler Donati won the Yzerman Trophy, and David Knight won... well, everything else.

 

The Star:  David Knight never had a Hall of Fame career quite like David Night, but for the Minot Gladiators, he simply could not be stopped. With an outrageous 70 goals and 87 assists, simply nobody was able to touch his offensive output on his way to the VHLM MVP. It wasn’t a one man team – Markstrom was named the VHLM’s best goalie, after all – but this Minot squad proved that one man really can carry the team a long way.

 

What We Learned: This Minot squad isn’t very similar to the Season 42 Minot team. While Jeltz may hypothetically be able to get to Knight-level output, this year’s Minot team is in no way the absolute favorite for the championship. Season 10 simply had more depth overall.

 

David Knight, taking a shot

 

Season 15

 

The Expectations: “Congrats Minot, that team is just way too good haha,” said Marshall_22 at the end of Minot’s dominating series win over the Gothenberg Eagles. And too good they were: The team once again won the Prime Minister’s Cup, Sakic Trophy, Esposito Trophy, Dionne Trophy, Oates Trophy and Yzerman Trophy in addition to the championship. Minot went to back-to-back finals in Season 15 and 16, and although they didn’t pull it off one season later, it’s clear that the top pieces were in place.

 

The Star:  Similar to Season 10, it’s a center that stands above the rest. Frank Ricard finished the season with an astounding 81 goals – the most since Season 11 – and 104 assists on his way to the MVP trophy. Different from Knight, though, Ricard also did work on the defensive end, winning the trophy for best two-way forward with 221 hits and 57 blocked shots.

 

What We Learned: Once again, there simply isn’t much correlation between this past Minot championship team and the current iteration. No forward on the entire Minot roster has put any points into checking, so we’re unlikely to see a Ricard-like two-way forward. In addition, this team isn’t head-and-shoulders above the rest of the league like Season 15, so it’s tough to draw similarities going into the year.

 

Frank Ricard, collecting the puck

 

Season 19

 

The Expectations: Strangely enough, while past Minot champions had a lot of individual success but not future prospects for the VHL, this Minot squad was the team of depth. Only Mathias Chouinard (Oates) won a regular season individual award, and Vasteras had a better regular season record. However, the team finished with an incredible six players being named top prospects: Olivier Bergstrom, Keon Henderson, Adam Schultz, Lars Intranquilo, Fantastic McAwesome, and Alejandro Messi.

 

The Star:  If I had to pick one, it would most likely be Chouinard. His 113 assists during the regular season to win the Oates Trophy isn’t half bad, but his true contribution came in the playoffs. With 13 goals and 14 assists, the right winger shouldered more than his share of the burden on the way to playoff series victories over Saskatoon (in seven games) and Kolari (in five games).

 

What We Learned: If there is a team of the three that this Minot squad can emulate, it’s the Season 19 team. Built off of strong defense and goaltending, this team didn’t have a lot of offensive firepower. However, they had active players who put in the work, and by the end of the season, it all coalesced into a strong fighting force. For this year’s Minot team to win, it will take a few waiver pickups or trades for active players and growing throughout the season. In order to get there, following the team’s last championship may be the way to go.

 

Marcus Chouinard and Keon Henderson, showing this team's teamwork

[Victor 10,836]

Oh David Knight, the man who won his cups the wrong way around.

 

Jonas Markstrom, under-rated goalie of forever.

 

Frank Ricard, VHLM legend.

 

And if Jardy sees this he will jizz all over the S19 team.

 

The memories...

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Content: 3/3 - A nice little look back at some history of the VHLM, which is something I haven't learned much about. Good article.

Grammar: 2/2 - I didn't find anything.

Appearance: 1/1 - Looks great.

Overall: 6/6

[Frank 5,058]

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