S41 Super Cup

[HOF 92]

Season 41 VHL Super Cup

Now a well-oiled machine, commissioner duties for the third Super Cup went to Chris Miller who succeeded in focusing the draft and thus the tournament on active members.

Brekker Bad became the third Super Cup champions after defeating Jardy Bunclewirthless 2 games to 0 in the final series.

The Teams

Brekker Bad

YEAH! was the GM and the battle cry of Edwin Encarnacion's perhaps surprisingly good team, though less surprising considering its name. In choosing Anton Brekker, the GM managed to use his 3 cups wins as part of the great Davos dynasty for team success and Brekker's S22 MVP award seemed to inspire good individual production too.

Second overall pick Tom Slaughter exemplified this by running away as the tournament's top scorer. His supporting cast was not too shabby either, with reigning VHL top goal-scorer Bruno Wolf, the reliable James Faraday, and a solid goal-stopping unit in Jake Wylde, Andrey Zadorov, and Blaine Olynick. The title was well deserved.

Jardy Bunclewirthless

Former HC Davos Dynamo and Quebec City Meute GM Frank Chadwick also had winning on his mind by choosing Jardy Bunclewirth as his talisman. Infamous for his simming habits, Bunclewirth scored at will in a short six-season career, and matched Brekker's three cups in that time, with Calgary. An incredible rookie season and MVP in his sophomore campaign were just the start of a superbly consistent career.

Chadwick's presence meant top scorer Aksel Thomassen was on the team but he was surprisingly overshadowed by top defenceman Matt Bentley, reigning MVP Mike Szatkowski Jr. and the modern rookie Bunclewirth, Sachimo Zoidberg and Jody 3 Moons. They may have finished second after a final sweep, but Bunclewirthless lost both games in OT and with such a star-studded team, a top two place was not a surprise.

Lars Berger Kings

Continuing the trend of 3-time cup champions was Lars Berger, the chosen player to represent by rookie GM Da Trifecta. Berger was the top two-way forward of his time and one Brekker's main rivals though perhaps his lack of the biggest individual awards was a bad omen for this team.

The hard-hitting Logan Laich seemed to take inspiration and came up with easily the team's best performance, though perhaps more was expected from the legendary Conner Low. Combined with a rookie goaltending partnership of Niklaus Mikaelson and Callum Sinclair, the Berger Kings didn't lack in activity but were always an underdog, proven by a first-round sweep.

Singhing in the Rain

Unknown quantity Ramicus decided to not experiment and also chose the 3-time cup winner theme to build his team. Japinder Singh, a staple of the second half of Brekker's Davos has the peculiar distinction of being considered one of the all-time defensive (and offensive) greats despite never being crowned top defenceman in a season. Whether that's good or bad is uncertain, but Singh was certainly amazingly consistent.

To build Singh's team, Ramicus looked into the recent past and picked S40 playoff MVP and Riga captain Brennan McQueen to lead the offense, while the unheralded Brock Waldron, on the brink of a break-through with Quebec, showed signs of the future with a stupendous performance in net. That duo carried the team to a semi-final elimination at the hands of Bunclewirthless.

Strauss the Grouses

Long-time Seattle Bears GM Greg Harbinson didn't look far to find his team name, going for his most famous client: center Markus Strauss. A rookie champion, Strauss couldn't replicate the team success later on but was one of the VHL's most prolific ever goal-scorers and a constant presence on the scoreboard with Seattle.

Greg appeared to foresee success for the Cologne Express, picking up franchise pair Thomas O'Malley and Mason Richardson and their new goalie acquisition Martin Brookside. But though the skaters were on form alongside Devin Sundberg, Brookside's focus seemed elsewhere and this led to a last-place regular season finish and a first-round elimination.

Walcott Your Ass

Ninetyfourgoalie, the second rookie GM here in VHL terms, representing up-and-coming Toronto Legion defenceman Jerrick Poole, set his sights on another Legion defensive great David Walcott. Though Walcott's greatest (and it was great) individual season came in his last season in Helsinki, 7 playoff appearances with an excellent Toronto squad were in no small part down to his under-rated work at the back.

Defence was not the focus of the actual roster, however, which perhaps affected the performance of first overall pick Brick Wahl in goal. But with a stellar offensive unit including Robin Gow, Travis Boychuk, and Xin Xie Xiao, Poole's team pulled off a first-round upset over the Lars Berger Kings and went out with their heads held high in the semifinal.

First Round Draftees
1. WALCOTT YOUR ASS: G - Brick Wahl
2. BREKKER BAD: C - Tom Slaughter
3. STRAUSS THE GROUSES: G - Martin Brookside
4. SINGHING IN THE RAIN: LW - Brennan McQueen
5. JARDY BUNCLEWIRTHLESS: D - Matt Bentley
6. LARS BERGER KINGS: LW - Conner Low

Full draft: http://www.vhlforum.com/index.php?/topic/17141-season-41-super-cup-draft-thread/

Top Scorers
1. Tom Slaughter (Brekker) - 41
2. Sachimo Zoidberg (Bunclewirth) - 33
T3. Logan Laich (Berger) - 30
T3. Brennan McQueen (Singh) - 30
5. Thomas O'Malley (Strauss) - 29
6. Matt Bentley (Bunclewirth) - 28
7. Robin Gow (Walcott) - 27
T8. Robert Gow III (Bunclewirth) - 26
T8. Devin Sundberg (Strauss) - 26
T8. Bruno Wolf (Brekker) - 26

Full list: http://www.vhlsim.net/SC41/SC41-ProLeaders.html

Final Results
1. Brekker Bad
2. Jardy Bunclewirthless
T3. Walcott Your Ass
T3. Singhing in the Rain
T5. Lars Berger Kings
T5. Strauss the Grouses