Who's still around from old cup winning teams? - Part 3 [1/2]

[Victor 10,622]

You asked, I figured it's a pretty easy topic to get my TPE for 2-3 weeks, so here's the third and final instalment of people still around from cup-winning seasons. Let's take a slightly shorter trip down memory lane from S41 to S60 and I won't go any further than that as I think we've retained the vast majority of more recent cup winners. And in case you missed them, parts 1 and 2, which now may need to be updated for the likes of @animal74, @Sebster03, and whoever else has come back in the past few weeks, can be found below:

 

https://vhlforum.com/topic/63670-whos-still-around-from-old-cup-winning-teams/

https://vhlforum.com/topic/63686-whos-still-around-from-old-cup-winning-teams-part-2/

 

Season 41 New York Americans @sterling @Smarch @Tyler @Advantage @Victor @gorlab @der meister @TheLastOlympian07

We start off with a team pretty similar to the S39 New York squad, still stacked with some of the biggest names of the time, both player- and member-wise like Tom Slaughter, Conner Low, Milos Denis and Brick Wahl. There were some changes though, like me joining the team as Matt Bentley, as well as two fresh faced S40 draftees – gorlab on his first player Jody 3 Moons, and der meister on his second player Christoph Klose. There's also I believe just the second cup for the typically inactive TheLastOlympian who featured as Dimothenis Vlasis. In fact, I believe the only member of this team no longer with us is Boragina's second and last player Mikkel Boomgaarden, a depth defenceman.

 

Season 42 Cologne Express @Green @diamond_ace @Devise @flyersfan1453 @stevo

The tenth franchise to win the cup, this would be Cologne's only triumph thanks in large part to securing the top two picks in the much hyped S40 draft – Thomas O'Malley and Mason Richardson. O'Malley is still around following Green's recreation, and will feature heavily in this decade, although he wasn't quite the star of the show yet – that honour goes to diamond_ace's slightly unlucky goalie Martin Brookside, who did come through in the end as Cologne's MVP. Robin Gow was a trade deadline acquisition who made a difference, while Devise was busy trading away picks to get the cup and appeared on the team as Logan Laich. Last but not least, stevo, the Cologne loyalist, got his reward with a cup for Ron World Peace and recently came back under his actual username.

 

Season 43 Seattle Bears @Trifecta @Bushito @Higgins @Molholt @Phil

This. Fucking. Team. Somehow stopping Cologne from repeating despite no future Hall of Famers or an active GM for most of S43, this was the Cinderella story to end all Cinderella stories from Seattle. The star was probably Niklaus Mikaelson, one of Trifecta's finest creations, and if not him then one of that season's two GMs – Bushito (Brady Stropko) or Higgins (James Faraday). Molholt made an appearance as AC Savage, not one of his finest creations, and the captain was one Phil Villeneuve – both the latter two have only recently made triumphant returns. Apologies if any of Karlsson, Escabar, or Samuelsson are currently under a different username as I seem to recall one of them was.

 

Season 44 Calgary Wranglers @Positivefan036 @CowboyinAmerica @Beketov @InstantRockstar

This would have been the underdog story of its generation if it wasn't for the team immediately before it, but Calgary also played its part in stopping Cologne from winning a second championship. This was eaglesfan's finest moment as GM, with his player at the time being Tim TebowGow. The star of the team was a young Hans Wingate though, as CowboyinAmerica got his first of many cup rings, but quite a few of the other members, despite being quite prolific at the time, are no longer with us. However, there is a bit more active alumni in Jackson Miller (Beketov) and Teuvo Ruutu (instantrockstar).

 

Season 45 Helsinki Titans @Will @Phil @Victor @Green @der meister @Bushito @Kylrad

Pretty much textbook VHL GMing in the 2-line era. Draper aka Will added three TPE whoring rookies in himself (Aleksi Koponen), myself (Greg Clegane), and Phil (Phil Hamilton) and pulled off a trade for two big stars of the time in O'Malley and Klose, already cup winners in their entry-level years. There was also an inactive appearance for Stropko and the first of many cups for Marcel Faux – just a shout-out here for Tylar, now inactive but a big Helsinki loyalist both here with this and other players. Finally Souryuu Kaminogi was an underrated defenceman maintained by Kylrad, now another underrated defenceman in Davos.

 

Season 46 Helsinki Titans - same as above less Bushito add @Beketov

Not much changed here from S45 other than Stropko out and Jackson Miller in – this would be Beketov's last cup until he returned to Helsinki in S66, maybe that was the problem all along?

 

Season 47 New York Americans @Green @Tagger @tfong @street @jRuutu @Banackock @.sniffuM

Helsinki probably should have given the threepeat a better shot here, but the cup went where O'Malley went in this era and that was to New York for his final season. Before O'Malley joined this was already a strong team, with Tagger on his finest player in Edwin Reencarnacion, while tfong and streetlight featured as Biggu Kyanon and Lloyd Light. Devise was around with another squad player in Thaddeus Humbert, while we also had two first championships – captain Jorma Ruutu and goalie Blake Campbell were jRuutu's and Banackock's first players respectively. Finally, giving this some old school New York vibes was Damien with E'Twaun Delicious.

 

Season 48 Toronto Legion @CowboyinAmerica @Molholt @DollarAndADream @stevo @Higgins @hedgehog337 @Positivefan036

Right, here we go. It didn't feel like it would be a threepeat at the time was the core was in place once Hans Wingate joined in free agency. He joined forwards Max Molholt and Zach Parechkin (DollarAndADream seeking his first ever cup), LeAndre St. Pierre, World B. Free (stevo), and first overall pick Black Velvet (Higgins). TebowGow from earlier was providing some veteran blood, as was Benjamin Zeptenbergs, although this was the future eternal Riga GM's first ever championship.

 

Season 49 Toronto Legion - same as above except Positivefan

A few minor tweaks here as TebowGow retired and was replaced by Marcel Faux. The core and Zeptenbergs remained however.

 

Season 50 Toronto Legion - same as above except hedgehog replaced by @Tagger and @diamond_ace

The salary cap continued to decrease the roster size and Zeptenbergs retired, but Molholt went for quality over quantity and added Reencarnacion and Hyvarinen on their final season seeking their second championship each. That was enough for possibly the most impressive of the three cup victories, even if it did go to seven games in the final.

 

Season 51 Riga Reign @JardyB10 @sterling @TheLastOlympian07 @BluObieZ @Green @Trifecta

Toronto was a goal away from pulling off a fourpeat, but were denied by Riga in Game 7 of Cleganebowl, with Sandro (Jardy) defeating Greg (me) after Toronto lost Wingate to retirement and Velvet to free agency. Riga on the other hand profited quite a bit from free agency, signing Jeff Hamilton (sterling), Shawn Muller (TLO), and Sir William Covington III (Robbie). That was quite for them as their core before that featured not much more than a young Pietro Maximoff (Green), while their acquired Kai Roberts (Trifecta) alongside the younger Clegane in the off-season. Pretty good result for a hastily built team.

 

Season 52 and 53 New York Americans @Devise @street @gorlab @Phil @BluObieZ @gregreg

We're hitting the peak back-to-back territory of the 50s and while I split out Helsinki and Toronto, let's save space and time here. Devise managed to get three top forwards together in Diana Maxwell, Tom Lincoln, and Unassisted, although only one of them, streetlight, is still with us. The key players elsewhere were Bobby Digital, gorlab's second player, and Phil Shankly, Phil's umpteenth player, while M.T. Power did in S53 what J.B. Rift couldn't in S66, and that's defend the crown as a rookie goalie. The guest visiting star was Covington in S52 and then Joel Jarvi (Greg) in S53, who swapped record-chasing with Cologne for a cup in New York.

 

Season 54 and 55 Helsinki Titans @BluObieZ @Higgins @solas @flyersfan1453 @Bushito @Trifecta

Covington was controversially traded from New York to Helsinki via Cologne (for some reason I was dragged back from inactivity to make a ruling on that trade deadline debacle) and got his third cup anyway in S54 before retiring. Apart from him and Higgins' Black Velvet, of threepeat fame, this was pretty much a homegrown team, featuring Theo Axelsson (solas), Shayne Gow (flyersfan), Hudson Abbott (Bushito), and Astrid Moon (Trifecta). The two key members who would actually stick around until the S60 cup wouldn't stick around in the league until today though, for very different reasons, being Franchise Cornerstone (boubabi) and Rudoplh Schmeckeldorf (Corco).

 

Season 56 Quebec City Meute @Will @solas @Green @jRuutu @Velevra @tfong @Bushito

Eight players but what an eight players. Other than the GM, Frank, whose player was Pierre Gaudette, every member of this Quebec team is still around, with 5 Hall of Famers – John Locke (Will), Lukas Muller (solas), Pietro Maximoff (Green), Fabio Jokinen (jRuutu), and Apollo Skye (Velevra), as well as Fook Yu (tfong), and Hudson Abbott (Bushito), who promptly retired with three cups in three seasons.

 

Season 57 and 58 Riga Reign @hedgehog337 @Will @solas @der meister @Phil @Smarch @Tyler @Jonessee27 @Positivefan036

Locke would then move to Riga to form a legendary duo with Fredinamijs Krigars (hedgehog), with Muller joining them in S58 after the role of veteran center was played by Essian Ravenwing (der meister) in S57. Those were the star players but the other team roles were also filled out by big names like Phil Shankly, Rusty Trombone (Smarch), Niko Bogdanovic (Jonessee), and Slava Aleksei (Tyler). There was also a cameo appearance from eaglesfan when The Process moved to Riga for S58.

 

Season 59 Seattle Bears @Banackock @CowboyinAmerica @BluObieZ @TheLastOlympian07 @Quik @Advantage

As we neared the end of the dark days of project player two and having recently contracted, Bana also brought Seattle out of the darkness with two of his players on the team. The co-playoff MVPs were Gabriel McAllister (CowboyinAmerica) and Vernon von Axelberry (Robbie), but most of the team is in fact still around, including Shawn Gretzky (TLO), Mats Johnsson (Quik), Peter Quill (Green), and Dexter Lane (Advantage).

 

Season 60 Helsinki Titans @Higgins @Will @solas @Pandar

And finally, peak Project Player Two – two final players for Higgins, two players from his newly banned assistant GM boubabi, and two players picked up from previously successful Riga and Quebec teams in Locke and Muller. The only new username here was Pandar, getting a late but deserved cup with Marc-Alexandre Leblanc, as the shitshow which was the VHL's sixth decade came to an end.

 

1,668 words so 3 weeks for Pavlov.

[gorlab 4,321]

Quite a motley crew of old mf'ers featured in this article.

 

Good times, though. 

[BluObieZ 1,125]

Ah yes... 4 in 6 seasons

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

4 in  6 indeed, O'Malley

[Seabass 593]

Nice work love these history lessons

[sterling 1,990]

That S41 team looks great still 

[eaglesfan036 4,585]

@Beketov was Calgary the last time you won a championship before this season?

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

3peat was fun.

[Beketov 8,731]

23 minutes ago, Positivefan036 said:

@Beketov was Calgary the last time you won a championship before this season?

No, S46 with Helsinki but not too far off really.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

ive won a cup every decade since S40. S42 with Dimothenis Vlasis. S51 with Muller. S59 with Gretzky. S60 or S61 with Brodeur. pretty good after not winning a cup from S7-S41

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

S43 Bears>

[Higgins 3,618]

Team Higgins & boubabi did daaaaamage

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

On 6/29/2019 at 5:03 PM, Higgins said:

Team Higgins & boubabi did daaaaamage

 

Hey how's it going?

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

Review: It's great that someone did this. It definitely gives insight to what the past was like for the new people of the VHL and it helps them learn the history. It's been good having you back Victor to write these amazing pieces and help the community out. I am still alive and kicking luckily and I just want to say that it was a hell of a ride in S43.

[eaglesfan036 4,585]

@diamond_ace remember Calgary's number one captain @Cuffy? Wonder what he is up to these days

[diamond_ace 3,106]

2 hours ago, Positivefan036 said:

@diamond_ace remember Calgary's number one captain @Cuffy? Wonder what he is up to these days

He's around in sba

[eaglesfan036 4,585]

13 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

He's around in sba

let's get him back here!

[Victor 10,622]

Week 2 for Pavlov.

[der meister 2,973]

Hi again, @Victor

[Victor 10,622]

Week 3 for Pavlov (doubled via donation)