Calgary Wranglers: Season 34 [1/2]

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

GM: Jason Glasser (576/346/188/42/734)

Former GM(s): Jardy Bunclewirth (504/172/307/25/369)

Record (after S20): 1,080 GP | 518 W | 495 L | 67 OTL | 1,103 P | 3,282 GF | 3,655 GA

Playoff Record (after S20): 81 GP | 42 W | 28 L | 11 OTL | 2-1 vs TOR, 1-1 SEA, 1-1 vs HEL, 1-0 vs QUE, 1-0 vs DAV, 1-3 vs NYA

 

Season 34 VHL Entry Draft

No Picks

 

Season 34 Regular Season - 72 GP | 51 W | 17 L | 4 OTL | 106 P | 249 GF | 163 GA

The Wranglers endured some more changed but there were two huge ones that we should talk about. First was former Franchise leader in points, Alexander Chershenko coming back home after he played his first 5 seasons for the franchise. He had a dominating 5 season stretch for the Wranglers.The next was Clark Marcellin moving from Center to Defense as the team had only 1 defender on the roster if Marcellin didn't make the move.

 

The moves looked to work out pretty well since the Wranglers went 51-17-4 despite the lack of depth on the back end. Chershenko and Rybak had their renewed chemistry as both scored 50 goals and had more than 121 points (125 for Chershenko and 121 for Rybak). Clark Marcellin broke 100 points from the back end as the lone defenseman basically. Felix Zamora broke out with 96 points on the potent top line. GIYGAS and Chico Salmon had success as secondary scorers with 78 and 64 points. Rookie Henrik Larsson had 46 points while Dringus chipped in with 15 points.

 

Season 34 Playoffs - 21 GP | 11 W | 7 L | 3 OTL | Win vs New York Americans, Win vs Quebec City Meute, Loss vs Helsinki Titans

Despite the amazing regular season, the Wranglers still finished in 2nd place which meant they would have to play in the quarterfinals. It was something the Wranglers were probably dreading because the New York Americans were waiting. The Americans have previously beat the Wranglers in whatever round they played in. The Americans were 3-0 vs the Wranglers in the playoffs. The Wranglers jumped out to a 2-0 series lead thanks to a Cherchenko goal 1:50 into OT in game 1 plus a hattrick and 1 assist from Chershenko in game 2. The Americans outscored the Wranglers 7-3 in the two games in New York making it a 2-2 series. Satan shut out the Americans in Game 5. The Americans doubled up the Wranglers in Game 6 4-2. A unlikely Game 7 hero in rookie Henrik Larsson sent the Wranglers to the next round with a GWG 2:40 into OT thanks to a penalty taken by former Wrangler Ryan Sullivan.

 

In the semi finals, the Wranglers played the expansion Quebec City Meute who have built up their team fast. The Wranglers started out much like the last series taking Game 1 and 2 by a combined scored of 8-5. Game 3 went in favor of the Meute who scored 41 seconds into OT thanks to a penalty by Clark Marcellin. The Wranglers were able to win Game 4 5-3 after they scored 4 goals in the 3rd period to spark a huge comeback in that game.Game 5 saw the Meute take it 3-1. Game 6 went into OT once more before the Meute scored 5 minutes in to send this series to Game 7. Satan was able to shut the door making 36 saves and goals from Rybak and GIYGAS were enough to send them through to the finals.

 

Unlike the last two series, it was the Wranglers who fell behind 2-0 after losing the first two games 2-0. However, back in Calgary, the Wranglers tied it up after game 3 and 4 finished by a combined score of 7-3. Game 5 was a tight loss 3-2. Game 6 saw Satan shut out the Titans making 27 saves while Chico Salmon scored the GWG. Game 7 in Helsinki was another tight game. Helsinki's Odin Tordahl opened up the scoring just 2 minutes in. Alexander Chershenko scored 8 minutes into the 3rd to tie it up. However, just as the OT period was ending, Anatoli Zhumbayev scored the Cup winning goal.

 

It was a hard playoff showing for the Wranglers who battled the whole way, each series went to 7 before taking Game 7 to OT. The Wranglers should be proud of this playoff run as it is one of the best in VHL history imo.

 

Trades:

Not available until Season 35

 

Awards:

Scotty Campbell (MVP) - Alexander Chershenko

Brett Slobodzian (Players MVP) - Alexander Chershenko

Daisuke Kanou (Playoff MVP) - Alexander Chershenko

Mike Szatkowski (Most Points) - Alexander Chershenko

Kevin Brooks (Most Goals) - Alexander Chershenko

David Knight (Top GM) - Alexander Chershenko (JK) Jason Glasser

 

Overall:

The Wranglers had a very fine season. Rybak firmly established himself at the top of every leader board. He is the leader in Games (504), Goals (334), Assists (413), Points (747), +/- (+307), and Shots (3,312). Chershenko came back after a few seasons away to mark his place at 2nd in Wranglers history (S20 to this point in time). He most likely would be in first had he not been traded away. Chershenko is close to 300 goals, he has 352 assists plus 646 points all of which are 2nd all time. He is the leader in GWG with an amazing 60 game winning goals. Clark Marcellin is an underrated member of the Wranglers organization. He sits 3rd all time now with 186 goals and 347 assists for 533 points. Marcellin leads the Wranglers in hits as well with 1,465 hits. Chico Salmon and GIYGAS climb to tied for 21st in Wranglers history with 140 points each. Felix Zamora also breaks into the top 27 all time with his own 133 points. Satan ties Skylar Rift with 41 wins which is 3rd in Wranglers history.

 

In the playoffs, Rybak leads the way again with 83 points in 62 games. Chershenko isn't too far behind him with 70 points in 44 games while Clark Marcellin rounds out the top 3 with 48 points. GIYGAS, Felix Zamora and Chico Salmon break into the top 10 with 27, 25 and 21 points respectively. Satan ties the franchise playoff wins with 11 but his 0.915 save percentage is 4th among the goalies. His shutouts are tied for 2nd though.

 

Calgary Player Stats

Edited September 10, 2019 by TheLastOlympian07

[Cxsquared 455]

Review: A great historical write-up. Great use of stats to build up a story of the Wranglers in season 34. It would be nice to have some player cards or sigs of the star players. The formatting is excellent and I'd love to see more historic articles like this.