Claimed:The Best Team Since Season One?

[sterling 1,997]

The Best Team Since Season One?

 

It's been a long time since season one of the VHL, so long because it seems as long as I'll be alive, so will the VHL. Way back, six and a half years ago, the Calgary Wranglers finished the regular season an astonishing 69-3 in what we've next seen since. It has been extremely uncommon in the VHL for any team to finish with single digit losses and sixty plus wins, but 35 seasons later we've seen one VHLM team come close to matching Calgary's unforgettable season. The Bratislava Watchmen finished Season 36 with a 66-5-1 record which will make them one of the greatest teams in the history of the VHLM or VHL. The Watchmen are better than several VHL teams, which is a true testament to the enormous skill and depth this team possesses.

 

 

What is most impressive to me about the Watchmen this season is that they only allowed 104 goals over a seventy-two game schedule in the VHLM. Of course the VHLM is known as a high octane scoring league, which makes this feat even more impressive to me. Furthermore, the Watchmen notched 297 goals on the campaign special in comparison to other teams, but the impressive aspect is that the team got scoring from both lines. The Watchmen's incredible depth was the key to their success. The team had three 100 point scorers and four scorers above 50 points on the season, which is a sure sign of the depth of the roster.

 

The team's true strength came in their strong defensive core and in net. Goaltender Martin Brookside had what I would call a most valuable player worthy season recording 18 shutouts and an impressive .924 save percentage starting a fatiguing 72 games! Brookside was certainly aided by a strong defensive team in front of him. The top five defenseman Andrey Zadorov, Slaeter Fjorsstrom, Phil Villeneuve, David Januzaj and Haggard Slobban are all players who could manage on VHL rosters. The top four will likely have long VHL careers. Fjorsstrom and Zadorov in particular have the highest skill level and potential.

 

 

Meanwhile, the forward corps were equally as skilled and successful. Carried by veteran forwards Mario Corvia, Sasha Stepanov and Vincenzo Valentini and Season 37 Entry Draft prospect Tom Slaughter, the offense was good enough to lead the team to most of their victories when they had to, which wasn't very frequently with the team's excellent defensive core and goaltending. The two top prospects of this season's Entry Draft belong to the Watchmen. Fjorsstrom didn't quite have the statistical season he had hoped for, but he proved his extreme value early in the playoffs leading his team is scoring, notching a game winning goal in game four.

 

Tom Slaughter is the other high end talent on the team and had a modest first round playoffs series with five points in four games. The Watchmen made easy work of the Bern Royals, disposing of them in a four game sweep. The Watchmen look to keep it going against the undetermined winner of the North American Conference Final. It is certainly not unfathomable for the team to sweep the finals as well, but if history has taught us anything, it is that nothing is ever a sure bet in the VHL. The season one Calgary Wranglers will forever be the best regular season team in VHL history, but they choked in the finals. What will the Watchmen do this season? Perhaps they will go down as the best ever single season team in league history? Only time will tell.

[STZ 5,360]

Great read.

[Doomsday 4,130]

Content: 3/3 - S1 Calgary = 2007 Patriots!

 

Grammar: 2/2 - Nearly flawless.

 

we've next seen since = we've never seen since

 

Appearance: 1/1 - Up up we go, into the wild blue yonder...

 

Overall: 6/6 - 

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