Adieu Quebec

[Victor 10,846]

The Quebec City Meute have played their last game in the VHL - fittingly it was a disappointingly early playoff exit. I've had a strange relationship with Quebec - my last two players spent some time there and Greg Clegane had his best season there, but the playoff failure left a bad taste and I was hoping to avoid coming back with Cast. I was happy to see Quebec let me slip to 3rd overall in S61.

 

That said, I love the niche that the Meute carved out. They were fully the league's villains, especially as the old holders of the title, Vasteras and Davos, faded and in the former's case disappeared entirely. Here's a few of the moments which really made Quebec memorable for me.

 

S34: When they traded 2 drafts worth of picks for Wesley Kellinger and signed both Yuri Grigorenko and Skylar Rift from other Cologne's noses - that's when the VHL really started to turn against them. Coupled with the fact that 3 Valiqs managed to get their way and join the Meute to play with the most famous one, Alexander... this was not a much-liked team. There was lots of schadenfreude around when they missed out on the cup in S34 but they got it the next season, in a pretty inevitably boring way. The tone was set.

 

S43-S44: Bruno Wolf and Aksel Thomassen - what an offensive duo this was and truly gave the VHL a masterclass in chatting shit without backing it up. I mean, individually they scored a lot, but as a team they lost to two very mediocre teams in Seattle and Calgary and never won a cup. It was pretty much everyone against Brovy, the GM and the mouthpiece of that era.

 

S49: Not much really changed here, Brovy still GM, Frank still on the team, lots of regular season success but flopped in the playoffs to much glee from other members. I named this the best team to never win the cup, probably in part because I was on it but it was also a great team. Classic Quebec running into a threepeating Toronto.

 

S56: Finally, I wasn't here for it but I was glad to see the Meute finally got another cup eventually. Frank was always committed to the star power > depth theory, and when it worked, it was great. It was really the overall story of Quebec, catering to offensive output over anything else. Until recently when for some reason they couldn't even score for seasons on end which really was the final nail in the coffin - the only real defining feature of Quebec was lost.

 

RIP Quebec, Long live Vancouver. It's sort of the same team, but feels very different. I don't think I'll be associating the Wolves with the Meute's history for very long and hopefully this opportunity is used to build a new legacy. Au revoir mon ami.

 

Awoooooo 

[Beaviss 4,956]

10 minutes ago, Victor said:

Until recently when for some reason they couldn't even score for seasons on end which really was the final nail in the coffin - the only real defining feature of Quebec was lost.

 

Ive talked to STHS pros and even they dont know why.

[diamond_ace 3,107]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

 

S34: When they traded 2 drafts worth of picks for Wesley Kellinger and signed both Yuri Grigorenko and Skylar Rift from other Cologne's noses - that's when the VHL really started to turn against them. Coupled with the fact that 3 Valiqs managed to get their way and join the Meute to play with the most famous one, Alexander... this was not a much-liked team. There was lots of schadenfreude around when they missed out on the cup in S34 but they got it the next season, in a pretty inevitably boring way. The tone was set.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Banackock 7,992]

QUE G will be the goalie who will be remembered forever. LONG LIVE VANCOUVER MEUTE. 

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Was on Cologne, confirmed salty to this day.

[Beaviss 4,956]

1 hour ago, Banackock said:

QUE G will be the goalie who will be remembered forever. LONG LIVE VANCOUVER MEUTE. 

 

I vote as remembrance QUE G remain on Vancouver and be my backup to start 5 games

[Beketov 8,956]

Fun fact: Quebec remains the only VHL Franchise I’ve never played for; at least in some iteration. For example I never played for the Vikings but I did play for Vasteras. Maybe I’ll try and fix this now that they are in Vancouver.

[eaglesfan036 4,595]

Calgary S44 was not mediocre at all, that team proved depth was important over having only 5 forwards with high tpe

[Victor 10,846]

19 minutes ago, eaglesfan036 said:

Calgary S44 was not mediocre at all, that team proved depth was important over having only 5 forwards with high tpe

Should note I would have added more nuance if it was a MS, as lumping in with Seattle is definitely unfair. However, just 1 HOFer is pretty meh for a cup winner.

 

29 minutes ago, Beketov said:

Fun fact: Quebec remains the only VHL Franchise I’ve never played for; at least in some iteration. For example I never played for the Vikings but I did play for Vasteras. Maybe I’ll try and fix this now that they are in Vancouver.

I never made it to Cologne which is tad unfortunate.

[Devise 4,475]

4 hours ago, diamond_ace said:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Listen, in our defense....we like....won in 35. All of the narrative is on how we basically just all up and decided "fuck it Quebec is gonna be the first expansion franchise to get a Cup because we say so." But the two Kyles were Cupless by that point so we were playing for them. It wasn't all that bad. 

 

Looking back on that team though I'm like one of the only active members left, how odd. 

[diamond_ace 3,107]

Just now, Devise said:

 

Listen, in our defense....we like....won in 35. All of the narrative is on how we basically just all up and decided "fuck it Quebec is gonna be the first expansion franchise to get a Cup because we say so." But the two Kyles were Cupless by that point so we were playing for them. It wasn't all that bad. 

 

Looking back on that team though I'm like one of the only active members left, how odd. 

It's fine, I'm well past it by now (as a member. From a GM "character" perspective I'll chirp about it infinitely).

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

You're mediocre @Victor