Claimed: VHLM Story [1/2]

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Johnsson at the center of controversy

VHLM Semi-Finals delayed because of Swedish defenceman

 

Oslo, NORWAY - The VHLM's finals are over, just as soon as they started, with the Saskatoon Wild sweeping away the Las Vegas Aces. While this series was surely entertaining, at least to the fans of one side, its victor will likely not be remembered as the main plot to this year's playoffs. No, that dubious distinction will likely go to the goings on of the Semi-Final round, where a delay in paperwork being filed caused the league to postpone the 7th, and deciding, game of the series between Oslo and Las Vegas. The reason for this rare postponement of a game? Mats Johnsson! The Swedish defender joined the league's top team, the Oslo Storm, right before the playoffs, supposedly in time to participate in their run for the Founder Cup. However, due to clerical error from the league's secretary, his contract was not put through to the league offices, and thus, he was deemed ineligible for the S55 VHLM Playoffs.

 

Normally, this would be an understandable occurrence, as Johnsson was unable to dress for any regular season games, he was deemed ineligible to join the team's playoff roster. However, nothing about this situation was normal, as no less than 3 players who signed on the same day as Johnsson, as well as 2 others who signed just days prior, were added to the Las Vegas roster. Johnsson, understandably frustrated with the situation, took to questioning league officials, as well as his own GM, wondering why he was not being dressed, even after collecting his paycheque from Oslo - the league went so far as to bar him from the team's Locker Room! However, after his initial frustrations, Johnsson left the team to focus on training for the upcoming World Junior tournament, accepting his fate that he would not participate in official VHLM games until S56 kicks off.

 

"It didn't make sense to me. I signed before the regular season ended, I practiced with the team, I put in a lot of work. When I was told I couldn't dress for the regular season, I figured it was fine, the league is just putting paperwork through, I'll play after the Wild Card round finished. But then I still wasn't allowed even to enter the Locker Room! But I figured, why cause problems? I've played pro for nearly a decade, waiting for next season won't kill me - and I still got to keep the money, so hey!" - Mats Johnsson

 

For his part, Oslo GM Bushito was not happy. After privately trying to work with the league to get Johnsson dressed for the early games of the series, his tipping point was seeing his first place Oslo being pushed to the brink of elimination. Upon the completion of game 6, he would not allow the league to drop the puck for game 7 until Johnsson's paperwork was put through, and he be allowed to dress for the final game!

 

"It's bullshit! They've got 3 guys who signed after Mats did, why the hell are they on the ice if he isn't? At this point, we can't re-start the series, but at least getting him into game 7 is better than playing it without him." - Bushito

 

Unfortunately for Oslo, the final game did not go as planned. the Aces scored an early goal, that ended up being the difference, as they would go on to secure their spot in the finals against a superior Saskatoon Wild team, netting a late EN goal to win 2-0 over the Storm. We will never know what could have gone differently had Johnsson been allowed to dress for the first 6 games of the series, and that dark mark will definitely overshadow what turned out to be less than stellar final between Vegas and Saskatoon. For their part, Johnsson and Bushito were gracious in defeat, saying that they got what they wanted in having him dress for game 7, and will have to deal with the results. Now, Johnsson will focus solely on the World Juniors, before being drafted in the VHLM Entry Draft and playing his VHL Draft season.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Review

That is unfortunate that you couldn't dress for the playoffs. This was a good piece but maybe a picture or some color would be nice :P. also i dont think you wouldn't have made a difference in the series because I was a brick wall  but yea that was a very unfortunate situation hopefully it doesnt happen in the future.