Outhouse to VHL Penthouse [Final 6/6]

[CowboyinAmerica 2,890]

 

VHL's bottom-to-top expansion era teams

 

Lost in the reveries and Brovy bashing that occurred after the Seattle Bears championship is one important, perhaps overlooked fact: The Bears are the first team in the expansion era to go from missing the playoffs to winning the championship. It’s not only true, it completely bucks the common trend of where championship teams come from.

 

Out of the 12 championship winners that have played two consecutive seasons with 10 teams in the league (so dating back to the Season 32 Americans), exactly half had the best record in the league the season before winning the championship. A seventh, the Season 35 Quebec City Meute, finished the season before in second place, along with the best record in the North American Conference.

 

That leaves five other teams that did not win their conference but would go on to win the championship one season later. The four other than this year's Bears, listed from most recent down, are the teams that the Season 44 Dynamo, Vikings and others will be attempting to emulate.

 

Season 42 – Cologne Express

Season 41: 4^th place (97 points), First Round Loss

Season 42: 5^th place (83 points), Championship

 

How did they do it? The Season 42 Express are an odd team to figure out. There are myriad ways that the team improved during the offseason between Season 41 and Season 42, most notably adding goaltender Martin Brookside from the Calgary Wranglers. But here’s the odd thing: Those moves actually made the team worse during the regular season. Despite going all-in, the Express’s 83 points fell 18 points short of the conference-leading Titans, and Cologne only beat the eighth-place overall Dynamo by 12 points for a European Conference playoff shot. Still, when push came to shove, Brookside and Co. performed in the playoffs. Strangely, after years of dynasties, one could argue that we’ve had extreme surprise champions in back-to-back years. More parity in the league, perhaps?

 

Season 40 – Riga Reign

Season 39: 4^th place (96 points), Finals Loss

Season 40: T-4^th place (94 points), Championship

 

How did they do it? Perhaps, the question should be: How much did they really need to change? Despite technically finishing fourth in the Season 39 standings, the Reign finished just eight points away from the conference-leading Dynamo, and the team came within one game of beating New York for the Season 39 championship. As a result, the key components, including McQueen, the Gows, and goaltender Szatkowski Jr., were kept in place for the following season. It worked. Despite finishing in a tie for fourth overall this time, the Reign bowled over the playoffs once again, finally getting it done in crunch time.

 

Season 36 – HC Davos Dynamo

Season 35: 6^th place (82 points), First Round Loss

Season 36: 3^rd place (110 points), Championship

 

How did they do it? It was a combination of trades and simple old getting older. The first time around the block, the rookie season for both Lennox Moher and Matt Bentley, the Dynamo fell meekly to the Express in 5 games and finished the regular season with just a +11 goal differential. Then, a few things happened: Odin Tordahl got the itch to go to another franchise (wouldn’t be the last time), Davey Jones did the same, and Thomas Landry, Moher, and Bentley all improved steadily. Suddenly, what was a promising core in Season 35 was now a force to be reckoned with in Season 36. Although Davos technically finished in third in the regular season, the team was 3 points off the league’s best record, and they also gained the European Conference’s first round bye. Seeing the team go on to the championship was no surprise.

 

Season 32 – New York Americans

Season 31: 4^th place (101 points), Finals Loss

Season 32: 5^th place (102 points), Championship

 

How did they do it? It may seem like forever ago (it was this author’s first real VHL playoffs), but the Season 31 New York Americans had one of the most entertaining playoff runs of all time. Dubbed the “Last chance” for New York near-lifers Daniel Braxton and Benjamin Glover, the Americans overcame the Bears and Wranglers in nine games… but unfortunately, for the first time, the playoffs were three rounds, and they fell to Davos in seven games. Strangely, due to the loss of both stars, many people felt New York had gotten worse for Season 32. And yet, there was rookie Skylar Rift making saves, there were key new additions Alexander Chershenko and Radislav Mjers remaining stars, and there were the Americans in the playoffs again, finishing fifth but with more points than the prior season. In a season where the European Conference was loaded (three European teams finished with 104+ points), New York had a relatively easier road, and they were able to dispatch the regular-season winning Reign in seven games.

[Victor 10,943]

Heh, it looks like Cologne's regular seasons and negatively correlated to their playoffs.

Conference champs in S40, swept in the most unbalanced of series by Riga. Now lost to Seattle after almost winning the Victory Cup. So S42 was their worst year of the four and they win the cup... #FuckWaldron

Speaking of Riga, I think you mixed up Riga's finals appearances? They lost Game 7 in Season 41, after winning the cup. Unless you mean Davos lost to New York in Game 7 of Season 39, which we didn't (we lost in 5).

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Content: 3/3 - Awesome and very informative article. I got to learn some things I didn't know.

Grammar: 2/2 - Nothing I can see.

Appearance: 1/1 - Looks legit.

Overall: 6/6