Calgary Wranglers: Season 23

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

GM: Jardy Bunclewirth

Record (after S20): 288 GP | 132 W | 138 L | 18 OTL | 282 P | 1,027 GF | 1,129 GA

Playoff Record (after S20): 19 GP | 11 W | 7 L | 1 OTL | 1-1 vs TOR, 1-0 vs HEL

 

Season 21 VHL Entry Draft

Round 1, Pick 3: Jeff Dar

Round 2, Pick 14 (from Seattle, via Davos, via Vasteras): Nick Grabner

Round 2, Pick 16 (From Toronto): Fernando Garcia Jr

Round 3, Pick 19: Donovan Ganja

Round 3, Pick 24 (From Toronto): Pass

 

This Season 22 draft was really weak as there were no HoF players in it. I think this is the first and only draft to have this distinction. Jeff Dar was taken with the 3rd overall pick followed by Grabner and Garcia Jr. It wasn't the best draft so other than Dar, Calgary didn't get much.

 

Season 23 Regular Season - 72 GP | 46 W | 22 L | 4 OTL | 96 P | 230 GF | 158 GA

The Calgary Wranglers finished with 2 more wins than the last season but they finished with the same amount of points. This lead to another 2nd place finish in the North American Conference but instead f being 30 points behind 1st, the Wranglers were 1 point behind 1st. My memory didn't serve me correctly, I said Fydorov didn't turn into much but so far in 2 seasons he has scored 97 and 100 points. This season he led the team in scoring with his 100 points, the only Wrangler to break that mark. Chouinard and Bunclewirth did their usual thing with sold seasons of 86 points each. Andreev turned into the 4th wheel and had a decent secondary scoring season with 67 points.

 

Jon Cruze led the defense again in scoring with 69 points. Rookie Jeff Dar was the Marc Methot to the Erik Karlsson with 35 points but he played solid defensively. Dante Terragni and Lars Intranquilo were somewhere in the middle and had great seasons themselves. Joey Clarence was solid in net once again with 43 wins, 0.921 save percentage and a 1.98 G.A.A to go with 10 shutouts.

 

Season 23 Playoffs - 12 GP | 8 W | 3 L | 1 OTL | beat Toronto Legion, beat Helsinki Titans

Another meeting with the Toronto Legion in the first round. Many thought this might go the down to the wire considering how close they were in the standings. Toronto won game 1 pretty convincingly with a 5-2 romp. Jon Cruze did his best with a goal and assist. In game 2, the Wranglers won 4-1 with strong performances from Jake Steen (1G, 2 A) who was a trade deadline pickup. Game 3 saw the two teams go to OT with Roman Andreev being the hero. Game 4 had the Wranglers taking a 3-1 series stranglehold as Jon Cruze continued his strong play with 2 goals. To finish the Legion off, Clarence shut them out while Chouinard scored his 4th and 5th goals of the series.

 

The finals of the 23rd season came down to the Wranglers from Calgary, Alberta and the Titans from Helsinki, Finland. The Wranglers took a W in Finland with a 2-1 win. Dante Terragni had 2 assists in the game. JC saved 29 of 30 shots. Game 2 didn't go quite as well with a 5-1 loss. Terragni scored the lone goal. Game 3 back in Alberta ended in heartbreak as the Titans won in OT. Terragni continued his strong finals performance with another goal. JC tried his best with 32 saves. Calgary tied the series with a 3-1 win. Evgeny Fyodorov was the hero with 2 goals. Game 5 back in Helsinki was a 2-1 loss for the Wranglers as both teams played to a defensive battle with just 19 shots a piece. Fyodorov scored the lone goal. Calgary kept the hopes alive with a 4-3 win in Game 6 including coming back for 2-0 down. Mathias Chouinard had a huge game with 2 goals and 2 assists. Going into Game 7 it appeared to be anyone's game. JC was the main hero with a 24 save shutout and Fyodorov scoring 2 goals. The Calgary Wranglers have just won their 6th Continental Cup in the VHL making them the most decorated team in VHL History.

 

 

Trades:

Not available until Season 35

 

Awards:

Season 23 Continental Cup Winner

Season 23 Devon Marlow-Marta Trophy Winner

Season 23 Daisuke Kanou Trophy Winner (Mathias Chouinard)

Season 23 David Knight Trophy Winner (Jardy Bunclewirth)

Season 23 Grimm Jonnson Trophy Winner (Jardy Bunclewirth)

 

Overall:

The rebuild lasts 2 seasons really with the Wranglers making the playoffs in S22, 2 seasons after the huge sell off in S20 and S21. It culminates with a S23 championship marking it the 6th Continental Cup for the Wranglers which is most all time. The team also improves to 80 total trophies.

 

Since S20, Bunclewirth is still the leading goal scorer and point getter on the team with 192 goals and 437 points. Chouinard is closing in on him with 180 goals and 393 points of his own. Roman Andreev has been a solid player in his 4 seasons with the team with 162 goals and 351 points. Jon Cruze is the only other player to break 200 points and he has 47 goals and 232 points. Fyodorov is making a push as he has 94 goal and 191 points in just 2 seasons. Lars Intranquilo is making a push for 200 points in a Wrangler uniform as well, he has 185. Mathias Chouinard is far and away the best skater in the playoffs with 27 points in 19 games. Fyodorov has 19 in 19 games and is the only other Wrangler with more than 10 goals. Joey Clarence cements himself as one of the best Wrangler goalies so far with a 87-32-10 record to go along with a 0.920 save percentage and a 2.10 G.A.A and 15 shutouts. Clarence is also the only Wrangler goalie to play in the playoffs and has a 11-7-1 record with a 0.933 save percentage and a 1.83 G.A.A and 4 shutouts.

 

Calgary Wrangler S20-S23 stats