How did your team do in the 60s? - Part 1

[Victor 10,940]

The VHL's seventh decade saw much positive change from the top down – starting from the remnants of Project Player Two and the original S31 expansion to abolishing second (and GM) players entirely and ending with 12 teams, more than ever before. There's a separate article which could be written just on the upswing in the league's fortunes on its own but how were the 60s on a team-by-team basis? Ignoring the new expansion franchises (so a third of the league), I've delved into all eight “original” franchises and tried to put this decade in the context of where they were at the start of it. Overall, most teams had some highlights with a fairly even spread of Continental Cups throughout the league. However, because no one had a terrible time, everyone has a few regrets.

 

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Calgary

The Wranglers had reached an all-time low point in the 50s. They had already made a bit of a living off past glories, trumpeting left, right, and centre about their proud lineage dating back to that 69-3 season in S1, but then it was all cut away in contraction in S57. That place in VHL history ultimately saved Calgary, hence they picked up the assets and GM of the cursed Stockholm Vikings instead, but it was still a humbling moment. With just one championship since S30, would the Wranglers ever reach their former heights again?

 

That GM, Tyler Barabash, is an interesting case study on his own. Like Calgary, he had something to prove, with inactivity tarnishing his legacy in his previous two GM jobs, even as his teams won the cup right after he was replaced. You could see an improvement – the S31 Davos squad was almost handed to him but S43 Seattle was Barabash's own creation – and it went up a further notch with early 60s Calgary, arguably the most star-studded roster of the decade. With two Hall of Famers and playoff greats in Mats Johnsson and Norris Stopko, as well as three current ballot members in Jasper Canmore, Keaton Louth, and Oyorra Arroyo, three straight finals in S61-S63 was almost a foregone conclusion and the only regret is that this team won just one Continental Cup.

 

Things have soured a bit as the decade has gone on, however. Where Stopko and co's Calgary was the biggest fish in a pretty small pond, the rushed mid-60s rebuild meant the Wranglers had to contend in an increasingly competitive top end of the VHL. The result: just one playoff series won by the new generation, a reset of the rebuild, and some assistant GM and retirement/unretirement controversy. The back-to-back-to-back Game 7s against Vancouver will live long in the memory, and Brick Wahl will go down as a Calgary legend, but it has been far from smooth sailing for the historic franchise.

 

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New York

If you had to rank the eight franchises profiled in this series by their success this decade, it would be hard to argue against the Americans coming rock bottom. This is not just a boring look down the cup winners list and seeing everyone but New York got one in the 60s. It's a reflection of the fact that their last finals appearance was in S60, meaning New York is now on one of the all-time long finals droughts, and they've not really come close in the years since.

 

That S60 team had potential, was unlucky to lose that season, but was torn apart shortly after for reasons out of their control. GM Vince Wong resigned abruptly, taking franchise goaltender Ike Arkander with him, while star forward Chase Keller also retired young. The talent that remained, led by defencemen Casey Jones and Colton Rayne, was traded off to kickstart the rebuild. The odd thing, however, is that the rebuild went pretty much the same way – GM Colton Rayne went inactive, with a knock-on effect on franchise goaltender Ismond Kingfisher, and a few key pieces also didn't reach their full potential. Those that did, like Joseph McWolf and Dan Wilinsky, were sold off by the team's third GM of the 60s, Joel Ylonen.

 

It's a bit early to assess the latest rebuild as it was built primarily around the S67 and S68 drafts, but the signs are again hopeful. If the VHL went defunct today though, the Americans would have an interesting arc though, from the late maiden cup in S14, through the four straight lost finals until the floodgates opened in S32, before accumulating more dynasties than most in the ensuing years and yet somehow ending up where they started. New York will be hoping the trend turns around going forward.

 

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Seattle

By this point, we can safely say GM Blake Campbell knows how to navigate his way around a rebuild. You would certainly hope so after 20 seasons on the job, but it's certainly reassuring that they have also gotten better over time. Campbell came into the decade on the back of his first Continental Cup as GM, and Seattle's first since S43. The feeling though was that the Bears couldn't sustain prolonged success, certainly not like in their glory days of yore. In that sense, they're still not quite at “dynasty” level, but fitting two separate genuine contenders in the space of 10 seasons is an impressive feat and Campbell can rightfully claim the Bears team that ends the decade is the best he's built.

 

Up until the cup in S68, it felt like the 60s were going to be another “what if” in recent Seattle history. With some of the best attacking talent of the decade, led by Matt Thompson and Vyacheslav Smirnov, but also guest appearances from Gabriel McAllister, Veran Dragomir, and Sebastian Ironside, the Bears were a fun watch and deserved better than three first-round exits in a period they were a top two team in the league (S63 to S65). Ultimately, they were let down by a defence more focused on scoring than preventing goals and a goalie in Roger Sterling who never became consistent enough.

 

To Seattle's credit, the plug was pulled at the right time to initiate another quick rebuild. With enough pieces to sell in a seller's market, Campbell stocked up on S67 draft picks, which turned out to be the best draft to stock up on all decade, resulting in a young team which developed quicker than anticipated and won it all with only a couple veteran pieces. Even after back-to-back cups, it's too early to properly assess this young Bears team and what they might achieve but it's certainly an optimistic outlook and in the most simplified view it's quite amazing what an impact the franchise goalie has on a team, as seen here in the contrast between Sterling and Rayz Funk.

 

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Toronto

The Legion came into the 60s fearing the worst. An ambitious move which sent a future first overall pick (Matt Thompson) to bitter rivals Seattle secured a place as the on-paper favourites going into S59, but Toronto would be shocked by the Bears in the first round and could only watch as they secured the Continental Cup instead. Cue a firesale and a rebuild slow out of the blocks due in part to that lack of the first overall pick and then trading another future first overall (Ryan Sullivan Jr.) even more inexplicably for the inactive Aksel McKnight. The halcyon days of the threepeat seemed much longer than 10 seasons ago.

 

Toronto responded by hiring the VHL's ultimate short-term fixer: Ryan Power. Power's aversion to drafting and reputation as wheeler-and-dealer preceded him, but even by his standards this Legion tenure has gone above and beyond anything seen before in terms of laughing in the face of VHL team-building convention. Yet it's worked and the Legion end the decade with the joint-most championships. It took an odd combination of some genuine stars (Norris Stopko, Sebastian Ironside, Oyorra Arroyo) and some players playing out of their skin (think not just the heroics of playoff MVP Johnny Havenk Carison but also timely goals from Evan R. Lawson or defensive sacrifices of Lespineau-Lebrunette), but Toronto secured back-to-back cups in S64 and S65 in the most unexpected fashion.

 

It wasn't vintage Toronto by any means and no one will put that team on the same pedestal as the threepeat or even the class of S9 or S21. However, the Legion won't care. They remained competitive for most of the decade (a Victory Cup followed after more free agency coups in S67), put behind the demons of the late 50s, and only need to worry about how this high-risk strategy affects them for the next decade.

 

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That's all for now, Vancouver, Helsinki, Davos, and Riga to follow in a couple weeks' time. Have I forgotten about my alphabetical list of every nation's greatest ever VHL player? God no, the timing for this is just perfect as we are literally at the end of the 60s (and yes, decades run from 60 to 69 or 2010 to 2019, unlike centuries, because decades are named after the years while centuries are just a number. Fight me on this).

[Gustav 6,407]

Can we just skip over Davos in part 2

[Victor 10,940]

11 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

Can we just skip over Davos in part 2

Still better than NY. 

[Banackock 8,044]

Good read.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

2 hours ago, Victor said:

Still better than NY. 

really? NY has been that bad? yikes

[Victor 10,940]

1,517 words. Week 2 of 3.

[Victor 10,940]

Week 3 of 3.

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

WHERE IS PART 2

[Victor 10,940]

Just now, flyersfan1453 said:

WHERE IS PART 2

soon.