Yukon Wins it All

[omgitshim 901]

They were the team of destiny that almost didn't make it. For much of the season, the Yukon Rush were the favorites for the Founder's Cup Championship. The team was loaded with talent from top to bottom, and midseason trades for Zach Weise, Josh Stronk, and Veran Dragomir put them over the top. The Rush finished the regular season completely unstoppable, tearing off a string of 34 consecutive wins. That streak extended to 40 in the playoffs after a clean sweep of the Ottawa Lynx and taking an early 2-0 lead over the Las Vegas Aces in the championship series. Las Vegas finally managed to snap the streak and win game 3, only to fall again in game 4. With a 3-1 series lead and having only lost 1 game in the roughly the last 3 months, Yukon players were already celebrating their victory. With a 3-0 lead halfway through game 5, the home crowd was ecstatic, and the crew was already prepping for the victory celebration when No Points of the Aces scored a goal. A minute later, Otto Axelsson put one in. Then another one by No Points. In less than 2 minutes, the lead was erased, and in fact, the Aces managed to force overtime and steal the game from the Rush. Again in game 6, Yukon had a comfy 4-2 lead with just a minute and a half to play and Las Vegas once again managed to score fast to force overtime and steal another game. Finally, game 7, a spot that no one on the Rush expected to be in. This time, it was Las Vegas who took the early 2-0 lead, but Yukon held tough, scoring in the 2nd and 3rd periods to force an overtime period of their own. The overtime was gutwrenching for both sides, with a total of 21 shots attempted. It was on Yukon's 15th shot that Varis Tribuncovs finally broke through the Aces defense and put one in the net past Marcel St. Laurent. With just that one goal, Tribuncovs prevented what might have been the greatest choke job in VHLM history and secured Yukon their first Founder's Cup in over 20 seasons.

[Da Trifecta 1,898]

It sure was great to win a Founder's cup for Yukon twice in my entire time in the VHL.