Claimed:Ranking the Cup winners; Part 7

[Victor 10,622]

It's almost over. Next mag edition will feature teams ranked #1 and #2.

 

3. S4-S6 Seattle Bears  

2 Continental Cups (S4, S5)

2 Finals Appearances (S4, S5)

3 Victory Cups (S4, S5, S6)

15 Individual Awards

8 Hall of Famers

2 Retired Numbers (D Danny Tremblay, #31, D Patrice Reynaud, #58)

 

The first five seasons of the VHL set many still unbroken records and featured two back-to-back champions – the first great dynasties. It would take over 20 seasons for any team to be considered on the level of the original powerhouses. The Seattle Bears just edge out their predecessors in Calgary and that makes sense – from S4 to S6 the original drafts' core which made out both teams peaked, allowing Seattle to put up almost certainly untouchable individual performances. It helped of course that the team featured the likes of Scotty Campbell, Alex McNeil, Dust'n Funk, Brannan Anthony, and Matt Defosse in their primes, in addition to an offensive-minded defenceman in Patrice Reynaud. The team was built perfectly for early era VHL and only seemed to fall apart as a result of its members getting bored of dominance, as retirements and trade started to hit in Season 6. Nonetheless, Seattle won a third straight Victory Cup, a feat matched by only one other team in VHL history, and was a Game 7 loss to Calgary away from a very realistic shot at a third straight championship. That would have probably kept the Bears top of this ranking to this day.

 

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S4 Gretzky Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S4 Howe Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S4 Lemieux Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S4 Joe Malone Memorial Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S4 Mikita Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S4 Orr Trophy: Patrice Reynaud

S4 Delvecchio Trophy: Alex McNeil

S5 Gretzky Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S5 Howe Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S5 Lemieux Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S5 Joe Malone Memorial Trophy: Scotty Campbell

S6 Joe Malone Memorial Trophy: Anders Heissman

S6 Mikita Trophy: Dust'n Funk

S6 Orr Trophy: Patrice Reynaud

S6 Tretiak Trophy: Adrian McCreath

Hall of Famers: C Scotty Campbell (S4-S6), D Patrice Reynaud (S4-S6), C Alex McNeil (S4-S6), G Adrian McCreath (S4-S6), RW Dust'n Funk (S4-S6), RW Brannan Anthony (S5-S6), LW Matt Defosse (S4), D Joey Kendrick (S6)

 

 4. S1-S3 Calgary Wranglers  

2 Continental Cups (S2, S3)

3 Finals Appearances (S1, S2, S3)

2 Victory Cups (S1, S3)

12 Individual Awards

4 Hall of Famers

3 Retired Numbers (RW Brett Slobodzian, #18, C Scott Boulet, #78, D Sterling Labatte, #7)

 

Seattle might have one-upped Calgary just a bit after Season 3 but there are something the Bears couldn't take away. For instance, the ridiculous 69-3 regular season record in Season 1, which had they not lost 4 games in the playoffs would have allowed the Wranglers to claim all three inaugural Continental Cups. They got their revenge in S2 and followed up with one of the most complete combined regular and post-season performances in the defence of the title in S3. As for the individuals, they might not have set the records of S4 and S5, but the first three seasons of the VHL were also extremely prolific offensively. Brett Slobodzian would have very likely been remembered as superior to Scotty Campbell if he stuck around for his whole career, and was helped out by big names of the time like Brad Janssen and Ondrej Skokan. Scott Boulet and Sterling Labatte, in the meantime, have awards named after them for a reason – they were the trailblazers and allowed Calgary to boast attacking talent, a two-way game, and a great defenceman. Without a doubt, they were hard to beat.

 

S1 Gretzky Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

S1 Lemieux Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

S1 Joe Malone Memorial Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

S1 Mikita Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

S1 Orr Trophy: Sterling Labatte

S1 Delvecchio Trophy: Scott Boulet

S2 Howe Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

S2 Delvecchio Trophy: Scott Boulet

S3 Gretzky Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

S3 Lemieux Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

S3 Joe Malone Memorial Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

S3 Mikita Trophy: Brett Slobodzian

Hall of Famers: LW Brett Slobodzian (S1-S3), C Scott Boulet (S1-S3), D Sterling Labatte (S1-S3), D Joey Kendrick (S3)

 

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 5. S45-S48 Helsinki Titans  

2 Continental Cups (S45, S46)

3 Finals Appearances (S45, S46, S48)

2 Victory Cups (S45, S46)

13 Individual Awards

2 Hall of Famers

No Retired Numbers Yet

 

The first back-to-back champions in 20 seasons flew up these rankings and were quite similar to those ancient Bears and Wranglers teams. From being irrelevant, Helsinki came out of nowhere in S45 following the acquisition of the modern Scotty Campbell, Thomas O'Malley, and romped to two clean sweeps of the regular season and playoffs. Season 46 was particularly impressive in how easy it was made to seem. There's a couple things which let the Titans down – the rather meek end to the dynasty in S47 and S48, as well as its core players not peaking until after they left Helsinki. That's no real surprise – S45 was the rookie season of Aleksi Koponen, Phil Hamilton, and Greg Clegane, all of whom harbour Hall of Fame aspirations. Indeed, in today's salary cap world it's hard to achieve such success without a mix of rookies and veterans. Perhaps in a few seasons' time just a glance at the roster may rate the Titans much more highly – it's also possible that they will be overshadowed by the exploits of the Toronto Legion who ended the run in S48.

 

S45 Scotty Campbell Trophy: Thomas O'Malley

S45 Brett Slobodzian Trophy: Thomas O'Malley

S45 Daisuke Kanou Trophy: Thomas O'Malley

S45 Mike Szatkowski Trophy: Thomas O'Malley

S45 Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy: Greg Clegane

S46 Scotty Campbell Trophy: Thomas O'Malley

S46 Brett Slobodzian Trophy: Thomas O'Malley

S46 Mike Szatkowski Trophy: Thomas O'Malley

S47 Scotty Campbell Trophy: Bismarck Koenig

S47 Brett Slobodzian Trophy: Bismarck Koenig

S47 Mike Szatkowski Trophy: Bismarck Koenig

S47 Alexander Beketov Trophy: Bismarck Koenig

S47 Sterling Labatte Trophy: Phil Hamilton

S48 Dustin Funk Trophy: Marcel Faux

Hall of Famers; C Thomas O'Malley (S45-S46), C Bismarck Koenig (S47)

 

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6. S10-S14 HC Davos Dynamo  

2 Continental Cups (S11, S13)

2 Finals Appearances (S11, S13)

2 Victory Cups (S11, S13)

28 Individual Awards

6 Hall of Famers

3 Retired Numbers (RW Zach Arce, #51, G Benoit Devereux, #60, D Tomas Jenskovic, #79)

 

A bit of a cheat here as Davos missed the playoffs in S12, but on the other hand, that was all part of the plan. Indeed, everything went quite perfectly to the plan for the Dynamo. Moving from Avangard to Davos prior to S11, a promising core blossomed into a Victory and Continental Cup double in their first season in Switzerland, rebuilt on the fly, and repeated the feat in S13. It wasn't easy – 3 of the Dynamo's 4 playoff series wins came in Game 7 – and it was short-lived; there wasn't a whole load aside from the two cup-winning seasons and the second retool in S14 failed through poor drafting and GM Scotty Campbell's inactivity. However, on the other hand, Davos racked up the trophies with 28 individual awards the most on this list. Jonathan Matthias and Zach Arce dominated the scoring ranks, while Tomas Jenskovic became the only defenceman to lead the league in scoring. Benoit Devereux could well have had the top goaltender award named after him if the renaming didn't take place until after Aidan Shaw's retirement. Individual success, two great seasons for the team as a whole, and one epic rivalry with Riga in S11: the HC Davos Dynamo started their existence with a bang and success would be synonymous with the franchise for several more decades.

 

S10 Bossy Trophy: Benoit Devereux

Hall of Famers: G Benoit Devereux (S10-S14), D Tomas Jenskovic (S10-S14), RW Zach Arce (S10-S13), RW Leander Kaelin (S13-S14), D Jochen Walser (S11), LW Matt Bentz (S13)

 

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7. S19-S25 Toronto Legion  

1 Continental Cup (S21)

4 Finals Appearances (S20, S21, S22, S24)

3 Victory Cups (S21, S22, S24)

18 Individual Awards

7 Hall of Famers

1 Retired Number (G Aidan Shaw, #1)

 

Probably no VHL franchise had so many expectations to rack up the trophies as Toronto did following the legendary S18 draft. This was the dynasty-elect and the crowning achievement of GM David Knight, whose name now adorns the Top GM award. They still achieved more than most teams, but by the end of S25 there were some regrets. In between, Aidan Shaw achieved cult status in goal, helped by the excellent defence featuring James Bencharski and David Walcott. If anything, the later years of this Legion team relied too much on defending, but they were good at it, and who wouldn't when you can rely on seven seasons of Walcott and Shaw. Offensively, we've seen better but with contemporary TPE whore Lars Berger, sniper Peyton Nydroj, and the amiable Phil Gerrard, with a revolving door of an impressive supporting cast, Toronto didn't lack for talent up front. Season 21 was the pinnacle, brushing aside their arch-rivals from Seattle, but the regret comes from too many losses to Davos (two very tightly-fought battles in S20 and S24), and the huge upset by Helsinki in S22 after an astonishing regular season. Changes to the cap system led to the slow deterioration of this roster and the Legion never quite delivered on those early expectations, but we can't only judge them on that.

 

S20 Tretiak Trophy: Aidan Shaw

S21 Howe Trophy: Aidan Shaw

S21 Sterling Labatte Trophy: Voittu Jannula (co-winner)

S21 Tretiak Trophy: Aidan Shaw

S22 Brett Slobodzian Trophy: Aidan Shaw

S22 Mikita Trophy: Lars Berger

S22 Sterling Labatte Trophy: James Bencharski (co-winner)

S22 Tretiak Trophy: Aidan Shaw

S22 Scott Boulet Trophy: Lars Berger

S22 Dustin Funk Trophy: James Bencharski

S23 Joe Malone Memorial Trophy: Peyton Nydroj

S23 Scott Boulet Trophy: Lars Berger

S24 Scotty Campbell Trophy: Phil Gerrard

S24 Brett Slobodzian Trophy: Phil Gerrard

S24 Joe Malone Memorial Trophy: Peyton Nydroj

S24 Mikita Trophy: Phil Gerrard

S24 Tretiak Trophy: Aidan Shaw (co-winner)

S24 Dustin Funk Trophy: Phil Gerrard

Hall of Famers: G Aidan Shaw (S19-S25), D David Walcott (S19-S25), D James Bencharski (S19-S23), C Lars Berger (S20-S23), C Phil Gerrard (S22-S25), LW J.D. Stormwall (S21), C Tarik Saeijs (S25)

[Victor 10,622]

I need serious motivation to do Davos' awards. Certainly not with the risk of losing the whole thing by not posting.

[Baozi 1,638]

Lets go Davos!!!

[Kendrick 4,726]

Claimed