The Infamous Cleganebowl Needs a Deep Rewind

[Matt_O 896]

 

It’s November 19th, 2016. The greatest finals in VHL history all comes down to a winner take all Game 7 between the Riga Reign and Toronto Legion. Sandro Clegane and Greg Clegane, who are brothers playing netminder for their respective teams, have both had spectacular series but they saved the best for tonight. But how did we get here? What happened in the other six games? What happened to make this series even happen? This moment needs a deep rewind.

 

The brothers Greg Clegane and Sandro Clegane both created in the S45 draft year as goaltenders. Both were top five picks, with Greg Clegane heading to Helsinki with the number two selection while Sandro Clegane was taken fourth overall by Cologne. So how did they both get onto Riga and Toronto? 

 

Greg Clegane should have been heading to Toronto right from the start of his career. During S43 the Legion traded their S45 first-rounder to Helsinki for the veteran Tyson Stokes. The Legion would flop two seasons later, and end up gifting the second overall pick and one of the best netminders of all time to Helsinki. Greg would later be traded to Vancouver during the S49 offseason for a couple of draft picks. Vancouver would also acquire Aleksi Koponen, another Hall of Famer. Greg Clegane would end up signing in Toronto when he became a free agent.

 

Aleksi Koponen during his time with the Wranglers

 

Sandro Clegane was the darling of all GM’s when it came to being traded; as he was dealt four different times throughout his career. It started before he ever even belonged to a VHL franchise, as Cologne traded up in Riga’s place to draft Sandro Clegane fourth overall. He would be traded to Seattle after a couple of seasons in Cologne but was traded the very next season to Davos for Jakob Holik, another elite goaltender, and a couple of other pieces. Two seasons after that Sandro would be dealt to the team that traded away the pick that he was taken with, as the Riga Reign would put together a blockbuster deal with Davos to get Sandro.

 

Now we know how both goaltenders got it, but how did this series go to game seven? To put it lightly, the Legion were never even supposed to be here.

 

The Calgary Wranglers were by far the best team and it wasn’t even close. We all know the time they went 69-3 in S1 and lost to Vasteras in the finals. This year they were hoping things would be different, as they had a 64-4-4 record that was 19 points more than the second-placed Riga Reign. When the Legion just scraped by the Bears in the wild card round, most people expected the Wranglers to put on a clinic. After all, the Wranglers offence scored 283 goals during the regular season, by far the most that season. They managed to score 5 goals over the course of 5 games. To say Greg Clegane was amazing that series is an understatement, as the Legion breezed by a Calgary team that was trying to be considered one of the greatest teams ever.

 

Riga, on the other hand, was the top seed in the European Conference. A battle between them and the Cologne Express was a given, considering how third-placed HC Davos had a mere 54 points that year. It was a tremendous battle, but the Reign found themselves down 3-1 after four games. They didn’t let that get to their head, as they rattled off three straight wins in order to clinch a finals appearance against the Toronto Legion.

 

With two of the greatest goaltenders in league history finally going head to head in a finals series, you would expect it to be a defensive series, especially since Riga and Toronto were both one of the leagues, top defensive teams. There was only one game in the finals where one of the goalies had a save percentage below .900, and that was Greg Clegane in game three. Sandro Clegane held the Legion to only two goals in the first two games of the series to take a 2-0 series lead early, and in-game three, this series looked like it was over.

 

Heading into the third period, the score was tied 1-1. Sandro Clegane was having a decent game, but Greg Clegane was in the middle of one of the greatest finals performances the league has ever seen. He had stopped 35 of 36 shots heading into the third period, while Sandro had only faced 12 shots up to that point. Even with three third period powerplays, the Reign simply couldn’t put the puck in the net and the game headed into overtime.

 

 

It took double overtime to decide this one. The Reign had poured on 61 shots throughout the game, but only scored once courtesy of Shawn Muller in the second period. The Legion had 35 shots on net, but it didn’t matter. LeAndre St. Pierre of Toronto scored in double overtime to win the game and swing the momentum into the Legions favour, and they would promptly win game four and game five. In-game six it looked over for the Reign, as they let up two first period goals and fell down 2-0, but Pietro Maximoff’s hat trick heroics saved the series for Riga. This was before Maximoff’s legendary S52 season, where he had the most points and goals in the VHL. Now, we headed to game seven.

 

As I said before, this game seven has been nothing short of incredible. It was a heavily contested matchup that had tight defence all over it. The Reign found themselves with a slim edge in the shots total after two periods but it wouldn’t matter, because the score was still tied at zero. It was fitting that the series most well known for the goalies was going to end on this note, a true defensive grind out of a game. This was until one of the weirdest and probably most infuriating mistakes ever made in VHL history comes into play.

 

No, I am not exaggerating when I say that. In-game 7 of a continental cup finals, you don’t have your computer players playing, especially when it’s a tie game with less than two minutes left. Somehow, someway, TOR C2 found himself on the ice and promptly took a hooking penalty with 1:08 left in the third period. That brings us back to where we started, with a loose puck in front of Greg Clegane, as Richard Hamilton attempts to get control of the puck. He does so and fires home the game-winner with 24 seconds left in game 7.

 

Riga would ultimately follow up the S51 Continental Cup win with a finals appearance the next year, but they lost to New York in five games. The Toronto Legion would not return to the finals until their shocking back to back cup wins in S64 and S65. Both Sandro Clegane and Greg Clegane would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and this series would live on in infamy.

 

Sandro Clegane: @JardyB10

Greg Clegane: @Victor

Aleksi Koponen graphic courtesy of @Mr.Baller

Greg Clegane graphic courtesy of @solas

 

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Edited November 28, 2019 by Matt_O

[Victor 10,550]

Probably the only time in my VHL career that the outcome was secondary to just the experience of being there. I still can't believe the Cleganes got that perfect series, so many things had to fall just right for it to happen.

[Motzaburger 1,590]

 

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

https://vhlforum.com/topic/71085-cleganebowl/?tab=comments#comment-677109

 

[Victor 10,550]

2 minutes ago, Mr_Hatter said:

https://vhlforum.com/topic/71085-cleganebowl/?tab=comments#comment-677109

 

There can never be too many articles about CLEGANEBOWL

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

There can never be too many articles about CLEGANEBOWL

True true