S66 VHL Finals | The Curse

[Matt_O 896]

 Helsinki Titans vs Vancouver Wolves 

 

 

In sports, when a team goes many years without success, it is considered a curse. In baseball, we had the Curse of the Bambino, which was an 86 year period where the Red Sox didn't win the World Series. We also have the Curse of the Billy Goat, where the Cubs didn't win the World Series in over 100 years. In the NHL, the Rangers went 54 years without a cup, and it was called the Dutton Curse. Both these teams have players that some deemed to be 'cursed'. In Vancouver's case, the entire organization seems to be cursed. Lets take a look into both franchises, and any curses that may be broken this year.

 

 

Vancouver Wolves: Curse of Cornholio

 

The Wolves had an incredible streak of success through the S50s, with four finals appearances in a row. They only won one cup in that time period, and all of this happened in the very successful tenure of Frank Chadwick. Chadwick stepped down in S58, leaving a hole to be filled. @Beaviss took the Wolves (Meute at the time) GM role and ran with it. He ran a successful rebuild, and made the finals in S62, but fell to Calgary in seven games. Things looked great for the Wolves, and the future was bright. Things hit a snag in S63, where they lost to Riga in the semi finals. It got ever worse in S64, where the Wolves were forced to play their backup goalie because they failed to follow the Keaton Louth rule, ironically named after the Wolves GM for his inability to follow that rule. They were quickly eliminated by the eventual champs, and Vancouver headed into the offseason with a lot to think about.

 

In S65, things looked great for Vancouver. While Seattle and Riga were still the favorites, they sat comfortably in the second tier of teams, alongside Helsinki and slightly ahead of New York. They even started out the season great, sitting in second place after the first twenty games. This roster was very talented, and they were practically shoe ins to make the playoffs. Know one could of guessed what would happen to them. They couldn't win any games down the stretch, and watched themselves slip down the standings, all the way down to seventh place. A roster that talented had no business doing that poorly. It truly se576 games.emed like Beaviss was cursed.

 

This year, things were a little different. Throughout the season, they sat comfortably among the top three teams in the North American Conference, and faught with Calgary and New York for the first seed. They eventually landed in the second seed, and would go onto face a New York squad that was mostly inactive. Kingfisher and the Americans fought hard, but Gritty's overtime goal in Game 6 was the perfect ending to a great series. The Wolves now were going to face the Wranglers for a spot in the finals. 

 

The Wolves fought tooth and nail through the series, winning games one and three, before dropping games four and five. The dominating win in game six forced a game seven, and it was one for the ages. With the game heading into double overtime, Shawn Glade put the team on his back, scoring his second of the night and winning the series for Vancouver. This came after the blockbuster trade involving Marvin Harding and Shawn Glade at the deadline, and it looks like it was a good move for Vancouver. The Curse of Cornholio has a chance to be broken, but they will have to take down a loaded Helsinki squad.

 

 

The Curse of Jackson Miller

 

While @Beketov is the VHL Commissioner and is one of the most well known names of the league, his players haven't been so successful. He only has one hall of famer out of eleven players, a pretty poor record. Recently, his lack of success has been very sad. While Matt Thompson puts up great individual stats, both Seattle Bears teams that won the Victory Cup failed to win a playoff series, and Thompson never saw the finals. Roman Sokolov, the player before Thompson, also struggled to find postseason success. In his seven seasons with the Legion, they never made the finals, and Sokolov struggled to produce on the big stage.  Despite two founders cups, the award cabinet was empty for Sokolov.

 

Jakab Holik was another one of Bek's players. Holik was actually a really good goalie, winning the Aidan Shaw Trophy in S53. He played for New York and Seattle in a five year career, and once again had no postseason success. In all five postseasons, Holik wasn't as good as he was in the regular season, and his team never reached the finals. Beketov is now three years removed from his last finals appearance, where the Helsinki Titans won the cup in S46 with Jackson Miller on their team. Miller was a very good player, with 616 points in 576 games. He won two cups in his career, but Beketov has no finals appearance since that S46 cup run with Helsinki. 

 

Thompson decided to move from Seattle, and signed with Helsinki as a free agent in the S65 offseason. He played alongside stars such as Julian Borwinn, Sidney Crosby, Jesse Wilson, and Alexander Pepper, as the Titans cruised through the regular season and ran away with the Victory Cup. In the semi finals, they ran over Davos in five games, partially ending the Curse of Jackson Miller.

 

The Curse isn't gone yet though. While making the finals was half the battle, they still need to win three more games to fully eliminate this curse. 

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One of the two curses will be broken this season, and the other will continue. Will the Cornholio curse continue into their new home? Or will the Helsinki Titans lose to the Wolves? We can wait and see.

[Beaviss 4,949]

This is the first final in awhile where the story lines create the hype. No matter who wins this will be one of the best finals that's come around in a long time.

[Beketov 8,642]

So many victory cups, so few finals appearances. I had at least 2 with Holik as well and I think 1 with Sokolov. Not like I’ve been playing on shit teams.

 

It’s a hyped up finals for sure, far more interesting than the Cinderella stories out of left field we’ve been having lately.

[Beaviss 4,949]

5 hours ago, Beketov said:

So many victory cups, so few finals appearances. I had at least 2 with Holik as well and I think 1 with Sokolov. Not like I’ve been playing on shit teams.

 

It’s a hyped up finals for sure, far more interesting than the Cinderella stories out of left field we’ve been having lately.

 

Vancouver is both a Curse and Cinderella story.