Season 21: Year in Review

[Matt_O 897]

Last week, we took a long look at Season 20. We learned that the HC Davos Dynamo won the championship, we looked at Riga’s legendary offense, and we looked at the epic battle in the finals between Daisuke Kanou and Aidan Shaw, when Toronto and Davos faced off in the finals. Last week we looked at what took place during Season 20. For this rewind back to season 21, we have to look into the offseason, and the madness that was happening.

 

It all started with Davos shipping off Viottu Jannula. Jannula was a top tier offensive defenseman for the Dynamo in their continental cup winning year. They traded him to Toronto, in exchange for their first round pick, who became Pavel Koradek. Jannula was towards the end of his career, and Koradek was a highly touted winger, who would have an incredible career. The Dynamo wanted to get young, and this trade helped accomplish that.

 

Davos wasn’t done just yet. In one of the biggest trades I have seen in the VHL thus far, the Dynamo sent MVP winner Patrick Bergqvist, Jordan Berglund and Phil Esposito to Seattle in exchange for Seattle S22 first, S23 first, S23 second, two third round picks, Lady Gaga and defenseman Heinrich Olen. The team was almost completely different from the previous year, as Anton Brekker and Daisuke Kanou were the only real notable names left on the team. Those picks will be mentioned in future parts of this series, since they aren’t helpful for now.

 

Season 20 only saw one relocation, in which the Madrid Thunder moved to Vasteras to become the Iron Eagles. The change of scenary did not help the Irons Eagles, as they finished with 49 points and last in the European division. The Calgary Wranglers also finished the year poorly, with 53 points, but they were kept afloat by Jardy Bunclewirth’s 136 points, and Mathias Chouinard’s 118 points. While those two teams were not good in any sense of the word, they could be considered gods when compared to the atrocity that was the New York Americans. In what was maybe the worst season by a team in VHL history, they had a pathetic seven wins all year. Jukka Hakkinens 101 points couldn’t save this team. They let in a mind blowing 462 goals. That was 165 more goals against than the second worst team that year, the Calgary Wranglers. How is that even possible.

 

Now that we have discussed the few basement dwellers, lets take a look at the playoff teams. This year saw the Toronto Legion win the Victory Cup, with their lineup showcasing the talents of Lars Berger, Viottu Jannula, and Frans Spelman. Oddly enough, the highest scorer on the team (Berger) only had one hundred points this season. The reason the Legion were so good was largely due to one man; Aidan Shaw. He had an incredible 1.86 GAA as well as a .932 save percentage in a year where I believe he was FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY for MVP. He still did win the Aidan Shaw trophy for top goaltender, but that was not enough for the level he played at this year. The Legion finished first place, and he was a huge reason for that.

 

Twelve points behind them, we have the Seattle Bears. After barely squeezing into the playoffs the previous year, they rolled into the playoffs this year. Markus Strauss had another phenominal year, tallying 133 points, as well as thirty blocked shots. The three acquisitions they got from Davos (Berglund, Bergqvist and Esposito) all underperformed, even though they finished with 80+ points. Bergqvist really underperformed, where he went from MVP winning season with 144 points, to the fifth leading scorer on the Bears, having a solid 94 points. 

This team was loaded, however the playoff format was ultimately their demise. Because of the division setup, they had to play the Legion in round one on the road, while Riga got home ice and played a far worse Dynamo team. The Bears had more points than both Riga and Davos, and the playoffs became a controversial topic of discussion.

 

The Riga Reign won the European Division, ten points clear of Davos. Their amazing offense took a clear step back, as Tarik Saeijs failed to break the 130 point marker, and his teammate Mikka Virkkunen had fifty three less points than he had the previous year. It helped that their defense was very good, as Sigmund Olofsson headlined a defense that was a top 3 unit the league that season. They had goaltender Ma’a Nonu really shutting it down, with a season very similar to Daisuke Kanou in terms of stats.

 

As the first three seeds were locked in, the defending champion Dynamo and the Helsinki Titans battled for the final spot in the European division. After the Dynamo blew it up by trading their four top players besides their goalie Daisuke Kanou in exchange for a premium haul of picks, the expectations were somewhat low. Kanou put up a historic campaign, where he had a .926 save percentage and 2.61 goals against. Anton Brekker was one of the few elite players returning from their cup run, and be finished with 118 points that year, including 75 assists. The Helsinki Titans were on the upswing, and improved on their previous year, but still fell out of the playoffs due to a tiebreaker with Davos. They had guys such as Ignatius Feltersnatch, Kevin Hesje and Xavier Martinez, who all finished with one hundred or more points. Unfortunately for Helsinki, they missed the playoffs due to a tiebreaker with Davos.

 

As the trade deadline had passed and we headed into the postseason, it was a little obvious as to what would happen; the winner between the Legion and the Bears would likely win it all, since Riga and Davos were much worse than these two teams. The two North Americans rivals were set to face off in an epic clash for a spot in the finals. Game one was a Toronto victory, as Peyton Nydroj scored two goals and Aiden Shaw had 21 saves for the Legion. Game two was a different story as the Bears won 3-1; and Markus Strauss had another multi point night. With the series tied at one and the teams heading to Seattle, things were looking good for the Bears. The Legion quickly stole any momentum the Bears could have had, and picked up a 2-0 win in game three, and Aiden Shaw had one of his signature big time performances. The Bears, finding themselves in a tough spot, answered back the Legions game three win with a 3-1 win of their own. Markus Strauss continued his epic carry job, with a hat trick in the winning effort. The Bears continued rolling and stole a 2-0 victory over the Legion in game five. This was the first game Strauss was held to zero points. He had a point in every Seattle goal before this game. As they went to Seattle, the Bears were in a position to make their way to the finals on home ice. But it would not happen, as the Legion pummeled the Bears 3-1, and doubled them in shots on goal. Game seven was back up north, and the Legion would make no mistake. As Markus Strauss tallied for the Bears in the first period, the Legion scored three unanswered in the third period to clinch a spot in the finals. Biggie Shakur had two goals in the win for Toronto.

 

The European conference final was an intense series as well. Game one went Riga’s way, with a 5-2 win. This was one of Daisuke Kanou’s rare bad games, and Ma’a Nonu had himself a great game, stopping 51 shots. Tarik Saeijs had four points in that game, but Riga couldn’t keep their momentum in game two. Davos won 2-0, and Kanou answered a poor performance in game one with a clutch shutout in game two. His stellar play wavered in game three though, as both teams traded goals in a 6-4 win for Riga, and Mikka Virkkunen had four points for the Reign. But once again, the momentum failed to continue to the next game, which seems to be a recurring pattern. The Dynamo won game four 4-2 off of two third period goals. The goalies, especially Daisuke Kanou, had failed to seriously impress this series with exception of his shutout and Ma’a Nonu’s 51 save performance. Game five was much of the same for the two goalies, as the Dynamo won 5-4 in overtime, and took a 3-2 series lead over the favored Riga Reign. David Vidal recorded a hat trick for the Dynamo, including what tied the game with six minutes left. Chad Murphy won it in overtime for Davos and they could head back home with their heads up. Game six was the game the Dynamo had been waiting for, as they jumped to a quik 4-1 lead and never looked back. They won it 5-2 off the back of Anton Brekkers four points, and Davos was headed back to the finals

 

The Finals were officially set; it would be a rematch of the previous year between Davos and Toronto. The Dynamo were not nearly as good as last year, yet they had a real shot at repeating. In another battle between Kanou and Shaw, the Dynamo won game one in a low scoring 2-1 game. Anton Brekker scored the game winner with just under five minutes to go, and the Dynamo stole home ice from the Legion. They wouldn’t let it get out of hand though, as they fought back for a 3-1 win in game two. Kanou again failed to impress, finishing with a save percentage under .900 once again. Game three was a different story for Kanou, as he stopped 37 of 39 shots, but it wasn’t enough. Christopher Hawkins snuck one by Kanou to win it in overtime, and gave Toronto a 2-1 series lead. Kanou continued to perform very well but his team simply could not generate offense, and they lost game four 2-1, and heading to Toronto in a 3-1 hole. As game five started, the Dynamo went up 3-1 in the first period, and held the lead into the third. Peyton Nydroj scored five minutes into the third to cut the lead in half, and JD Stormwall scored with four minutes left in the third to force overtime. There was no scoring in the first overtime, or in the second. It took three overtimes to decide our winner, where Lars Berger tucked one home on the Legions 70th shot of the night to win the Continental Cup for Toronto. Kanou made 66 saves on 70 shots, and Shaw made 55 saves on 58 shots. This was a goalie battle for the ages, and Toronto came out on top.

 

While Toronto may have won the most wanted trophy in the VHL, other individual awards had to be handed out as well. Daisuke Kanou won the MVP, with his .926 save percentage. I feel that Aidan Shaw was FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY, as he won the top goaltender trophy but not MVP. Jardy Bunclewirth of the Calgary Wranglers won the Mike Szatkowski trophy, with 136 points. Markus Strauss scored 60 goals and Oliver Scarlett had 80 assists, in their Kevin Brooks and Alexander Beketov trophy winning seasons. The top defenseman award also went to Oliver Scarlett. The top rookie was Jon Cruze of Calgary, and the Wranglers were starting to piece together a good young core.

 

That’s all for season 21. It was definitely quite the season for goalies, and not the season the Americans will look fondly on. All in all, the Toronto Legion came out of it with another Continental Cup to their name, and they had some team. Next week we will look at Season 22, where things change pretty drastically for some of the top squads. Feel free to leave feedback in the reply section  Season 22 will be out Wednesday!