What happened to the 10 "original" VHLM franchises?

[Victor 10,940]

Cast your mind back to S30, if you can, some point in early 2013. Or if you can't, just imagine the hype of the first ever VHL expansion as the league grew from eight teams to ten for the first time in 5 years and 30 seasons. It is still debatable whether the VHL was ready for that expansion, but what's certain is the VHLM did not, however it was still another five seasons or so before some genius commissioner () forced the two leagues to run separate sims. Until then, any changes that happened in the VHL had to be replicated in the minor league.

 

The VHL has gone through much upheaval since then – contraction, reexpansion, and everything in between. However, that's nothing compared to what's happened in the VHLM. Now entirely contained within North America and with the most teams it's ever had (eleven), the often neglected minor league is nothing like what it was on the first sim of S31, as I found out while trying to piece together a few bits of VHLM history the past week. So I thought I'd have a look at the fate of those 10 “original” post-expansion VHLM franchises and see where they are now, countless relocations, contractions, and expansions later.

 

Minot Gladiators

Who? Well, yes, this North Dakota city of 47,000 including its perhaps most passionate supporter (@701, wherever he may be now) was once a VHLM franchise, and in fact a staple of the VHLM for many veterans of the league. Almost a staple, that is, given the Gladiators had just been taken on a brief foray to Syracuse in a highly controversial move in S26 – S31 was in fact the team's first season back in Minot.

 

There was a bit of a romantic connection with the Gladiators for many members as they used to be quite successful and were affiliated with the Calgary Wranglers – in many ways the model franchise of early days VHL. However, Minot's third and final Founder's Cup was won in S19, before the VHL-VHLM affiliation model was abolished. Their last finals appearance came just before they came back to Minot, in S30. In truth, once the first wave of contraction hit in S42, as everyone realised the VHLM didn't need 10 teams, the Gladiators were the easy option to cull.

 

Ottawa Ice Dogs

Behold, the only franchise to have stayed in the VHLM for its entire 66-season-and-counting history. The Ice Dogs were not immune to to one name change which occurred not long after our Year Zero, in S33, as the VHLM's teams went through a significant rebrand and the one logo left lying around was of a cat, therefore the Ice Dogs had to become the Lynx.

 

Apart from that though, this is about as stable as you can get in the VHLM. Ottawa has been a mainstay in the league and has been rewarded with a league-leading 12 Founder's Cups – four ahead of its nearest challengers. It's generally a franchise known for smart and consistent management, the team of current VHLM commissioner Jason Glasser on two occasions, and former commissioners Jim Gow (for most of the 30s) and Jardy Bunclewirth (S46 to S54) on others. The Ice Dogs/Lynx have been to 20 finals (again, the most in the VHLM), 13 of those since becoming the Lynx and 7 of the last 11. A model franchise in every aspect, it's a far cry from some of the other entries here.

 

Saskatoon Wild

For most of their history as Seattle's affiliate, the Wild (aka the Fresno Bulls aka the Buffalo Jr. Bears) were a bit of a shambles but then in S16 they moved to Saskatoon and in S17 obtained the godsend that is Jack Reilly as GM. His name now adorns the league's top executive trophy, but he actually stepped down two seasons before expansion. However, the reputation built up by the Wild up to that point seemed to carry them through to continued existence until today.

 

In fact, that's nothing especially noteworthy about Saskatoon since S31 – not as a city or as a VHLM franchise. The Wild have won 5 of their 8 championships since then, have generally seen stable management (having to introduce an interim GM during their most recent cup in S63 notwithstanding), and just have never been bad enough to contract or unpopular enough to relocate. Saskatoon simply exists now as a link to the past, and although its history is a bit less rich than Ottawa's, it is now the second-longest lasting location in the VHLM (and longest without a name change).

 

Brampton Blades

Somewhat disappointingly, I have no idea when the Brampton Battalion became the Blades and there is almost certainly no way of finding out now. They were certainly the Blades by the time expansion rolled around and would have been fairly confident of surviving to the present day, but as more and more franchises bit the dust, it looks like Brampton was one of difficult decisions which needed to be killed off in the last wave of contraction (S53).

 

It's a bit of a shame, as although Brampton's best days came before S31, it was still a staple of the league much like Ottawa. Even late on in the franchise's life, the Blades went on a run of 13 playoff appearances in 14 seasons, started by one GM Terence Fong back in S38. This streak ended just before Brampton was wiped off the face of the VHLM but also before the playoffs become all inclusive, so a fine achievement nonetheless.

 

Yukon Rush

Yukon 2 gud was the battle cry of the Rush as they entered the league in S31 as the expansion team to match Quebec in the VHLM, and boy did they rush into the league. Yukon won a Founder's Cup in their very first season of existence and made four more finals (winning three) by S38. It was a blistering pace and one they couldn't maintain, although winning just one championship since then (in S59) does make me question how the Rush survived the multiple contractions which have taken place in that time.

 

Yukon is actually the only VHLM team I've managed (in S49 and S50), when I made it my goal to employ solely first-gen players, something that was much harder to do in those dark times for the league than it is today. Looking at the list of the franchise's GMs, it seems that the Rush have generally been in safe hands which perhaps has been their saving grace – a stable, reliable franchise which does its job of promoting prospects into the VHL.

 

Bern Royals

Ah Bern. Once Davos' affiliate, perfectly matched to be both in Switzerland and with a purple logo, who could have predicted they'd end up in Las Vegas? That's what happened though, as Robbie Zimmers was let in for just two seasons and that's all it took to push through a relocation in S54 (and also, to be fair, a Founder's Cup in the very first season in Nevada).

 

No one really cared much for the Royals and they have been more successful as the Aces and won more frequently back in their days in Spain as the Toledo Scorpions. However, the move from Europe to North America was probably the final nail in the intercontinental VHLM after 52 seasons (ignoring the 10 further seasons in Oslo), which is a shame. As a final tidbit on the franchise, the Royals/Aces went on a 21-season playoff streak thanks to every VHLM team qualifying for the playoffs from S53 to S61, which only ended last season.

 

Kolari Panthers

As great as the concept of a EU/NA VHLM is, teams like the Panthers did little to keep that idea alive. Starting off as Helsinki's affiliate in tiny Jonkoping, Sweden, in S11 the team moved across the border to Finland, in an even smaller location – Kolari, 3,819 people at the start of 2019. Originally, the Kolari franchise was known as the Wolves, before becoming the Panthers in S17 for reasons unknown. That was the situation going into S31, which the Panthers actually entered as defending champions, having won their second cup in their ninth final (actually the second highest amount at the time).

 

It all quickly went downhill from there. Kolari did relocate to a more recognisable location in Turku (Finland's third largest city) in S34, but the Outlaws made just one finals appearance before being a reasonably easy team to contract alongside Minot in S42.

 

Oslo Storm

The last bastion of European hockey in the VHLM was one of the least expected, certainly when you consider that not too long before expansion, the Oslo-based team was legitimately called the Screaming Seamen. It was certainly a slap to the face of the highly successful Gothenburg Eagles, who went on a then unheard of eight-season playoff streak and still were relocated to Oslo anyway.

 

By S31, things had cooled down and the Storm were a reasonably average member of the VHLM. Despite a quick start in post-expansion VHLM with a Founder's Cup in S32, Oslo didn't actually win another until S57 and while that is not the be-all-end-all in the minors, it's still quite peculiar that the Storm were the last European franchise standing in the league. Of course, that also didn't last as with the first of the recent rounds of expansion in S65, Oslo saw its team move to Minnesota, leaving Ottawa and Saskatoon as the runaway leaders in terms of longevity.

 

Vasteras IK J20

Lost in the the years of “Fuck Vasteras” campaigning is the fact that Vasteras' original VHL GM Lucas Tannahill also put his VHLM affiliate in the same city. The VHLM Vasteras didn't find much more success than the VHL version, winning its first championship in S11, then having the first 16 draft picks in the S26 Dispersal Draft (no, really) and still managing to choke away a Founder's Cup. The J20 did manage to win their second cup the following year in S27.

 

Other than splitting up the VHL and VHLM sims, one of my main targets as commissioner in the 30s was to destroy Vasteras once and for all. It took until S41 to move the Iron Eagles to Stockholm, but the VHLM team was relocated in S36, becoming the Moscow Red Wolves. It was an odd name with a logo that looked more like a friendly dog, but the team did win a cup in S45. However, when the VHLM went down from 8 teams to 7 in S52, Moscow was another fairly easy choice to cull. At VHL level, we now have both a Moscow team and a Wolves team in Vancouver as of S65 – if they turn out better than the post-Vasteras Moscow remains to be seen. Vasteras, however, is almost certainly gone for good.

 

Bratislava Watchmen

Finally, the other expansion team alongside Yukon. Alongside Brampton, this was the last VHLM franchise to fall (other than Oslo's relocation) and to me the most heartbreaking. In just 23 seasons, the Bratislava Watchmen made 7 finals appearances and won all of them, a superb record for an expansion team. What's more, they had some of the most stable management the VHLM has seen, including 3 long-term GMs who immediately graduated to the VHL after their time in Bratislava – Vince Wong to Helsinki, Blake Campbell to Seattle, and Benjamin Zeptenbergs to Riga. The latter two of course are still managing their respective VHL teams.

 

The Watchmen always felt like one of the success stories of the VHLM, a model franchise like Ottawa and not the trainwreck which was quite a lot of the other teams. Although there was a clear move away from Europe just before Bratislava was contracted in S54, with Moscow going just a few seasons earlier and Bern moving to Vegas, choosing to keep the Storm over the Watchmen was, for me, a questionable move. But what's done is done and now there are five fresh VHLM franchises (and Halifax) which might hope to follow Bratislava's trajectory (prior to contraction).

[Matt_O 897]

The fact that Vasteras has the first 16 picks in a time when drafts were no deeper than 3 rounds and still didnt win the title is something that we should always be laughing about. They truly were cursed

Edited August 7, 2019 by Matt_O

[eaglesfan036 4,601]

Ottawa Ice Dogs ;(

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Moscow Red Wolves S45 forever

[Kyle 667]

16 hours ago, Matt_O said:

The fact that Vasteras has the first 16 picks in a time when drafts were no deeper than 3 rounds and still didnt win the title is something that we should always be laughing about. They truly were cursed

 

That was probably the best VHLM draft class of all-time at the time too. 

[Gustav 6,407]

21 hours ago, Victor said:

Cast

 

[Victor 10,940]

17 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

 

someone noticed

[Victor 10,940]

2,017 words. Week 2 of 4 for Cast.

[Victor 10,940]

Week 3 of 4 for Cast.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

The brampton change I'm pretty sure was whenever Meg stopped being gm

[Victor 10,940]

Week 4 of 4 for Cast.

[Banackock 8,044]

MINOT! 
 

Rest In Peace (if the news is true) you big beautiful boy! Despite moving up to them pearly gates, I can still make fun of your love handles after all these years and you can still threaten me with a good ass whoopin. 
 

Shitty fuckin news, @gorlab. LONG LIVE THE KIK DAYS!