Facts and bits about the S66 playoffs

[Victor 11,021]

Doing some of my VHL history updates and have picked up some interesting points about the playoffs just gone.

 

• As I mentioned in Game 4 of the finals, Helsinki won the cup with an 8-1 record. Only one team has ever done that before, being S19 Calgary, which some might remember as a trivia question in the last couple of seasons or @Quik might remember since he was on the team with me. It's odd that this Helsinki team was the one to match that long-standing record, since on paper they weren't an exceptional cup winner, but it helped that Europe was much stronger than North America and Davos collapsed in the conference finals.
• There have only been six finals sweeps in VHL history, but two have happened in the last three seasons. As above, Helsinki wouldn't have been the first name to pop into my head as likely candidates, although still more likely than S64 Toronto. Also, the last time there were two sweeps in three seasons, the second of those was S19 Calgary. Weird.
• Going back to Davos, normal VHL logic states that they should have probably won the cup in S66 based on having, on paper, the best offence in the league. It didn't quite work out and god knows what they're doing this off-season. However, shoutout to Finn Davison @Poptart who put up a .960 save percentage in the sweep of Riga, saving 95 of 99 shots fired at him*. That does mean that Riga managed less than 25 shots per game, quite an offensive collapse for them. The only comparable that comes to mind is when Cologne, after securing a bye to the second round in S40, was eliminated in about 3 hours and took just 72 shots in 4 games. Riga's goalie, Mike Szatkowski Jr., allowed just 6 goals but didn't make the spreadsheet below that Davison now graces. **

https://vhlforum.com/topic/35246-greatest-goaltending-performances-in-single-playoff-series/

 

* you could call this Davison's "Callum Sinclair" performance @solas - let's see if he can repeat it in future seasons unlike Sinclair and have his Shawn Brodeur @TheLastOlympian07 performance eventually - Davos needs it.

** It does also say something about Davos in the next round that Davison's save % then collapsed to .917 – yikes.

[Quik 4,113]

@Victor any chance you have a spreadsheet for members in the Finals? This was my 6th straight season, would be interesting to know what the record is for consecutive appearances.

[Victor 11,021]

Just now, Quik said:

@Victor any chance you have a spreadsheet for members in the Finals? This was my 6th straight season, would be interesting to know what the record is for consecutive appearances.

Not something I created yet and might be a bit more difficult to do retrospectively (what with 17 seasons missing), but I'll put in on the list, might be something that tickles my fancy one day.

[Bayley 419]

9th all-time, dang, I will take that.