Claimed:Champions but no awards? [Final 6/6]

[CowboyinAmerica 2,890]

 

Champions, but not winners?

Looking at the championship teams that didn't win individual awards

 

 

Usually when a team wins the championship, their success comes because of at least one elite player that won an award, be it the Brooks for top goal-scorer, the Labatte for top defenseman, or even the Stolzschweiger for top rookie if you’re feeling frisky. The Seattle Bears, though, proceeded to buck that trend. Just one player won a regular season award, and not one that particularly influences much on the ice: Phil Villeneuve for top leader.

 

That got me thinking: How many teams have won the championship with winning a single individual regular season award? I combed the archives, and to my surprise, only a single team previously managed the feat. They are the first team covered below. Afterwards, I decided to expand my search to teams that did not win an individual award that did not have a tangible effect on the ice: the Virkkunen Trophy for Most Sportsmanlike, the Knight Trophy for Top Executive, or the Grimm Jonsson Trophy for top leader. That search produced five more teams, with four of them only winning a single individual award.

 

One thing to note, though: With the additional teams added in S31, the talent was more even spread throughout the league, so it hypothetically should be easier to win a championship even without an individual award winner. As a result, I’ve covered the only three pre-expansion teams to accomplish the feat here, with the other teams (featuring more stats—thanks indexes!) coming next week.

 

 

S7 Avangard Havoc

Individual Trophies: None

 

Although Avangard featured a player that would later become a trophy’s namesake (Christian Stolzschweiger, for whom the top rookie award would later be named), no actual player on this team won an individual award. Strangely enough, however, it didn’t seem to affect the team’s play on the ice, as the Havoc won the Victory Cup with the most points in the regular season. The playoffs proceeded much the same way; the Havoc swept Vasteras in the first round, then took down Calgary in the finals in six games. Although not much is known about the Havoc in the absence of official stats, it’s clear that they deserve to be recognized as one of the best team units in VHL history.

 

S12 Seattle Bears

Individual Trophies: Knight Trophy and Virkkunen Trophy

 

The team may have won no individual trophies, but like the Havoc, it’s tough to call the S12 Bears much of underdogs. Featuring left winger Alexander Beketov at the end of his career and fellow left winger/captain Josh Vestiquan, the Bears had an offensive force to be reckoned with. It was widely expected, judging by old logs, that they would defeat New York in the first round of the playoffs. The seven-game victory over the Riga Reign may have been a bit more surprising, but then again, seeing Riga get by Vasteras in seven games the round before helped Seattle immensely. There’s a reason that the team’s GM, Mike Kloepfer, was named best in the league, after all.

 

S14 New York Americans

Individual Trophies: Jonsson Trophy

 

I enjoy this one. The only individual award that any player on the team won this season was the Messier Trophy for Best Leader. That award would later be named the Grimm Jonsson Trophy, which makes sense, because the winner this season was... Grimm Jonsson. But in another case of “not exactly underdogs,” the Americans won the Victory Cup during the regular season, then swept Toronto in the first round of the playoffs. Helsinki, who would win the title the next season, extended the series to six games, but the depth of the New York squad prevailed. When you have a team featuring seven all-stars, even if none won individual awards, this will happen.

 

Honorable Mention

S8 Calgary: Only the Orr Trophy, later renamed the Labatte Trophy, to Sterling Labatte for Top Defenseman

[Victor 10,943]

I hope you just went through the threads containing cup banners, not through all the award threads separately....

When you include playoff MVP these usually look much less damning.

[Tylar 219]

Content: 3/3 - Interesting as per usual. I Like  to see what you come up with each week . 

Grammar: 2/2 - Didn't catch anything

Appearance: 1/1 - Looks lovely as always.

Overall: 6/6

[CoachReilly 688]

Claimed