Season 22: Year in Review

[Matt_O 896]

After our look at Season 21, we can turn our head to Season 22. After Toronto’s championship run, they looked to get even better, and started the off season with a big trade. They traded Max Kroenenburg to Helsinki for a second round pick. The Legion traded for Phil Gerrard from Seattle for a handful of picks. Seattle also dealt their elite goaltender Joey Clarence and defenseman Dante Terrigini for two first round picks, a second and a third. The Bears weren’t done dealing; they also moved Cam Fowler for a few picks and two young players.

 

DRAFT:

 

The Season 22 draft was one of the worst in VHL history. It featured no hall of famers, and had multiple sub 100 TPE guys go in the first round. Clint Guite went first overall to Vasteras, and that was the only notable moments of the underwhelming draft.

 

Last year the Toronto Legion took home the victory cup, and they built on that. They finished with an absurd 126 points, a 62-8-2 record. Aidan Shaw had an MVP type year, even though he was robbed once again. Lars Berger and Peyton Nydroj both finished with over one hundred points. Their offseason acquisition Phil Gerrard tallied 85 points of his own. The Legion were so good, their backup goalie TOR G finished with a 5-4 record and an admirable 2.78 GAA. They finished 27 points ahead of the second placed Helsinki Titans.

 

The Helsinki Titans finally made it back to the playoffs after barely missing out the two seasons prior. Cam Fowler, who they got in the offseason, had 110 points for the Titans. The Helsinki depth was what killed teams and made them successful, with seven players over sixty points, Max Kroenenburg, an offseason acquisition from Toronto, finished with 61 points. Their young goaltender Jakob Kjeldson finally stepped into the moment, capping off his breakout season with a .915 Save Percentage and 2.28 GAA.

 

Like last season, Helsinki and Davos finished with the same point total, however Davos was this time on the wrong end of the tiebreaker. The Dynamo didn’t have the depth the Titans had, but they had the aging core of Anton Brekker, Jordan Berglund, Jonathan Slade, and Heinrich Olen still holding down the fort. Daisuke Kanou had another one of his legendary seasons, with a .922 Save Percentage and a 2.17 GAA. Brekker was once again their top player offensively, collecting 118 points and 57 goals.

 

The Calgary Wranglers tank over the last few seasons began to pay dividends. They made the playoffs with 96 points, led by goaltender Joey Clarence, who they acquired from Seattle in the offseason. Mathias Chouinard and Evgeni Fyodorov were the most notable names of this team. One interesting thing about the Wranglers is that they only had two defenseman, but they made it work. Jardy Bunclewirth also won the Mike Szatkowski trophy with 136 points and then dipped, finishing with merely 86 points this season.

 

Unlike previous years, the playoff cut off point had a significant drop off. After the four playoff teams made it in, the best team that missed the playoffs were the New York Americans, still in the middle of their tank, and only had 52 points, 44 behind the playoff cut off. Jukka Hakkinen was their top player once again, and new comer Fantastic McAwesome became an early candidate for best name in VHL history. It was a similar story for the Bears, who tore everything down in the offseason, trading away big names such as Cam Fowler and goaltender Joey Clarence. They still had Markus Strauss, who continued VHL dominance, with 131 points, easily the most in the league that season. They also had up and comer Marek Mueller on the squad, who was on their of their top prospects. The Riga Reign also took a major step back after last years disappointing exit in the playoffs vs Davos. Tarek Saeijs and Oliver Scarlett both took huge steps back, failing to build on their award winning seasons. Goalie Ma’a Nonu still had a solid year even with the team failing to win games around him. But none of these three teams were as bad as Vasteras, who finished dead last in the league. Besides goalie Andreas Bjorkman, nobody impressed, as their top scorer only had 70 points. First overall pick Clint Guite finished with 36 points, an OK rookie campaign. This Vasteras team was building for the future, and they seemed to have something going.

 

TRADE DEADLINE

 

The only notable move at the deadline was a deal between the Bears and the Reign. They put together a deal centered around a handful of draft picks, as the Bears got a first, second, and two thirds, while Riga got two firsts, and three seconds. The first rounder the Bears got was Riga’s pick, so as long as Riga didn’t get a top 3 pick they looked like the winner of the trade.

 

PLAYOFFS

 

The two matchups of the playoffs feature the Legion facing the Wranglers in an all-canadian rivalry, and Davos took on Helsinki.

 

The Legion, who were far and away the best team, wanted to repeat, while the Wranglers wanted to make their first playoff appearance since their Season 19 cup run a memorable one. Games one and two in Toronto were won by the underdog Wranglers, shutting down the Legion offense in both games. Game one they shut out the Legion, and Clarence had a forty save shutout. Game two they barely scraped out off, and they rode Roman Andreevs hat trick to victory. Game three went to Toronto, as Phil Gerrard scored twice and Shaw made 27 saves on 29 shots for the 4-2 victory. Game four swung back in Calgary's favor, and they shut out the Legion again, with a 3-0 victory to take a 3-1 series lead. Clarence made 28 saves, and their elite winger Mathias Chouinard scored twice to lead them to victory. They had Toronto, the far superior team, on the ropes. Toronto responded in game five, collecting a narrow 2-1 victory in the must win to force game six. Game six was in Calgary, and Toronto was in must win territory. They dominated the Wranglers, only allowing ten shots the whole game. That being said, it was still scoreless heading into the final minutes of the third. David Walcott, with only 1:42 on the clock, scored on the powerplay after CAL RW took a hooking penalty. Chris Hawkins put the game away a minute later by scoring into the empty net, and the Legion forced game seven. This was probably one of the most frustrating games to watch in the Wranglers franchise history. Game seven was a similar story, as the Legion took care of business with a 4-3 win over Calgary. Lars Bergers hat trick secured the win for Toronto, completing the comeback over the Wranglers.

 

Now, we head to Europe. Davos faced the resurging Helsinki Titans, who barely missed out on the playoffs the last two years. Game one was in Helsinki, but the experienced Davos team put on a clinic. This left a bad taste in many peoples mouthes, and the calls that it was rigged were all over the place. Helsinki had fourteen penalties in one game, compared to the Dynamos four. Game two was also a subject of controversy, as Davos had seven powerplays compared to the Titans single powerplay. The Titans still fought through and won game two 7-5, in what may be Kanou’s worst playoff game ever. They carried the momentum and won game three in Davos, after Syd Drayson scored with only 41 seconds left in the third. Game four went the Titans way again, as Cam Fowler scored in overtime to win game four for the Titans. Fowler was quietly having a legendary postseason, with three or more points in the last three games. Now facing elimination, the poised Dynamo didn’t give up. Gordon Shore scored with three minutes left to give Davos a 3-2 edge over the Titans in game five. Kanou had a 38 save performance in the win for Davos. Now the Titans had to head back to Davos for game six, where the Dynamo once again stiffled the Titans, winning game six to force a seventh game. Brekkers powerplay goal early in the third was the game winner, as the Dynamo edged the Titans 3-2. Game seven had a ton of hype surrounding it, but the Titans quickly jumped on Davos, and won 6-2 and had 50 shots on net. Cam Fowler led the way with 4 points, and the Titans were heading to the finals.

 

The Continental cup finals between the Titans and the Legion felt like a repeat of last year; the Legion should handle whoever comes out of the European conference. Toronto was far better than everyone else, but apparently the Titans didn’t get that memo. They won game one 5-1, including four unanswered goals in the third period, and smothered the Legion, doubling their shot total. In game two, it seemed like a similar story, storming to a 2-0 lead heading to the third. The Legion wouldn’t go down quietly, and dropped three straight goals, including two by James Bencharski. Game three was a battle, tied at two heading to the third. Cam Fowler scored early in the third and the Titans shut down the Legion in the third to win game three. Game four was a repeat of game one, as the Titans took a 3-1 series lead with a 5-1 win over the Legion. They were all over the favored Legion in the first four games of the series, and Toronto was in a similar spot they were in against Calgary. Game five was all Toronto, and the Legion absolutely shut down the Titans offense. Now, it boiled down to a game six. For the Legion, if they lost, it was over. For the Titans, they had a chance to win it all, and losing wasn’t an option. Heading to Toronto for game seven was not what they wanted. The Legion started game six with a quik goal from Peyton Nydroj, but Fowler responded to tie it up. Lars Berger scored at the end of the second to give the Legion a 2-1 lead heading to the second. Cam Fowler tied it again with eight minutes left in the third, but David Walcott gave the Legion another lead just two minutes later. That would not be it, as Adam Schultz tied it at three with 3:15 left in the game. The two teams headed to overtime. Only two minutes in, Syd Drayson scored another clutch goal and the Helsinki Titans became continental cup champions for the first time since season 15. The heavily favored Toronto Legion had fallen, and it seemed like this was the turning point of the Legion’s fortunes. The Titans became a staple in the VHL’s elite, and Cam Fowler won the Playoff MVP trophy.

 

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

 

Anton Brekker of HC Davos took home the MVP, in a season where Aidan Shaw got absolutely robbed once again. Markus Strauss won the Kevin Brooks and Mike Szatkowski trophy, as previously mentioned. The best defenseman was a shared award, where James Bencharski and Dante Terragini both had outstanding seasons. Aidan Shaw won the top goaltender, and that was the only hardware he would collect that season, despite his legendary performance. Evgeni Fydorov won rookie of the year, to cap off a strong season for Calgary.

 

Season 22 had one of the most incredible underdog wins in VHL history with Helsinki’s win over Toronto. Next season, a trade Seattle made in their contending days comes back and bites them. Multiple block buster trades, and teams taking steps back and teams making positive strides fill season 23, which we will take a look at next monday.

[Fire Berhalter 3,107]

I got mentioned-ish. Not specifically, but as part of the line "Calgary had 2 defensemen but they made it work" - one of those defensemen was Lars Intranquilo, which was my first guy

[Victor 10,680]

Berger

 

Can't believe Helsinki beat that team.

[Matt_O 896]

5 hours ago, Victor said:

Berger

 

Can't believe Helsinki beat that team.

When I was scrolling through the archive and saw that Toronto lost to Helsinki I went apeshit I got so hype

[Hybrid1486 577]

Being the first overall pick of one of the worst drafts in VHL history will always be the highlight of my resume here