Claimed: Sven Kramer

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Sven Kramer was drafted by the Helsinki Titans in the Season 18 VHL Entry Draft with the 25th overall pick.

 

Season 18 - Kolari Panthers

Sven was sent back down to the minors to develop some more so he was to ply his trade with the Kolari Panthers in Season 18. Kolari was a decent team after a 71 point finish which secured them a playoff spot just 2 points behind the Gothenburg Eagles who finished in 1st. Kramer actually had a very good season in the VHLM with 33 goals and 78 assists for 111 points which was 2nd in team scoring. 

 

In the playoffs, Sven did all he could to power the Panthers to the finals but the team just couldn't do it as a whole. Sven had scored 4 goals and assisted on 3 goals for 7 points in 5 games. The Panthers were eliminated in 5 games against the Gothenburg Eagles.

 

Season 19 - Minot Gladiators

In the off-season, Sven was traded to the Calgary Wranglers with a Season 20 Helsinki 3rd (Alex Halestrom) for Juha Ikonen and Michael Hodgson. This meant, Sven would be playing for the Minot Gladiators in Season 19 the VHLM affiliate of the Wranglers. Minot was a great team in Season 19, they finished tops in the NA Conference with 102 points. Only Vasteras IK J-20 had more points than them in the regular season. Sven had another good season with Minot scoring 19 goals and assisting on 78 goals for 97 points.

 

Minot would play the Saskatoon Wild in the semi's. The Wild put up a really great fight and pushed Minot to a 7th game in which Minot won. The finals were less interesting as top team in the VHLM, Vasteras was upset in 6 games. So Minot walked through the Kolari Panthers in just 5 games to claim the Founders Cup. Sven had a very good playoff showing as a depth player with 2 goals and 7 assists for 9 points in 12 games.

 

Season 20 - Ottawa Ice Dogs

In Season 20, the VHLM underwent a massive change and now the league was a standalone league from the VHL meaning they were affiliates. Sven Kramer was drafted to the Ottawa Ice Dogs after the new draft. Ottawa wasn't that good of a team in Season 20 though and they missed the playoffs by 14 points. Sven had a pretty nice season overall though with Ottawa scoring 39 goals and assisting on 42 goals for 81 points.

 

Season 21 - Ottawa Ice Dogs

A big transformation happened before the Season 21 season and to the end of the season. The Ice Dogs became a very great team ending the regular season with 129 points which was tops in the entire VHLM. This turnaround can be attributed to two players who cracked to the 200 point mark, Keon Henderson and Evgeny Fedorov. Sven quietly had a good season with 36 goals and 67 assists for 103 points.

 

Ottawa would play the Saskatoon Wild in the semi's and after just 5 games, would move to the finals where they would find the Kolari Panthers waiting for them. In a anticlimactic final which saw the powerhouse Ottawa team sweep Kolari ended, many would wonder if Sven Kramer was ready for the VHLM after 2 Founders Cup's and not having a season under 81 points, he seemed like he was too good for the VHLM.

 

Season 22 - Brampton Battalion

When his contract expired from the Wranglers, he would find himself teamless until the Brampton Battalion came calling for him. Brampton was he only team who offered their services and since Sven wanted to keep his VHL dream alive, he took the offer. Brampton was the 2nd best team in the NA with 83 points but this was 39 points behind the 1st place Minot Gladiators. Sven had a tough time though adjusting to life in Brampton scoring just 18 goals and assisting on 35 goals for 53 points.

 

In what many expected to be a cakewalk for Minot ended up being a series. After 6 games, the Battalion battled their way to a series win over Minot. In the finals, the Battalion would play the Kolari Panthers and end up sweeping them in a anticlimactic final. Sven put his regular season struggles behind him and finished with 7 goals and 3 assists for 10 points in 10 games. Sven is now a 3x Founders Cup Champion.

 

Season 23 - Brampton Battalion

After their impressive win in Season 22, the Battalion fell all the way to last place in the NA Conference. With just 47 points, they finished 7th in the league only team propping them up from the basement was the Kolari Panthers who finished with just 7 points. Sven had a decent season with 29 goals and 40 assists for 69 points in Season 23, this was a better showing than last years totals.

 

Season 24 - Brampton Blades

The Brampton team underwent a name change in Season 24 as the Battalion was also used with the OHL's team so the VHLM team saw fit to change the name to the Brampton Blades. It was a nice new name and the Blades had a great showing in Season 24 with 106 points. The 106 points was 2nd most in the VHLM behind the Conference Rivals, the Saskatoon Wild. Sven had a nice bounce back season with 31 goals and 65 assists for 96 points which was 3rd in team scoring.

 

In the playoffs, the Blades and the Wild put up a great series which went all the way to a 7th game. The Blades ended up losing to the Wild and saw them go on to become the Founders Cup Champions because let's face it during this time period it was mostly the NA Conference winning the Cups because the European Conference was really bad. Sven had an okay playoff with 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points but that wasn't enough secondary scoring to see them move on.

 

Season 25 - Brampton Blades

The Season 25 Regular season was basically the same as the Season 24 one! The Blades finished 2nd in the VHL with 113 points which was behind the Saskatoon Wild who were 1st in the Conference. Sven gave his usual solid secondary scoring with 27 goals and 58 assists for 85 points. 

 

In what many predicted would be a solid playoff series like last season, we were treated to a upset of sorts. Not that the Wild won, but how easily they seemed to win. The Wild took the series in just 5 games and moved on to the finals where they won easily. Sven was only able to muster up 1 assist in 5 games which was a disappointing end to a sold VHLM career.

 

Career

Career Regular Season
S18 - VHLM - KOL - 72 GP | 33 G | 78 A | 111 P | +15 | 76 PIM | 146 H | 340 SH | 6 SB
S19 - VHLM - MIN - 72 GP | 19 G | 78 A | 97 P | +59 | 67 PIM | 115 H | 224 SH | 19 SB
S20 - VHLM - OTT - 72 GP | 39 G | 42 A | 81 P | -12 | 36 PIM | 115 H | 284 SH | 20 SB
S21 - VHLM - OTT - 72 GP | 36 G | 67 A | 103 P | +66 | 40 PIM | 139 H | 295 SH | 19 SB
S22 - VHLM - BRM - 72 GP | 18 G | 35 A | 53 P | +12 | 53 PIM | 98 H | 203 SH | 10 SB
S23 - VHLM - BRM - 72 GP | 29 G | 40 A | 69 P | -24 | 40 PIM | 134 H | 280 SH | 26 SB
S24 - VHLM - BRM - 72 GP | 31 G | 65 A | 96 P | +32 | 38 PIM | 109 H | 270 SH | 13 SB
S25 - VHLM - BRM - 72 GP | 27 G | 58 A | 85 P | +65 | 56 PIM | 161 H | 220 SH | 46 SB

CAREER VHLM: 576 GP | 232 G | 463 A | 695 P | +213 | 406 PIM | 1017 H | 2116 SH | 159 SB

Career Playoffs
S18 - VHLM - KOL - 5 GP | 4 G | 3 A | 7 P | +4 | 6 PIM | 6 H | 34 SH | 2 SB
S19 - VHLM - MIN - 12 GP | 2 G | 7 A | 9 P | +2 | 6 PIM | 22 H | 21 SH | 0 SB
S21 - VHLM - OTT - 9 GP | 6 G | 2 A | 8 P | +2 | 6 PIM | 14 H | 25 SH | 1 SB
S22 - VHLM - BRM - 10 GP | 7 G | 3 A | 10 P | +1 | 6 PIM | 8 H | 17 SH | 1 SB
S24 - VHLM - BRM - 7 GP | 1 G | 3 A | 4 P | +2 | 6 PIM | 18 H | 13 SH | 0 SB
S25 - VHLM - BRM - 5 GP | 0 G | 1 A | 1 P | +1 | 2 PIM | 3 H | 3 SH | 0 SB

CAREER VHLM: 48 GP | 20 G | 19 A | 39 P | +12 | 32 PIM | 71 H | 113 SH | 4 SB

Sven Kramer had a very solid VHLM career with 695 points in 576 games including 3 Founders Cup Championships. If there was a VHLM HoF I would have no doubt that Kramer would be apart of it due to his longevity in the VHLM as well as his 3 Founders Cups.

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