Season 20: Year in Review

[Matt_O 897]

The VHL has had a storied history, with the league currently in it's 65th season. But let’s take a look at the past, and look at what made each season, starting with the earliest index we have available, season 20. Each week there will be another season reviewed, going all the way to the present day. I would get yourself settled before reading this, it’s a long one.

 

Season 20 consisted of eight teams, seven of which are still in the league today. The Madrid Thunder were the lone team in this season that isn’t around today, and are one of the two defunct teams.

 

The Standings consisted of two divisions; the North American division, with the New York Americans, Calgary Wranglers, Seattle Bears, and Toronto league, as well as the European division, with the Madrid Thunder, Helsinki Titans, HC Davos Dynamo, and Riga Reign. With the old playoff system, the top two teams in each division squared off, rather than the current format where the top five overall make it.

 

The HC Davos Dynamo finished first place that year, with a strong 56-12-4 record, and finished the season off with 116 points, and on a five game winning streak. The Dynamo had league MVP Patrick Bergqvist on their squad, as he lead the team with 144 points, including 114 assists. He also received the Brett Slobodzian trophy for most outstanding player, the Sterling Labatte for top defenseman, and won the Alexander Beketov trophy for most assists. He still holds the record for most assists in a single season, and is one of six players to ever to have had over 100 assists in a season. Lets not forget about their goalie Daisuke Kanou, who had an incredible season as well, with a 2.12 GAA and a .922 Save Percentage. Their roster was stacked top to bottom, with an elite goalie, elite defenseman, and forwards such as Viottu Jannula, Marek Schultz, and Anton Brekker, who finished with 126,122 and 117 points respectively.

 

In second place, there was the Toronto Legion. They finished with a record of 55-13-4, including just one loss in their last twenty games, and a fourteen game winning streak. They finished with 114 points, good enough to win the North American Division, thanks in part to their incredible defensive play. They had a league low 168 Goals Against, with their defense consisting of Frans Spelman and David Walcott, as well as James Bencharski as the three most notable names. They also had legendary goalie Aiden Shaw, who won the trophy for best goaltender, and this was his first of four best goaltending awards for his career. The trophy itself is in fact named after the legend Aiden Shaw himself. In case I have talked to much about their defense, let’s take a look at their offense. Lars Berger, Zlaten Zanetti, and Xavier Martinez headlined their offense, and the elite first line combined for a whopping 363 points. This Toronto squad was stacked, and was the start of an eventual championship winning team.

 

In third place, we have the Riga Reign. Riga finished with 113 points, making this year a three headed race for the cup. They had a record of 55-14-3, just three points behind HC Davos, who they would play in the semi finals. This Riga team truly had an amazing offense, scoring 371, which is 47 more than Davos in second. This Riga offense was truly something spectacular. 371 goals in a single season is a record that will hold forever, barring major rule changes. Currently, the Seattle Bears have 73 goals in 17 games for Season 65, which is the most in the league so far. They are on pace for 62 less goals (309 in total) than Riga had in Season 20. They had the likes of JD Stormwall, who had 118 points. They had Mikka Virkkunen, who had 134 points, and Alex Stoyanovich, with 113 points. On top of those three, they had the likes of Tarik Saeijs, and Max Kroenenburg, who both had 157 points that year, good enough for third and fourth place all time. Those five are the entire top five in highest plus minus in a single season. The Season 20 Riga Reign takes up that entire top 5, with the only five players to ever have plus minus over 100 coming from this team. All this talk about their explosive offense, and I haven’t even mentioned their superb goalie, Ma’a Nonu. With a .922 Save Percentage and a 2.15 GAA, alongside six shutouts, made him the backstopper of this Riga Team.

 

Now, lets take a look at the fourth and fifth placed teams, the Helsinki Titans and the Seattle Bears. They had 79 and 81 points respectively, and the Bears snuck their way into the playoffs, but it didn’t come without help. The third place team in the North American Division had a pathetic 37 points, while Helsinki had to deal with the juggernauts of Riga and HC Davos, making a playoff birth near impossible. The Seattle Bears benefited from having star power, as well as depth to back them up. Markus Strauss pulled off an epic carry job, with 137 points on the year, alongside Cam Fowler, with 108 points. They also had Gouldhawke (92 points), Terragani (92 points) and Phil Gerrard (85 points). The Titans had a similar situation to the Bears, but they had less star power. Michael Angelo led the team in points, with 119, and Syd Drayson had 110. They also traded for Pekka Jarmuth about a third of the way into the season, and he finished with 90 points for Helsinki.

 

Now let's talk about the teams that finished in the basement that season. The Madrid Thunder, Calgary Wranglers, and New York Americans finished with 45, 37, and 23 () points respectively. However, while these teams won hardly any games, they had plenty of good players, especially Calgary. The Wranglers had Matthew Gunnarsson, with 145 points, as well as Jardy Bunclewirth (130 points) and Roman Andreev (111 points). The Thunder had Gordon Shore (99 points), and the Americans had Jukka Hakkinen (130 points) and Japinder Singh (113 points). The Americans also had goalie Wu Tang Fan, who had a putrid .840 save percentage, and 6.98 Goals Against. If you think that is bad, take a look at the Calgary netminder, Zach Henning. He had a cringe worthy 7.14 GAA, and a .835 save percentage. God these teams were pretty atrocious.

 

Through this season, there were only a few trades, and the biggest one was when Zlatan Zanetti and a season 21 Calgary third rounder was dealt from the Calgary Wranglers to the Toronto Legion, in exchange for CJ Boyer, a season 22 second rounder and a third rounder for season 22. CJ Boyer was later traded for a third round pick, which Calgary passed on. So they basically traded Zanetti for Fernando Garcia Jr. Garcia was a career backup, while Zanetti finished the year with 96 points, and had 84 points in his 59 games in Toronto, and was a big part for their finals run, even though they eventually lost.

 

Pekka Jarmuth was also traded from the Madrid Thunder to the Helsinki Titans for a second round pick (Yan Feng). Jarmuth finished with 90 points on the year, and was part of an overall successful season, even though they missed the playoffs.

 

The top three teams in Toronto, Riga and Davos really stacked up on the awards this season. Patrick Bergqvist took home a number of awards as previously mentioned. Tarek Saeijs of the Riga Reign won the Kevin Brooks trophy (most goals), with 71 goals, the most in a single season since season 8. He also won the Mike Szatkowsi trophy (most points), with 157 points, alongside teammate Max Kroenenburg, who also had 157 points.

 

The opening round of the playoffs consisted of the Victory cup winning HC Davos Dynamo facing off against the Riga Reign and their absolutely loaded offense, while the Toronto Legion and their strong defense took on Markus Strauss and the Seattle Bears. The Legion were simply to much for the Bears to handle, and they swept them en route to a finals appearence, with a comeback 2-1 win in game one, 5-2 win in game two, 4-1 win in game three, and a 4-3 overtime win in game four. Biggie Shakur and David Walcott were the heroes of the series, with six and seven points respectively, and Shakur scored the overtime winner that sent Toronto to the finals.

 

On the European side of things, a dangerous Riga offense took on a well rounded Davos squad, who were primed for a playoff run. The Reign took game one 4-2, as Max Kroenenburg tallied three points in the win. But Davos bounced back, with a commanding 3-0 win in game two, with all three goals coming in the third period. Game three was taken by Davos again, this time in overtime, 3-2. Jannula had another two points, and the Dynamo shut down the high scorers of Riga. Game four went back to Riga, who tied the series 2-2. One common theme was that the depth was scoring, as the elite scorers of Patrick Bergqvist from Dynamo and Tarik Saeijs were held scoreless in multiple games. Game five swung back the Dynamos way, as they took a 3-2 series lead with a 4-2 win. But Riga still wouldn’t give up, and took game six 3-2 and forced game seven. There were 13 penalties in the game, and both teams went a combined 2 for 13 on the powerplay. In game seven, Davos played no games, and easily took it 6-1, and were off to the finals to face the Legion. Jordan Bergland and Geno Esposito had three points in the win for Davos.

 

As the opening faceoff for game one was dropped in Davos, there seemed to be something off with the Dynamo. They fell 7-2 at home in game one, as Frans Spelman and Lars Berger both had five points in the winning effort. The Dynamo quickly changed the narrative around, delivering a hard fought 1-0 victory to even the series at 1. Anton Brekker scored on the power play five minutes into the third period, and that is all Davos needed, as Daisuke Kanou shut the door and stopped all 23 shots that came his way. Game three swung back Torontos way, as Lars Berger scored both Toronto goals and the Legion won 2-1. But once again, the Dynamo bounced back and avoided the 3-1 hole and won game four 4-2, as Geno Esposito had three points and Kanou stopped 25 of 27 shots. Heading back to Davos, the series was tied 2-2. But Toronto was determined, and took game five, by a score of 2-1. Another low scoring matchup, and this series was truly a great one. Frans Spelman picked up both Toronto goals, and Espositos goal with five minutes left was not early enough for the Dynamo, as Toronto went back to Canada with a 3-2 series lead. But the trend of the losing teams bouncing back continued, and Davos picked up an incredible 3-2 overtime win to force game seven. Kanou made 50 saves on 52 shots, and David Vidal scored in double overtime to send this series back to HC Davos for game seven.

 

Game seven started out with an immediate goal from Patrick Bergqvist, and he gave the Dynamo the lead only 19 seconds into the game. There was no scoring for the remainder of the first, and Cedric Pollack scored 37 seconds into the second period to give Davos a 2-0 lead in game seven. It would not hold though, as Zlatan Zanetti scored on the power play late in the second to make it 2-1 headed to the third. With nine minutes left, Lars Berger continued his incredible run and scored to tie the game at two. Just three minutes later, Anton Brekker scored what proved to be the Cup winning goal on the PP. Kanou shut the door soon after and pushed the Dynamo to their third continental cup in franchise history.

 

After this in depth review of season 20, we will be looking at season 21 next week, and a new season each week until we hit modern day. I know it was a long read, so thanks for sticking through it and getting to the end! If you have suggestions for other things to include for future installments, feel free to sound off in the comments.