A History of VHL Relocations

[Victor 11,039]

A History of VHL Relocations

 

Relocations are super rare in the modern VHL, much like unicorns and expansions. To have two of the above three happen at once is quite frankly mind-blowing, but the case for Quebec moving to Vancouver and Anglicising their name was strong enough, especially given the Wolves will not lose their logo, one of founding GM Pavel Koradek's finest creations.

 

The Meute carved out a niche for themselves as the league's villains, both when building their first championship team in S35 through selling the farm and attracting two prime free agents – Yuri Grigorenko and Skylar Rift – and throughout the 40s when GM Clinton Chevy was one of the most outspoken members in the league. They went on a great four-final run from S54 to S57, but ultimately underachieved way too much; in S34-S35 when they never really got the offensive production they probably deserved, in S43-S44 and especially S49 when they dominated regular seasons but couldn't make the finals, and most recently in the early 60s – perennial playoff contenders but lacking chemistry and not really becoming a cup favourite. A relocation is, all things considered, the correct move, but what encouragement can Vancouver take from the past? Let's have a look at all the relocations in VHL history.

 

S1: Amstel Tijgers → Avangard Havoc

The first move in VHL history happened after just one season, when the unfortunately named Tijgers (based in a river or a beer) moved to Omsk, Russia, but bizarrely put Avangard at the start of the name. The VHL's Dutch experiment was always doomed to fail, with founding GM JJ Krever promptly going inactive and the Tijgers infamously selecting Robert Sharpe first overall over Scotty Campbell. 72 games gone, and no one would miss Amstel much.

 

Things didn't really get much rosier for Avangard. GM Matt Cornell, agent of Hall of Famer Petr Shirokov, was a notorious figure famous for finding as many loopholes as possible in the VHL's early rules, as well as being a key cause of the very clique-y nature of first-decade VHL. The Havoc were never really a dominant team, but did get a Continental Cup in S7, inspired by the great Christian Stolzschweiger. A difficult rebuild ensued again however, and by the end of S10, the franchise was on the move again.

 

S7: Hamilton Canucks → New York Americans

A fairly forgotten fact by this point in the VHL, but the controversial Robbie Zimmers was once a VHL GM and moved the highly unsuccessful Hamilton Canucks to what would eventually become an iconic league location in New York. The Canucks were a mixture of mismanaged and unlucky in their seven-season VHL stay, but by the end got such a stigma that no matter how well they drafted (the S5 and S6 classes were particularly impressive for how few future stars didn't stay in Hamilton), they couldn't hang on to their players.

 

New York had a shaky start – until S12, the franchise only playoff appearance came in S4, when it was still in Hamilton. For a while the Americans gained the 'Shortbus' moniker, as the fallout of being on the wrong side of the early day VHL cliques mentioned above. It says something about the sometimes toxic early era VHL that two prominent Shortbus members are curse-breaking specialist GM Tyler Owens and Builder Sandro Desaulniers. However, the Americans finally won a championship in S14 and after another long wait, the floodgates really opened in S32. Since then, an argument can be made that the Americans are the VHL's most successful franchise, far removed from the team that operated under a cloud back in S7.

 

S8: Stockholm Rams → Riga Reign

Relocation is all about timing and unlike the above, incoming GM Dustin Funk nailed it with his move to Riga. The Stockholm Rams were a distinctly average team, with a big of a bad reputation after a few seasons under the control of GM Chris Julien, but were clearly on the up when Funk took over from his brother. The timing was perfect as Riga made the finals four times in the first five seasons in Latvia, with a maiden Continental Cup coming in S10.

 

A tradition of success has been built in the Baltic state ever since, with the likes of Vladimir Kliment, Mike Szatkowski, and now Benjamin Zeptenbergs leading the Reign to glory. Riga has become a staple of the VHL and a franchise which has barely ever hit a lull, with many great players passing through along the way.

 

S11: Avangard Havoc → HC Davos Dynamo

If Stockholm to Riga was an inspired move, then Avangard to Davos was truly an act of otherworldly providence. The Havoc were not a disaster as mentioned above, but when GM and league commissioner Scotty Campbell moved them to Davos, the franchise reached a new level.

 

The Dynamo won a Continental Cup in their very first season in Switzerland and followed it up with another in S13. They continued winning on a remarkably consistent level all the way through to S38, becoming the league leaders in championships in a relatively short timeframe. In the meantime, Davos also managed to get firmly in the heads of the Riga Reign, with a rivalry which started off quite violently straight away in S11, and continues to be the most one-sided in the VHL.

 

The magical aura was lost in the dry spell from S38 to the most recent cup win in S62, but Davos maintains a strong history of both team and individual success which is nearly unmatched in the VHL.

 

S16, S21, S41: Vasteras moves around

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After the success stories above, we do however arrive at the more tragic tale of Vasteras. In fact, knowing that the last two relocations in the league were by a now defunct franchise, with the same fate befalling Cologne, while Quebec's stay in the VHL will end at 34 seasons, carries an ominous warning for both Vancouver and Moscow – the 'old boys' club is going be to difficult to overthrow.

 

Going back to Vasteras, the franchise which famously upset Calgary in the S1 finals struggled for the next 15 seasons until being controversially moved to Madrid and using a logo previously used by the Stockholm Thunder (the predecessor of the Rams). Things did not go much better in Madrid, although they did make the finals, but then had to deal with the disastrous tenure of GM Zach Voss and moved back to Sweden after just five seasons.

 

A fresh start in Vasteras began with enthusiasm, with the backing of Scotty Campbell and Tyler Owens, but dreams of a dynasty turned into a bit of a slog to end the cup drought, which finally came as a massive relief in S26. However, this was not a new dawn but instead the last hurrah for the team which struggled through a subsequent rebuild and then was stymied in the 30s by GM Thomas Corcoran consistently selling the farm to try to compete and failing to do so.

 

On the back of that, the Stockholm Vikings were born under the management of Benoit Prevost, one last chance at a new dawn. Stockholm was marginally more successful than Vasteras, with a few surprising runs to the finals in S47 and S53, but still underachieved massively for most of the time and was an easy to choice to cull during contraction. Vancouver will hope it follows the relocations much more than the most recent examples by the cursed Swedish franchise.

[Victor 11,039]

1,200 words so 1 for the themed week and 1 for next week

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

@Victor did @Mike win a cup as Riga GM? I don't remember if he was GM in S33 or not. I assume that he was.

[Victor 11,039]

3 minutes ago, flyersfan1453 said:

@Victor did @Mike win a cup as Riga GM? I don't remember if he was GM in S33 or not. I assume that he was.

He was yeah. If you're wondering why I included him over you, I can't name every Riga cup winning GM.

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Just now, Victor said:

He was yeah. If you're wondering why I included him over you, I can't name every Riga cup winning GM.

 

No, Mike built the team, I just finished it, so he should get credit for making them competitive for a long time...I just knew he didn't win a cup with that core.