The Rise of the Bulls - Theme Week

[Erik Summers 451]

The Rise of the Bulls

 

 

The Houston Bulls are a young team with a short history in Texas. Although the share a name with the Fresno Bulls of the early days of the VHLM, the commonalities stop there. Despite being so new to the league, The Bulls are already looking to make history this season by leading the league by a strong point margin and having on eye on the Founders cup. The Bulls have a young GM and several players that have been with the team since the darkest of seasons, so let's take a look at the path this team took to get here.

 

S65 - Horns Up!

The newly formed Houston Bulls came into the league with a splash. Edging out the previous year's Founder's Cup winners, the Las Vegas Aces, Houston made the playoffs in their very first season in the league. Unfortunately, this journey ended in a crushing overtime loss in game seven of the first round against the Halifax 21st. In the opening minute of OT, Nathan MacKinnon killed the Bull's dreams. What many had called the "Miracle Season" had come to an end, just short of greatness. To this day, tensions flair every time these two team meet.

 

S66 - Olé

The following season, the league expanded again, to eleven teams this time, and the off-season was unkind to Houston. Despite the emergence of Houston legends Koda Adok and Banko Mulleto, there was simply no supporting cast for them on the Bulls at the time. The Bulls had an abysmal record of 6-60-6, with a goal differential of -215. This is truly one of the worst seasons in the history of the VHLM and created some real questions about whether the talent pool was deep enough to support eleven teams in the league.

 

S67 - One & Well Done

Things started to turn around for Houston in S67 as they turned a corner and made it back into the playoff. Adding pieces like Khalabib Stiopic, and growing many member of the existing roster, Houston was able to return to form and make another strong push for the playoffs. However, the goal-tending was not yet up to snuff, as Sean McGee was still very green. This resulted in Houston's second playoff appearance, this time against the Minnesota Storm, going even worse than their first. The first round sweep solidified the budding rivalry between these two teams. Although Minnesota was eventually defeated in the finals, Houston has had enough of seeing their first round opponent's make the finals.

 

S68 - Mess With the Bull

Get the horns! In S68, GM @FrostBeard, was determined to show the league how close this team was to putting it all together the year before. Drafting star forward Soren Jensen as well as up-and-comers like Erik Summers and Dagmar Havlova, everything finally clicked. This year, Houston has it's eyes set on the Founder's Cup, and victory will only be made sweeter if they are able to trounce Minnesota or Halifax along the way.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by Erik Summers